GraphQL Metrics

Extract as much detail as you want from GraphQL queries, served up from your Ruby app and the graphql gem. Compatible with the graphql-batch gem, to extract batch-loaded fields resolution timings.

Be sure to read the CHANGELOG to stay updated on feature additions, breaking changes made to this gem.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'graphql-metrics'

You can require it with in your code as needed with:

require 'graphql/metrics'

Or globally in the Gemfile with:

gem 'graphql-metrics', require: 'graphql/metrics'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install graphql-metrics

Usage

Get started by defining your own Analyzer, inheriting from GraphQL::Metrics::Analyzer.

The following analyzer demonstrates a simple way to capture commonly used metrics sourced from key parts of your schema definition, the query document being served, as well as runtime query and resolver timings. In this toy example, all of this data is simply stored on the GraphQL::Query context, under a namespace to avoid collisions with other analyzers etc.

What you do with these captured metrics is up to you!

NOTE: If any non-graphql-ruby gem-related exceptions occur in your application during query document parsing and validation, runtime metrics for queries (like query_duration, etc.) as well as field resolver timings (like resolver_timings, lazy_resolver_timings) may not be present in the extracted metrics hash, even if you opt to collect them.

Define your own analyzer subclass

  class SimpleAnalyzer < GraphQL::Metrics::Analyzer
    ANALYZER_NAMESPACE = :simple_analyzer_namespace

    def initialize(query_or_multiplex)
      super

      # `query` is defined on instances of objects inheriting from GraphQL::Metrics::Analyzer
      ns = query.context.namespace(ANALYZER_NAMESPACE)
      ns[:simple_extractor_results] = {}
    end

    # @param metrics [Hash] Query metrics, including a few details about the query document itself, as well as runtime
    # timings metrics, intended to be compatible with the Apollo Tracing spec:
    # https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-tracing#response-format
    #
    # {
    #   operation_type: "query",
    #   operation_name: "PostDetails",
    #   query_start_time: 1573833076.027327,
    #   query_duration: 2.0207119999686256,
    #   lexing_duration: 0.0008190000080503523,
    #   parsing_duration: 0.0008190000080503523,
    #   validation_duration: 0.01704599999357015,
    #   analysis_duration: 0.0008190000080503523,
    # }
    #
    # You can use these metrics to track high-level query performance, along with any other details you wish to
    # manually capture from `query` and/or `query.context`.
    def query_extracted(metrics)
      custom_metrics_from_context = {
        request_id: query.context[:request_id],
        # ...
      }

      # You can make use of captured metrics here (logging to Kafka, request logging etc.)
      # log_metrics(:fields, metrics)
      #
      # Or store them on the query context:
      store_metrics(:queries, metrics.merge(custom_metrics_from_context))
    end

    # For use after controller:
    # class GraphQLController < ActionController::Base
    #   def graphql_query
    #     query_result = graphql_query.result.to_h
    #     do_something_with_metrics(query.context[:simple_extractor_results])
    #     render json: graphql_query.result
    #   end
    # end

    # @param metrics [Hash] Field selection metrics, including resolver timings metrics, also adhering to the Apollo
    # Tracing spec referred to above.
    #
    # `resolver_timings` is populated any time a field is resolved (which may be many times, if the field is nested
    # within a list field e.g. a Relay connection field).
    #
    # `lazy_resolver_timings` is only populated by fields that are resolved lazily (for example using the
    # graphql-batch gem) or that are otherwise resolved with a Promise. Any time spent in the field's resolver to
    # prepare work to be done "later" in a Promise, or batch loader will be captured in `resolver_timings`. The time
    # spent actually doing lazy field loading, including time spent within a batch loader can be obtained from
    # `lazy_resolver_timings`.
    #
    # {
    #   field_name: "id",
    #   return_type_name: "ID",
    #   parent_type_name: "Post",
    #   deprecated: false,
    #   path: ["post", "id"],
    #   resolver_timings: [
    #     5.999987479299307e-06,
    #   ],
    #   lazy_resolver_timings: [
    #     5.999987479299307e-06,
    #   ],
    # }
    def field_extracted(metrics)
      store_metrics(:fields, metrics)
    end

    # @param metrics [Hash] Directive metrics
    # {
    #   directive_name: "customDirective",
    # }
    def directive_extracted(metrics)
      store_metrics(:directives, metrics)
    end

    # @param metrics [Hash] Argument usage metrics, including a few details about the query document itself, as well
    # as resolver timings metrics, also ahering to the Apollo Tracing spec referred to above.
    # {
    #   argument_name: "ids",
    #   argument_type_name: "ID",
    #   parent_name: "comments",
    #   grandparent_type_name: "Post",
    #   grandparent_node_name: "post",
    #   default_used: false,
    #   value_is_null: false,
    #   value: <GraphQL::Query::Arguments::ArgumentValue>,
    # }
    #
    # `value` is exposed here, in case you want to get access to the argument's definition, including the type
    # class which defines it, e.g. `metrics[:value].definition.metadata[:type_class]`
    def argument_extracted(metrics)
      store_metrics(:arguments, metrics)
    end

    private

    def store_metrics(context_key, metrics)
      ns = query.context.namespace(ANALYZER_NAMESPACE)
      ns[:simple_extractor_results][context_key] ||= []
      ns[:simple_extractor_results][context_key] << metrics
    end
  end

Once defined, you can opt into capturing all metrics seen above by simply including GraphQL::Metrics as a plugin on your schema.

Metrics that are captured for arguments for fields and directives

Example query:

query PostDetails($postId: ID!, $commentsTags: [String!] = null, $val: Int!) @customDirective(val: $val) {
  post(id: $postId) {
    title @skip(if: true)
    comments(ids: [1, 2], tags: $commentsTags) {
      id
      body
    }
  }
}

These are some of the arguments that are extracted

{
  argument_name: "if",                    # argument name
  argument_type_name: "Boolean",          # argument type
  parent_name: "skip",                    # argument belongs to `skip` directive
  grandparent_type_name: "__Directive",   # argument was applied to directive
  grandparent_node_name: "title",         # directive was applied to field title
  default_used: false,                    # check if default value was used
  value_is_null: false,                   # check if value was null
  value: <GraphQL::Execution::Interpreter::ArgumentValue>
}, {
  argument_name: "id",
  argument_name: "ids",
  argument_type_name: "ID",
  parent_name: "comments",                # name of the node that argument was applied to
  grandparent_type_name: "Post",          # grandparent node to uniquely identify which node the argument was applied to
  grandparent_node_name: "post",          # name of grandparend node
  default_used: false,
  value_is_null: false,
  value: <GraphQL::Execution::Interpreter::ArgumentValue>
}, {
  argument_name: "id",
  argument_type_name: "ID",
  parent_name: "post",                   # argument applied to post field
  grandparent_type_name: "QueryRoot",    # post is a QueryRoot
  grandparent_node_name: "query",        # post field is already in the query root
  parent_input_object_type: nil,
  default_used: false,
  value_is_null: false,
  value: <GraphQL::Execution::Interpreter::ArgumentValue>
}, {
  argument_name: "val",
  argument_type_name: "Int",
  parent_name: "customDirective",        # argument belongs to `customDirective` directive
  grandparent_type_name: "__Directive",  # argument was applied to directive
  grandparent_node_name: "query",        # directive was applied to query
  parent_input_object_type: nil,
  default_used: false,
  value_is_null: false,
  value: <GraphQL::Execution::Interpreter::ArgumentValue>
}

Make use of your analyzer

Add the GraphQL::Metrics plugin to your schema. This opts you in to capturing all static and runtime metrics seen above.

class Schema < GraphQL::Schema
  query QueryRoot
  mutation MutationRoot

  use GraphQL::Metrics, analyzer: SimpleAnalyzer
end

Optionally, only gather static metrics

If you don't care to capture field timings metrics, they can be disabled with the capture_field_timings option:

class Schema < GraphQL::Schema
  query QueryRoot
  mutation MutationRoot

  use GraphQL::Metrics, analyzer: SimpleAnalyzer, capture_field_timings: false
end

Your analyzer will still be called with query_extracted, field_extracted, but with timings metrics omitted. argument_extracted will work exactly the same.

And if you want to disable tracing metrics entirely, use the capture_timings option:

class Schema < GraphQL::Schema
  query QueryRoot
  mutation MutationRoot

  use GraphQL::Metrics, analyzer: SimpleAnalyzer, capture_timings: false
end

Order of execution

Because of the structure of graphql-ruby's plugin architecture, it may be difficult to build an intuition around the order in which methods defined on GraphQL::Metrics::Instrumentation, GraphQL::Metrics::Trace and subclasses of GraphQL::Metrics::Analyzer run.

Although you ideally will not need to care about these details if you are simply using this gem to gather metrics in your application as intended, here's a breakdown of the order of execution of the methods involved:

When used as instrumentation, an analyzer and tracing, the order of execution is usually:

Instrumentation.execute_multiplex (context setup)
Trace.capture_lexing_time
Trace.capture_parsing_time
Trace.capture_validation_time
Trace.capture_analysis_time
Analyzer#initialize (bit more context setup, instance vars setup)
Analyzer#result
Trace.capture_query_start_time
Trace.trace_field (n times)
Instrumentation.execute_multiplex (call query and field callbacks, now that we have all static and runtime metrics gathered)
Analyzer#extract_query
Analyzer#query_extracted
Analyzer#extract_fields_with_runtime_metrics
- calls Analyzer#field_extracted n times

Development

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run bundle exec rake test to run the tests. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and tags, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/Shopify/graphql-metrics. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.

Code of Conduct

Everyone interacting in the GraphQL::Metrics project’s codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.