---
lang: en
title: 'Exposing GraphQL APIs'
keywords: LoopBack 4.0, LoopBack 4, Node.js, TypeScript, OpenAPI, GraphQL
sidebar: lb4_sidebar
permalink: /doc/en/lb4/exposing-graphql-apis.html
---

## Overview

The
[OpenAPI-to-GraphQL module](https://www.npmjs.com/package/openapi-to-graphql)
creates a GraphQL wrapper for existing REST APIs which are described by the
OpenAPI specification. This tutorial shows how to expose GraphQL APIs in an
existing LoopBack application.

### Prerequisite

Make sure you have a running LoopBack 4 application. In this tutorial, we'll use
the `todo` example. You can create this application by running the command
below:

```sh
lb4 example todo
```

### Install OpenAPI-to-GraphQL and Required Dependencies

From your LoopBack application, run the following command to install
OpenAPI-to-GraphQL and the required dependencies:

```sh
npm i --save openapi-to-graphql-cli
```

### Start the GraphQL Server

Make sure your LoopBack application is running by going to
`http://localhost:3000/openapi.json`. If not, you can start it by running the
`npm start` command.

Now we will use the OpenAPI-to-GraphQL CLI to set up a GraphQL HTTP Server
backed by express on port 3001. Specifying the OpenAPI spec generated by the
todo-application as the parameter, start up the server by running the following
command:

```sh
npx openapi-to-graphql-cli --port=3001 http://localhost:3000/openapi.json
```

_Haven't heard about `npx` yet? It's a cool helper provided by `npm` and
available out of the box since Node.js 8.x. Learn more in their announcement
blog post:
[Introducing npx: an npm package runner](https://medium.com/@maybekatz/introducing-npx-an-npm-package-runner-55f7d4bd282b)_

That’s it! You’re now ready to try out some tests and requests in the browser at
http://localhost:3001/graphql.

{% include note.html content="
We are looking into ways how to expose the GraphQL endpoint alongside the main REST API,
on the same HTTP host and port. See
[issue #1905](https://github.com/strongloop/loopback-next/issues/1905).
" %}

### Try Out the GraphQL APIs

Here are some examples of the `query` and `mutation` calls:

1. To get all the to-do instances, run this query command:

   ```
   query{
     todos {
       id
       title
       desc
     }
   }
   ```

   The expected output looks like this:

   ```json
   {
     "data": {
       "todos": [
         {
           "id": 1,
           "title": "Take over the galaxy",
           "desc": "MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
         },
         {
           "id": 2,
           "title": "destroy alderaan",
           "desc": "Make sure there are no survivors left!"
         },
         {
           "id": 3,
           "title": "play space invaders",
           "desc": "Become the very best!"
         },
         {"id": 4, "title": "crush rebel scum", "desc": "Every.Last.One."}
       ]
     }
   }
   ```

2. Create a to-do instance and retrieve its ID and title in the response object
   using the following mutation command:

   ```
   mutation {
     todoControllerCreateTodo(newTodoInput: {
       title: "Take over the universe"
     }) {
       id
       title
     }
   }
   ```

   The expected output looks like this:

   ```json
   {
     "data": {
       "todoControllerCreateTodo": {
         "id": 5,
         "title": "Take over the universe"
       }
     }
   }
   ```
