We’re overhauling Dgraph’s docs to make them clearer and more approachable. If you notice any issues during this transition or have suggestions, please let us know.

In this article you’ll learn how to setup a Dgraph database with a lambda server.

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Dgraph Lambda

Dgraph Lambda is a serverless platform for running JavaScript with Dgraph.

You can download the latest version or review the implementation in the repo.

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Running with Docker

To run a Dgraph Lambda server with Docker:

docker run -it --rm -p 8686:8686 -v /path/to/script.js:/app/script/script.js -e DGRAPH_URL=http://host.docker.internal:8080 dgraph/dgraph-lambda

host.docker.internal doesn’t work on older versions of Docker on Linux. You can use DGRAPH_URL=http://172.17.0.1:8080 instead.

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Adding libraries

If you would like to add libraries to Dgraph Lambda, use webpack --target=webworker to compile your script.

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Working with TypeScript

You can import @slash-graphql/lambda-types to get types for addGraphQLResolver and addGraphQLMultiParentResolver.

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Dgraph Alpha

To set up Dgraph Alpha, you need to define the --graphql superflag’s lambda-url option, which is used to set the URL of the lambda server. All the @lambda fields are resolved through the lambda functions implemented on the given lambda server.

For example:

dgraph alpha --graphql lambda-url=http://localhost:8686/graphql-worker

Then test it out with the following curl command:

curl localhost:8686/graphql-worker -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"resolver":"MyType.customField","parent":[{"customField":"Dgraph Labs"}]}'

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Docker settings

If you’re using Docker, you need to add the --graphql superflag’s lambda-url option to your Alpha configuration. For example:

command:
  /gobin/dgraph alpha --zero=zero1:5180 -o 100 --expose_trace --trace ratio=1.0
  --profile_mode block --block_rate 10 --logtostderr -v=2 --security
  whitelist=10.0.0.0/8,172.16.0.0/12,192.168.0.0/16 --my=alpha1:7180 --graphql
  lambda-url=http://lambda:8686/graphql-worker

Next, you need to add the Dgraph Lambda server configuration, and map the JavaScript file that contains the code for lambda functions to the /app/script/script.js file. Remember to set the DGRAPH_URL environment variable to your Alpha server.

Here’s a complete Docker example that uses the base Dgraph image and adds Lambda server support:

services:
  dgraph:
    image: dgraph/standalone:latest
    environment:
      DGRAPH_ALPHA_GRAPHQL: "lambda-url=http://dgraph_lambda:8686/graphql-worker"
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
      - "9080:9080"
      - "8000:8000"
    volumes:
      - dgraph:/dgraph

  dgraph_lambda:
    image: dgraph/dgraph-lambda:latest

    ports:
      - "8686:8686"
    environment:
      DGRAPH_URL: http://dgraph:8080
    volumes:
      - ./gql/script.js:/app/script/script.js:ro

volumes:
  dgraph: {}