Resolvers

When defining a GraphQL schema, you usually start with the definition of the schema for your API, for example, let’s take a look at this schema:

import strawberry
@strawberry.type
class User:
name: str
@strawberry.type
class Query:
last_user: User
type User {
name: String!
}
type Query {
lastUser: User!
}

We have defined a User type and a Query type. Next, to define how the data is returned from our server, we will attach resolvers to our fields.

Let’s define a resolver

Let’s create a resolver and attach it to the lastUser field. A resolver is a Python function that returns data. In Strawberry there are two ways of defining resolvers; the first is to pass a function to the field definition, like this:

def get_last_user() -> User:
return User(name="Marco")
@strawberry.type
class Query:
last_user: User = strawberry.field(resolver=get_last_user)

Now when Strawberry executes the following query, it will call the get_last_user function to fetch the data for the lastUser field:

{
lastUser {
name
}
}
{
"data": {
"lastUser": {
"name": "Marco"
}
}
}

Defining resolvers as methods

The other way to define a resolver is to use strawberry.field as a decorator, like here:

@strawberry.type
class Query:
@strawberry.field
def last_user(self) -> User:
return User(name="Marco")

This is useful when you want to co-locate resolvers and types or when you have very small resolvers.

Note

If you’re curious how the self parameter works in the resolver, you can read more about it in the accessing parent data guide .

Defining arguments

Fields can also have arguments; in Strawberry the arguments for a field are defined on the resolver, as you would normally do in a Python function. Let’s define a field on a Query that returns a user by ID:

import strawberry
@strawberry.type
class User:
name: str
@strawberry.type
class Query:
@strawberry.field
def user(self, id: strawberry.ID) -> User:
# here you'd use the `id` to get the user from the database
return User(name="Marco")
type User {
name: String!
}
type Query {
user(id: ID!): User!
}

Optional arguments

Optional or nullable arguments can be expressed using Optional . If you need to differentiate between null (maps to None in Python) and no arguments being passed, you can use UNSET :

from typing import Optional
import strawberry
@strawberry.type
class Query:
@strawberry.field
def hello(self, name: Optional[str] = None) -> str:
if name is None:
return "Hello world!"
return f"Hello {name}!"
@strawberry.field
def greet(self, name: Optional[str] = strawberry.UNSET) -> str:
if name is strawberry.UNSET:
return "Name was not set!"
if name is None:
return "Name was null!"
return f"Hello {name}!"
type Query {
hello(name: String = null): String!
greet(name: String): String!
}

Like this you will get the following responses:

{
unset: greet
null: greet(name: null)
name: greet(name: "Dominique")
}
{
"data": {
"unset": "Name was not set!",
"null": "Name was null!",
"name": "Hello Dominique!"
}
}

Annotated Arguments

Additional metadata can be added to arguments, for example a custom name or deprecation reason, using strawberry.argument with typing.Annotated :

from typing import Optional, Annotated
import strawberry
@strawberry.type
class Query:
@strawberry.field
def greet(
self,
name: Optional[str] = strawberry.UNSET,
is_morning: Annotated[
Optional[bool],
strawberry.argument(
name="morning",
deprecation_reason="The field now automatically detects if it's morning or not",
),
] = None,
) -> str: ...

Accessing execution information

Sometimes it is useful to access the information for the current execution context. Strawberry allows to declare a parameter of type Info that will be automatically passed to the resolver. This parameter contains the information for the current execution context.

import strawberry
from strawberry.types import Info
def full_name(root: "User", info: strawberry.Info) -> str:
return f"{root.first_name} {root.last_name} {info.field_name}"
@strawberry.type
class User:
first_name: str
last_name: str
full_name: str = strawberry.field(resolver=full_name)
Tip

You don’t have to call this parameter info , its name can be anything. Strawberry uses the type to pass the correct value to the resolver.

API

Info objects contain information for the current execution context:

class Info(Generic[ContextType, RootValueType])

Parameter nameTypeDescription
field_namestr The name of the current field (generally camel-cased)
python_namestr The ‘Python name’ of the field (generally snake-cased)
contextContextType The value of the context
root_valueRootValueType The value for the root type
variable_valuesDict[str, Any] The variables for this operation
operationOperationDefinitionNode The ast for the current operation (public API might change in future)
pathPath The path for the current field
selected_fieldsList[SelectedField] Additional information related to the current field
schemaSchema The Strawberry schema instance