The cycle of creating Connectors - The Weekly Wisdom - Edition #7

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:graduation_cap: Welcome to The Weekly Wisdom

:spiral_calendar: Edition #7 - 19 Jun 2025
:label: Topic tags - Connectors odyssey
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Hey all! :waving_hand: @Michelle_Mabuyo here from the Apollo Education team. I’m a Developer Educator and I build courses for Odyssey, our official learning platform.

I’m back for the next edition of a multi-part series to teach you the basics of Apollo Connectors: a powerful way to bring existing REST APIs into your graph, all through configuration in the schema.

:light_bulb:This week’s learning: The cycle of creating Connectors

To write a Connector, you’ll typically follow this iterative process:

  1. Start with your schema: define the types and fields that represent the shape of your API.
  2. Configure the request: What REST endpoint do you need to call to get the data for those types and fields? Add those details to the @connect directive, specifically in source and http.
  3. Configure the response: Which properties from the JSON response do you need? Map them back to match your schema. Add those details to the @connect directive, specifically in selection.
  4. Run and test: Using Sandbox and Rover for local development, test your changes. Don’t forget to reference the Connectors Debugger to fix those mapping errors!

If you’re new to Connectors, we recommend starting simple! Pick an endpoint that doesn’t require any headers, API keys, or arguments. Start with only one or two fields. And build from there!

:magnifying_glass_tilted_right: Want to go deeper?

You’ll get hands-on practice repeating the cycle in the Odyssey tutorial “GraphQL meets REST with Apollo Connectors”, building on foundational concepts as you implement more features in the graph.

Take the course

:speech_balloon: Share your thoughts in the thread below :down_arrow:

What part of the connector creation cycle do you find the most straightforward? What part feels trickiest?

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