Setting HTTP Request Headers

Set and forward headers in HTTP requests

Apollo Connectors support adding headers to HTTP requests with the http.headers argument. Like with URLs, you can define header values using a combination of fixed values and dynamic mapping expressions in curly braces ({}).

Headers with static and dynamic values

This example uses a static value for the x-api-version header and a dynamic value with the $config variable for the Authorization header:

GraphQL
Example Connector with headers
1type Query {
2  products: [Product]
3    @connect(
4      http: {
5        GET: "https://myapi.dev/products"
6        headers: [
7          { name: "x-api-version", value: "2024-01-01" }
8          { name: "Authorization", value: "Bearer {$config.token}" }
9        ]
10      }
11      selection: "id"
12    )
13}

Header propagation

You can propagate headers from an incoming client request using the from argument. This example forwards the Authorization header value from a client request to the connected HTTP endpoint.

GraphQL
Example Connector with client header propagation
1type Query {
2  products: [Product]
3    @connect(
4      http: { GET: "https://myapi.dev/products",
5      headers: [{ name: "Authorization", from: "Authorization" }] }
6      selection: "id"
7    )
8}
note
If header rules in your router configuration conflict with headers set in @connect or @source, the router configuration takes precedence.

Shared headers with @source

You can use a source to share a set of headers with multiple Connectors:

GraphQL
Example: Connector with shared headers
1extend schema
2@source(
3  name: "ecomm"
4  http: {
5    baseURL: "https://myapi.dev"
6    headers: [
7      { name: "x-api-version", value: "2024-01-01" }
8      { name: "Authorization", value: "{$config.token}" }
9    ]
10  }
11)
12
13type Query {
14  products: [Product]
15    @connect(
16      source: "ecomm"
17      http: { GET: "/products" }
18      selection: "id"
19    )
20}

Overriding headers

Headers in @connect override headers in @source; they are not combined.

In this example, because @connect includes an Authorization header, the Authorization header from @source is never set on requests to the /products endpoint:

GraphQL
Example: Overriding source headers
1extend schema
2@source(
3  name: "ecomm"
4  http: {
5    baseURL: "https://myapi.dev"
6    headers: [
7      { name: "x-api-version", value: "2024-01-01" }
8      { name: "Authorization", value: "{$config.token}" }
9    ]
10  }
11)
12
13type Query {
14  products: [Product]
15    @connect(
16      source: "ecomm"
17      http: {
18        GET: "/products"
19        headers: [
20          { name: "Authorization", from: "Authorization" }
21        ]
22      }
23      selection: "id"
24    )
25}

The @source header setting is overridden even if the incoming client request doesn't include an Authorization header to propagate.

Additional resources

To test header configurations, use Connector mode in the Connectors Mapping Playground.
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