step10-graphql-api.md

Step 10: GraphQL API

In addition to its REST API, NetBox also features a GraphQL API. This can be used to conveniently request arbitrary collections of data about NetBox objects. NetBox's GraphQL API is built using the Graphene and graphene-django library.

🟦 Note: If you skipped the previous step, run git checkout step09-rest-api.

Begin by creating graphql.py. This will hold our object type and query classes.

$ cd netbox_access_lists/
$ edit graphql.py

We'll need to import several resources. First we need Graphene's ObjectType class, as well as NetBox's custom NetBoxObjectType which inherits from it. (The latter will be used for our model types.) We also need the ObjectField and ObjectListField classes provided by NetBox for our query. And finally, import our plugin's models and filtersets modules.

from graphene import ObjectType
from netbox.graphql.types import NetBoxObjectType
from netbox.graphql.fields import ObjectField, ObjectListField
from . import filtersets, models

Create the Object Types

Subclass NetBoxObjectType to create two object type classes, one for each of our models. Just like with the REST API serilizers, create a child Meta class on each defining its model and fields. However, instead of explicitly listing each field by name, in our case we can use the special value __all__ to indicate that we want to include all available model fields. Additionally, declare filterset_class on AccessListRuleType to attach the filter set.

class AccessListType(NetBoxObjectType):

    class Meta:
        model = models.AccessList
        fields = '__all__'


class AccessListRuleType(NetBoxObjectType):

    class Meta:
        model = models.AccessListRule
        fields = '__all__'
        filterset_class = filtersets.AccessListRuleFilterSet

Create the Query

Then we need to create our query class. Subclass Graphene's ObjectType class and define two fields for each model: an object field and a list field.

class Query(ObjectType):
    access_list = ObjectField(AccessListType)
    access_list_list = ObjectListField(AccessListType)

    access_list_rule = ObjectField(AccessListRuleType)
    access_list_rule_list = ObjectListField(AccessListRuleType)

Then we just need to expose our query class to the plugins framework as schema:

schema = Query

🟢 Tip: The path to the query class can be changed by setting graphql_schema in the plugin's configuration class.

To try out the GraphQL API, open <http://netbox:8000/graphql/> in a browser and enter the following query:

query {
  access_list_list {
    id
    name
      rules {
      index
      action
      description
    }
  }
}

You should receive a response showing the ID, name, and rules for each access list in NetBox. Each rule will list its index, action, and description. Experiment with different queries to see what other data you can request. (Refer back to the model definitions for inspiration.)

This completes the plugin development tutorial. Well done! Now you're all set to make a plugin of your own!

⬅️ Step 9: REST API