Next.js serverless PWA with GraphQL (Apollo) and Postgres SQL boilerplate

Note: this is my v3 boilerplate for React web apps. See also my Firebase and React Hooks boilerplate, Redux + REST + Postgres SQL boilerplate and REST + MongoDB boilerplate.

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Why is this awesome?

This is a great template for a any project where you want React (with Hooks) (with server-side rendering, powered by Next.js) as frontend and GraphQL and Postgres SQL as backend. Lightning fast, all JavaScript.

• Great starting point for a PWA (Progressive Web App).
• Both front-end client and GraphQL/SQL server in one project.
• NEW: Can be deployed as serverless functions on Zeit Now.
• A fast Postgres SQL database server.
• GraphQL API with Apollo.
• React Hooks for business logic.
• PWA features such as manifest.json and offline support (next-offline).
• Easy to style the visual theme using CSS (e.g. using Design Profile Generator).
• sitemap.xml and robots.txt support.
• Google Analytics and google-site-verification support (see config/config.js).
• Flexible configuration with config/config.js and .env file.
• Hot reloading with nodemon.
• Unit testing with Jasmine (yarn unit).
• Code linting and formatting with StandardJS (yarn lint/yarn fix).

Demo

See nextjs-pwa-graphql-sql-boilerplate running on Zeit Now here.

How to use

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/tomsoderlund/nextjs-pwa-graphql-sql-boilerplate.git [MY_APP]

Remove the .git folder since you want to create a new repository

rm -rf .git

Install dependencies:

cd [MY_APP]
yarn  # or npm install

Install Postgres and set up the database:

psql postgres  # Start the Postgres command-line client

CREATE DATABASE "nextjs-pwa-graphql-sql";  -- You can also use \connect to connect to existing database
\connect "nextjs-pwa-graphql-sql";
CREATE TABLE article (id serial, title varchar(200), content text);  -- Create a blank table
INSERT INTO article (title) VALUES ('The first article');  -- Add example data
SELECT * FROM article;  -- Check data exists
\q

Configure the .env file.

Start it by doing the following:

yarn dev  # or 'yarn now' to run with Zeit Now serverless

In production:

yarn build
yarn start

If you navigate to http://localhost:3003/ you will see a web page with a list of articles (or an empty list if you haven’t added one).

GraphQL client and server

Your GraphQL API server is running at http://localhost:3003/api/graphql. Try the GraphQL playground on the demo server.

Deploying

You can either deploy as a serverless deployment, or as a traditional Express server.

Depending on which deployment you make, some files are unnecessary*.

Deploying serverless (on Zeit Now)

Run in development mode with:

yarn now

Deploy to Now with:

yarn deploy

*Unnecessary files:

• apollo-server-express module
• /server folder

(Shortcut: yarn remove apollo-server-express; rm -rf server)

Deploying as Express server (on Heroku)

heroku create [MY_APP]
heroku addons:create heroku-postgresql:hobby-dev
git push heroku master

*Unnecessary files:

• /api folder
• apollo-server-micro module

(Shortcut: yarn remove apollo-server-micro; rm -rf api)

Modifying the app to your needs

Change app name

Do search/replace for "nextjs-pwa-graphql-sql-boilerplate" AND "nextjs-pwa-graphql-sql" to something else.

Change name in public/manifest.json

Renaming “Article” to something else

The database item is called “Article”, but you probably want something else in your app.

Rename the files:

mkdir graphql/{newName}
mv graphql/article/hooks.js graphql/{newName}/hooks.js
mv graphql/article/queries.js graphql/{newName}/queries.js
mv graphql/article/resolvers.js graphql/{newName}/resolvers.js
mv graphql/article/schema.js graphql/{newName}/schema.js
rm -r graphql/article
mkdir -p components/{newName}s
mv components/articles/ArticleList.js components/{newName}s/{NewName}List.js
mv components/articles/ArticleListItem.js components/{newName}s/{NewName}ListItem.js
mv components/articles/ArticleDetails.js components/{newName}s/{NewName}Details.js
rm -r components/articles
mkdir pages/{newName}s
mv "pages/articles/[article].js" "pages/{newName}s/[{newName}].js"
rm -r pages/articles

Then, do search/replace inside the files for different casing: article, Article, ARTICLE

Create a new data model/object type

yarn model  # Creates a new folder graphql/newObject with 4 empty JS files inside

Change port number

Do search/replace for "3003" to something else.

How to remove/replace SQL database

1. Remove references to graphql/postgres
2. graphql/article/resolvers.js: remove “sql*” references

Change visual theme (CSS)

1. Change colors in public/manifest.json
2. Change CSS in public/app.css
3. Change font in PageHead.js