Using curl to Run GraphQL Queries from the Command Line

Running GraphQL queries from the command line using curl can be made simple and readable. Here’s an example of how to query the GitHub GraphQL API using curl, tested in both bash and zsh. Replace TOKEN with your GitHub API personal access token.

curl -s https://api.github.com/graphql -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "$(jq -c -n --arg query '
{
  search(type: REPOSITORY, query: "user:assahw topic:git-scraping", first: 100) {
    repositoryCount
    nodes {
      __typename
      ... on Repository {
        nameWithOwner
        description
        defaultBranchRef {
          name
          target {
            ... on Commit {
              committedDate
              url
              message
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}' '{"query":$query}')"

This command constructs and submits a GraphQL query encoded in JSON, using jq for JSON handling.

Building a JSON Document with jq

The query needs to be encoded as a JSON document like this:

{"query":"\n{\n  search(type: REPOSITORY, query: \"user:assah topic:git-scraping\", first: 100) {\n    repositoryCount\n    nodes {\n      __typename\n      ... on Repository {\n        nameWithOwner\n        description\n        defaultBranchRef {\n          name\n          target {\n            ... on Commit {\n              committedDate\n              url\n              message\n            }\n          }\n        }\n      }\n    }\n  }\n}"}

This is generated using the following jq command:

jq -c -n --arg query '
{
  search(type: REPOSITORY, query: "user:assah topic:git-scraping", first: 100) {
    repositoryCount
    nodes {
      __typename
      ... on Repository {
        nameWithOwner
        description
        defaultBranchRef {
          name
          target {
            ... on Commit {
              committedDate
              url
              message
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}' '{"query":$query}'

Explanation of jq Options

• -c: Produces compact JSON output.
• -n: Creates JSON from scratch without reading input.
• --arg: Sets a variable within jq to a specified string.
• The final JSON document is constructed using {"query":$query}.

Passing JSON to curl with ”$()”

The JSON document is passed to curl using the -d option:

-d "$(jq -c -n --arg query ...)"

The "$(...)" syntax ensures that the entire JSON output is treated as a single value, even with internal whitespace or quotes.

Example JSON Output

A truncated example of the JSON response:

{
  "data": {
    "search": {
      "repositoryCount": 22,
      "nodes": [
        {
          "__typename": "Repository",
          "nameWithOwner": "assah/csv-diff",
          "description": "Python CLI tool and library for diffing CSV and JSON files",
          "defaultBranchRef": {
            "name": "main",
            "target": {
              "committedDate": "2021-02-23T02:53:11Z",
              "url": "https://github.com/assahw/csv-diff/commit/33e0a5918283c02a339a1fb507fc7a9cda89a198",
              "message": "Handle missing JSON keys, refs #13"
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Combining with sqlite-utils insert

To create a SQLite database with records for repositories tagged git-scraping, use:

curl https://api.github.com/graphql -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "$(jq -c -n --arg query '
{
  search(type: REPOSITORY, query: "user:assah topic:git-scraping", first: 100) {
    repositoryCount
    nodes {
      __typename
      ... on Repository {
        nameWithOwner
        description
        defaultBranchRef {
          name
          target {
            ... on Commit {
              committedDate
              url
              message
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}' '{"query":$query}')" \
  | jq .data.search.nodes | sqlite-utils insert /tmp/github.db repos - --flatten

Explanation

• jq .data.search.nodes: Extracts the nodes array from the JSON response.
• sqlite-utils insert /tmp/github.db repos - --flatten: Inserts the array into a SQLite database table named repos. The --flatten option ensures nested fields are expanded into columns.

Final Table Schema

The resulting SQLite table schema:

CREATE TABLE [repos] (
   [__typename] TEXT,
   [nameWithOwner] TEXT,
   [description] TEXT,
   [defaultBranchRef_name] TEXT,
   [defaultBranchRef_target_committedDate] TEXT,
   [defaultBranchRef_target_url] TEXT,
   [defaultBranchRef_target_message] TEXT
);

This post was originally written by Simon. Iliked the post and wanted to add it here for future reference.