Setting up a secure (wss) websockets server with Apollo and GraphQL - websocket

Question

I am using the following pattern to set up a websockets connection for Apollo/GraphQL subscriptions:
import express from 'express';
import {
graphqlExpress,
graphiqlExpress,
} from 'apollo-server-express';
import bodyParser from 'body-parser';
import cors from 'cors';
import { execute, subscribe } from 'graphql';
import { createServer } from 'http';
import { SubscriptionServer } from 'subscriptions-transport-ws';
import { schema } from './src/schema';
const PORT = 3000;
const server = express();
server.use('*', cors({ origin: `http://localhost:${PORT}` }));
server.use('/graphql', bodyParser.json(), graphqlExpress({
schema
}));
server.use('/graphiql', graphiqlExpress({
endpointURL: '/graphql',
subscriptionsEndpoint: `ws://localhost:${PORT}/subscriptions`
}));
// Wrap the Express server
const ws = createServer(server);
ws.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`Apollo Server is now running on http://localhost:${PORT}`);
// Set up the WebSocket for handling GraphQL subscriptions
new SubscriptionServer({
execute,
subscribe,
schema
}, {
server: ws,
path: '/subscriptions',
});
});
How can I change the connection to use the secure websockets protocol? Simply changing 'ws://' to 'wss://' does not work.

Answer 1

I made a sample for graphql-subscription websocket secure connection.
Here is link: https://github.com/mrdulin/apollo-server-express-starter/tree/master/src/subscription/wss-with-nodejs-server
The key point is you need tls or ssl credentials.
For development, you can generate self-signed credentials using openssl.

Answer 2

You need to use the https instead of the http package.
You also would need to have a certificate. Eather a self-signed or from a certification authority.
It could look like this:
import { createServer } from 'https';
...
// load / get certificate
...
const wss = createServer(sslCredentails, server);
wss.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`Apollo Server is now running on https://localhost:${PORT}`);
// Set up the WebSocket for handling GraphQL subscriptions
new SubscriptionServer({
execute,
subscribe,
schema
}, {
server: wss,
path: '/subscriptions',
});
});