Django GraphQL Explorer

A VS Code extension that discovers and navigates GraphQL schemas in Django projects. Supports Graphene, Strawberry, Ariadne, and .graphql schema files.

Features

Schema Tree Explorer

Browse your entire GraphQL schema from a dedicated Activity Bar panel.

• Auto-detects Django projects with GraphQL frameworks
• Displays Queries, Mutations, Subscriptions, and Types in a collapsible tree
• Click to preview GraphQL SDL, double-click to jump to Python source
• Real-time search with regex, case-sensitive, and whole-word toggle
• Sort alphabetically (A-Z / Z-A)

Frontend-Backend Mapping (CodeLens)

Automatically maps frontend gql queries to backend Python classes.

// CodeLens appears above each field:
// → ProductQuery.product [Query]
gql`
  query ProductById($productId: ID!) {
    product(productId: $productId) {
      id
      name
    }
  }
`;

• Matches gql, graphql tagged templates, /* GraphQL */ comments
• Handles ${fragment} template expressions
• Supports query, mutation, and type field matching
• Click CodeLens to jump to the Python class definition

Hover Information

Hover over any field inside a gql template to see:

• Backend class and field name mapping (camelCase -> snake_case)
• Resolved type information
• Field arguments
• Missing fields not queried from the backend type
• Clickable link to view all missing fields

Schema Preview

Click any class in the tree to preview its GraphQL schema in frontend query style:

query ProductQuery($productId: ID!) {
  product(productId: $productId) {
    id
    name
    category {
      id
      name
      slug
    }
  }
}

• Types expanded inline (not as separate definitions)
• Arguments shown with variable declarations
• snake_case auto-converted to camelCase

Live Query Inspector

Open a side-by-side panel that auto-follows the cursor inside any gql/graphql template. It shows:

• The operation signature (query X($var: Type!, …)) with every variable declared at the top
• Per-field backend args, but only the args the user actually passed — not every arg the backend allows
• A JSON-tree view of the entire selection with missing-field markers and frontend-only markers
• Lazy ▸ expand markers on any subtree truncated by the depth cap or cycle guard — click to load another two levels on demand, same as a debugger inspecting a variable

Open via Django GraphQL: Open Live Query Structure (Command Palette) or the icon in the Schema Explorer title bar.

Typed Graphene Patterns

The parser understands modern graphene codebases that mix @dataclass types, TypedField, and TypedDict-based argument containers:

@dataclass
class ItemListSummary:
    total_count: int
    active_count: int
    ...

class ItemListQuery:
    class ItemListArguments(TypedDict):
        account_id: IDStr
        page: NotRequired[int]

    item_list = TypedField(
        ItemList,
        **ItemListArguments.__annotations__,
    )

• list[X] / Optional[X] / X | None / Union[X, None] unwrap to X
• Python primitives (str/int/float/bool/Decimal/UUID/datetime.*) map to GraphQL scalars for leaf display
• **ArgsClass.__annotations__ / **Unpack[ArgsClass] expands to the class's annotation fields (including inherited TypedDict chains)
• Mutation args come from X.Field() → X.Arguments / X.TypedArguments / X.Input (including dotted inheritance across nested typed argument classes)

Supported Frameworks

Performance

• File-level caching with SHA-256 content hashing
• Cold start: ~7s, warm cache (no changes): ~1-2s
• Incremental: only changed files re-parsed
• Cache persists across VS Code sessions

Requirements

• VS Code 1.75.0+
• A Django project with one of the supported GraphQL frameworks

Commands

Extension Settings

No further configuration required. The extension auto-detects projects on activation.

Known Limitations

• Fields defined via @property or dynamic resolve_* methods without class-level field declarations may not be detected
• Import aliases across deeply nested module chains may occasionally break class resolution
• Common field names (id, name) may match imprecise types when resolvedType is unavailable

License

MIT