---
title: Custom scalars and enums
description: Add custom scalar and enum types to a schema.
---

The GraphQL specification includes the following default scalar types: `Int`, `Float`, `String`, `Boolean` and `ID`. While this covers most of the use cases, some need to support custom atomic data types (e.g. `Date`), or add validation an existing type. To enable this, GraphQL allows custom scalar types. Enumerations are similar to custom scalars with the limitation that their values can only be one of a pre-defined list of strings.

<h2 id="custom-scalars">Custom scalars</h2>

To define a custom scalar, add it to the schema string with the following notation:

```js
scalar MyCustomScalar
```

Afterwards, define the behavior of a `MyCustomScalar` custom scalar by passing an instance of the [`GraphQLScalarType`](http://graphql.org/graphql-js/type/#graphqlscalartype) class in the [resolver map](https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphql-tools/resolvers.html#Resolver-map). This instance can be defined with a [dependency](#Using-a-package) or in [source code](#graphqlscalartype).

For more information about GraphQL's type system, please refer to the [official documentation](http://graphql.org/graphql-js/type/) or to the [Learning GraphQL](https://github.com/mugli/learning-graphql/blob/master/7.%20Deep%20Dive%20into%20GraphQL%20Type%20System.md) tutorial.

Note that [Apollo Client does not currently have a way to automatically interpret custom scalars](https://github.com/apollostack/apollo-client/issues/585), so there's no way to automatically reverse the serialization on the client.

### Using a package

Here, we'll take the [graphql-type-json](https://github.com/taion/graphql-type-json) package as an example to demonstrate what can be done. This npm package defines a JSON GraphQL scalar type.

Add the `graphql-type-json` package to the project's dependencies :

```shell
$ npm install --save graphql-type-json
```

In code, require the type defined by in the npm package and use it :

```js
const { ApolloServer, gql } = require('apollo-server');
const GraphQLJSON = require('graphql-type-json');

const schemaString = gql`

scalar JSON

type Foo {
  aField: JSON
}

type Query {
  foo: Foo
}

`;

const resolveFunctions = {
  JSON: GraphQLJSON
};

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs: schemaString, resolvers: resolveFunctions });

server.listen().then(({ url }) => {
  console.log(`🚀 Server ready at ${url}`)
});
```

Remark : `GraphQLJSON` is a [`GraphQLScalarType`](http://graphql.org/graphql-js/type/#graphqlscalartype) instance.

<h3 id="graphqlscalartype" title="GraphQLScalarType">Custom `GraphQLScalarType` instance</h3>

Defining a [GraphQLScalarType](http://graphql.org/graphql-js/type/#graphqlscalartype) instance provides more control over the custom scalar and can be added to Apollo server in the following way:

```js
const { ApolloServer, gql } = require('apollo-server');
const { GraphQLScalarType, Kind } = require('graphql');

const myCustomScalarType = new GraphQLScalarType({
  name: 'MyCustomScalar',
  description: 'Description of my custom scalar type',
  serialize(value) {
    let result;
    // Implement custom behavior by setting the 'result' variable
    return result;
  },
  parseValue(value) {
    let result;
    // Implement custom behavior here by setting the 'result' variable
    return result;
  },
  parseLiteral(ast) {
    switch (ast.kind) {
      case Kind.Int:
      // return a literal value, such as 1 or 'static string'
    }
  }
});

const schemaString = gql`

scalar MyCustomScalar

type Foo {
  aField: MyCustomScalar
}

type Query {
  foo: Foo
}

`;

const resolverFunctions = {
  MyCustomScalar: myCustomScalarType
};

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs: schemaString, resolvers: resolveFunctions });

server.listen().then(({ url }) => {
  console.log(`🚀 Server ready at ${url}`)
});
```

<h2 id="examples">Custom scalar examples</h2>

Let's look at a couple of examples to demonstrate how a custom scalar type can be defined.

### Date as a scalar

The goal is to define a `Date` data type for returning `Date` values from the database. Let's say we're using a MongoDB driver that uses the native JavaScript `Date` data type. The `Date` data type can be easily serialized as a number using the [`getTime()` method](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date/getTime). Therefore, we would like our GraphQL server to send and receive `Date`s as numbers when serializing to JSON. This number will be resolved to a `Date` on the server representing the date value. On the client, the user can simply create a new date from the received numeric value.

The following is the implementation of the `Date` data type. First, the schema:

```js
const typeDefs = gql`scalar Date

type MyType {
   created: Date
}
`
```

Next, the resolver:

```js
const { GraphQLScalarType } = require('graphql');
const { Kind } = require('graphql/language');

const resolvers = {
  Date: new GraphQLScalarType({
    name: 'Date',
    description: 'Date custom scalar type',
    parseValue(value) {
      return new Date(value); // value from the client
    },
    serialize(value) {
      return value.getTime(); // value sent to the client
    },
    parseLiteral(ast) {
      if (ast.kind === Kind.INT) {
        return parseInt(ast.value, 10); // ast value is always in string format
      }
      return null;
    },
  }),
};

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

server.listen().then(({ url }) => {
  console.log(`🚀 Server ready at ${url}`)
});
```

### Validations

In this example, we follow the [official GraphQL documentation](http://graphql.org/docs/api-reference-type-system/) for the scalar datatype, which demonstrates how to validate a database field that should only contain odd numbers in GraphQL. First, the schema:

```js
const typeDefs = gql`scalar Odd

type MyType {
    oddValue: Odd
}
`
```

Next, the resolver:

```js
const { ApolloServer, gql } = require('apollo-server');
const { GraphQLScalarType } = require('graphql');
const { Kind } = require('graphql/language');

function oddValue(value) {
  return value % 2 === 1 ? value : null;
}

const resovers = {
  Odd: new GraphQLScalarType({
    name: 'Odd',
    description: 'Odd custom scalar type',
    parseValue: oddValue,
    serialize: oddValue,
    parseLiteral(ast) {
      if (ast.kind === Kind.INT) {
        return oddValue(parseInt(ast.value, 10));
      }
      return null;
    },
  }),
};

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

server.listen().then(({ url }) => {
  console.log(`🚀 Server ready at ${url}`)
});
```

<h2 id="enums">Enums</h2>

An Enum is similar to a scalar type, but it can only be one of several values defined in the schema. Enums are most useful in a situation where the user must pick from a prescribed list of options. Additionally enums improve development velocity, since they will auto-complete in tools like GraphQL Playground.

In the schema language, an enum looks like this:

```graphql
enum AllowedColor {
  RED
  GREEN
  BLUE
}
```

An enum can be used anywhere a scalar can be:

```graphql
type Query {
  favoriteColor: AllowedColor # As a return value
  avatar(borderColor: AllowedColor): String # As an argument
}
```

A query migh look like this:

```graphql
query {
  avatar(borderColor: RED)
}
```

To pass the enum value as a variable, use a string of JSON, like so:

```graphql
query MyAvatar($color: AllowedColor) {
  avatar(borderColor: $color)
}
```

```js
{
  "color": "RED"
}
```

Putting it all together:

```js
const { ApolloServer, gql } = require('apollo-server');

const typeDefs = gql`
  enum AllowedColor {
    RED
    GREEN
    BLUE
  }

  type Query {
    favoriteColor: AllowedColor # As a return value
    avatar(borderColor: AllowedColor): String # As an argument
  }
`;

const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    favoriteColor: () => 'RED',
    avatar: (root, args) => {
      // args.favoriteColor is 'RED', 'GREEN', or 'BLUE'
    },
  }
};

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

server.listen().then(({ url }) => {
  console.log(`🚀 Server ready at ${url}`)
});
```

<h3 id="internal-values">Internal values</h3>

Sometimes a backend forces a different value for an enum internally than in the public API. In this exmple the API contains `RED`, however in resolvers we use `#f00` instead. The `resolvers` argument to `ApolloServer` allows the addition custom values to enums that only exist internally:

```js
const resolvers = {
  AllowedColor: {
    RED: '#f00',
    GREEN: '#0f0',
    BLUE: '#00f',
  }
};
```

These don't change the public API at all and the resovers accept these value instead of the schema value, like so:

```js
const resolvers = {
  AllowedColor: {
    RED: '#f00',
    GREEN: '#0f0',
    BLUE: '#00f',
  },
  Query: {
    favoriteColor: () => '#f00',
    avatar: (root, args) => {
      // args.favoriteColor is '#f00', '#0f0', or '#00f'
    },
  }
};
```

Most of the time, this feature of enums isn't used unless interoperating with another library that expects its values in a different form.