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Tenants

A module: - Encapsulates its GraphQL SDL (*.graphqls) under a fixed directory. - Owns the resolvers that implement the fields declared in that SDL. - Contributes its slice of the overall app surface, which is later assembled into a central schema.

The real “visibility” and “security” behavior comes from schemas and scopes. Modules help you organize business subdomains cleanly; schemas/scopes decide what is exposed at runtime.

StarWars modules

universe

Focus: the in-universe graph of entities and their relationships. Typical modules include characters, planets, species, and cross-entity links (for example, a character’s homeworld or species).

Common fields and patterns:

  • Character.id, Character.name, Character.homeworld, Character.species.

filmography

Focus: the catalog of films and character appearances. Typical modules cover films and derived relationships such as “which characters appear in which film”.

Common fields and patterns:

  • Film.id, Film.title, Film.releaseDate.
  • Film.characters (list of appearing characters).

Where module SDL lives

Each module keeps its schema files in a stable location so the build can find them:

/<modules>/
  └─ src/main/viaduct/schema/*.graphqls

Concrete examples from this repo:

modules/filmography/src/main/viaduct/schema/Character.graphqls
modules/filmography/src/main/viaduct/schema/Film.graphqls
modules/universe/src/main/viaduct/schema/Planet.graphqls
modules/universe/src/main/viaduct/schema/Species.graphqls
modules/universe/src/main/viaduct/schema/Starship.graphqls
modules/universe/src/main/viaduct/schema/Vehicle.graphqls

During the build, these are transformed into a central schema that merges all partitions.

Where module resolvers live

Resolvers for each module are implemented in the module’s Kotlin sources.

Concrete examples (filmography):

modules/filmography/src/main/kotlin/com/example/starwars/modules/filmography/films/queries/AllFilmsQueryResolver.kt
modules/filmography/src/main/kotlin/com/example/starwars/modules/filmography/films/resolvers/FilmNodeResolver.kt
modules/filmography/src/main/kotlin/com/example/starwars/modules/filmography/films/resolvers/CharactersFieldResolver.kt
modules/filmography/src/main/kotlin/com/example/starwars/modules/filmography/films/resolvers/PlanetsFieldResolver.kt
modules/filmography/src/main/kotlin/com/example/starwars/modules/filmography/characters/resolvers/FilmCountBatchResolver.kt

The com.airbnb.viaduct.module-gradle-plugin also generates resolver base classes you extend, under:

modules/<module>/build/generated-sources/viaduct/resolverBases/...

(For example: CharacterResolvers.kt, FilmResolvers.kt, QueryResolvers.kt, NodeResolvers.kt.)

How modules are assembled

The builder : 1. Discovers all SDL files per module (schema partitions). 2. Registers schema IDs that point to a concrete surface (public vs extras). 3. At runtime, the controller chooses a schemaId (see determineSchemaId(scopes)) and builds an ExecutionInput. 4. Viaduct executes the request against that schema, applying @scope visibility during planning.

See the Schemas and Scope pages for runtime selection and visibility rules.

What belongs in a module

  • SDL files (*.graphqls) for the domain’s types, queries, and directives (use @scope, @idOf, @oneOf where appropriate).
  • Resolvers implementing the domain’s behavior (queryresolvers, fieldresolvers, batchresolvers, mutations).
  • Tests providing integration coverage for the module’s surface.