Headless CMS for Swift

Hygraph is the ideal Headless CMS for Swift websites and applications. Read further to learn how our API-first CMS allows you to add components to your Swift apps in minutes and enable your website's content to be managed from a powerful CMS.

Step #1 - Set up the GraphQL client

First, you set up the GraphQL client, often using a library like Apollo iOS, which requires you to initialize the client with the API's URL.

ApolloClientSetup.swift

import Apollo

class Network {
    static let shared = Network()
    private(set) lazy var apollo = ApolloClient(url: URL(string: "https://api-<region>.hygraph.com/v2/<some hash>/master")!)
}

Step #2 - Define the query and fetch the data

Next, you'll define the query and fetch the data from the API. Usually the query should be defined in a separate .graphql file, however, you can also define it directly in the Swift code.

The DataService singleton class defines a fetchData function that executes a query and handles the asynchronous result. On success, it extracts the data and passes it to the completion handler. On failure, it consolidates GraphQL errors into a single message or relays network errors, invoking the handler with the appropriate error.

GraphQLQuery.swift

import Foundation
import Apollo

class DataService {
    static let shared = DataService()

    func fetchData(completion: @escaping (Result<YourDataType, Error>) -> Void) {
        Network.shared.apollo.fetch(query: YourDataQuery()) { result in
            switch result {
            case .success(let graphQLResult):
                if let data = graphQLResult.data {
                    // Handle your data
                    completion(.success(data))
                } else if let errors = graphQLResult.errors {
                    // GraphQL errors
                    let message = errors
                                    .map { $0.localizedDescription }
                                    .joined(separator: "\n")
                    completion(.failure(NSError(domain: "", code: 0, userInfo: [NSLocalizedDescriptionKey: message])))
                }
            case .failure(let error):
                // Network or response format errors
                completion(.failure(error))
            }
        }
    }
}

Construct the UI using SwiftUI or UIKit

Finally, you can use construct the UI with the data you received from the GraphQL API. It presents a list of items fetched from the GraphQL API. The view uses the .onAppear modifier to trigger data fetching when it appears on screen.

In case of an error, an alert is presented to the user. The view automatically updates to reflect the current state of the data, demonstrating SwiftUI's declarative UI approach where views are a function of their state.

ContentView.swift

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var data: YourDataType?
    @State private var errorMessage: String?

    var body: some View {
        NavigationView {
            List(data?.items ?? [], id: \.id) { item in
                Text(item.name)
            }
            .navigationTitle("Items")
            .onAppear {
                DataService.shared.fetchData { result in
                    switch result {
                    case .success(let data):
                        self.data = data
                    case .failure(let error):
                        self.errorMessage = error.localizedDescription
                    }
                }
            }
            .alert(isPresented: .constant(errorMessage != nil), content: {
                Alert(title: Text("Error"), message: Text(errorMessage ?? "Unknown error"), dismissButton: .default(Text("OK")))
            })
        }
    }
}

Start building with Swift

We made it really easy to set up your project in Hygraph and use our GraphQL API within your Swift project.

Quickstart

Check out our docs to see how you can quickly set up your Hygraph project and enable the content API for your Swift app.

Get Started

Learn GraphQL

Hygraph is GraphQL-native Headless CMS offers precise data retrieval, minimizing over-fetching and optimizing efficiency.

Read the Guide

Examples

Look at some of the example projects to see Hygraph in action.

See Examples

Why Hygraph

Choosing Hygraph for your Swift project

Using a GraphQL-native headless CMS with a Swift application benefits developers through GraphQL's efficient data queries, enabling precise and fast data retrieval and simplifying development. Content editors get an intuitive interface for easy content management, independent of the app’s technical details.

This combination promotes quick content updates and a smooth user experience, enhancing the overall responsiveness of iOS applications.

Developer Experience

We try to be the most un-opinionated CMS on the market with a wide collection of open source example projects to get you started.

Headless CMS

As a headless CMS (i.e. API based content management), you can be as modular and flexible as you need. We even support multiplatform content management.

Management API

Hygraph boasts a flexible and powerful management API to manage your content and schema, as well as a blazing fast content API.

Get started for free, or request a demo to discuss larger projects

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