Rover schema commands

Explore and search your graph schema from a local SDL file

schema describe

Overview

The rover schema describe command provides structured descriptions of a GraphQL schema. Read from a local SDL file or pipe from stdin. Start with a full schema overview, then zoom into individual types, fields, directives, and arguments using a schema coordinate.

Usage

Bash

1rover schema describe [FILE] [OPTIONS]

Pass - as FILE or omit it entirely to read from stdin.

Coordinate (`--coord`)	What you get
(none)	Schema overview
`Type`	Type description
`Type.field`	Field description and return type
`Type.field(arg:)`	Field argument detail
`@directive`	Directive definition detail
`@directive(arg:)`	Directive argument detail

Options

Option	Description
`-c, --coord <SCHEMA_COORDINATE>`	Schema coordinate to inspect (e.g. `Post`, `User.posts`, `@auth`)
`-d, --depth <N>`	Expand referenced types N levels deep (default: 0)
`--include-deprecated`	Show deprecated fields and values
`-v, --view <VIEW>`	Output view: `description` (default) or `sdl`

Examples

Schema overview

Bash

1rover schema describe schema.graphql

Text

1SCHEMA schema.graphql
2
330 types
486 fields
53 deprecated fields
6
7Operations
8+----------+---+-------------------+
9| Type     | # | Fields            |
10+==================================+
11| Query    | 5 | user              |
12|          |   | post              |
13|          |   | categories        |
14|          |   | search            |
15|          |   | viewer            |
16|----------+---+-------------------|
17| Mutation | 3 | createPost        |
18|          |   | updatePreferences |
19|          |   | deleteComment     |
20+----------+---+-------------------+
21
22Types
23+------------+----+--------------------------+
24| Kind       | #  | Names                    |
25+============================================+
26| objects    | 16 | Category                 |
27|            |    | Comment                  |
28|            |    | CommentConnection        |
29|            |    | CommentEdge              |
30|            |    | CreatePostPayload        |
31|            |    | DeleteCommentPayload     |
32|            |    | PageInfo                 |
33|            |    | Post                     |
34|            |    | PostConnection           |
35|            |    | PostEdge                 |
36|            |    | Preferences              |
37|            |    | SearchResults            |
38|            |    | Tag                      |
39|            |    | UpdatePreferencesPayload |
40|            |    | User                     |
41|            |    | Viewer                   |
42|------------+----+--------------------------|
43| inputs     | 2  | CreatePostInput          |
44|            |    | UpdatePreferencesInput   |
45|------------+----+--------------------------|
46| enums      | 4  | DigestFrequency          |
47|            |    | Role                     |
48|            |    | SearchType               |
49|            |    | SortOrder                |
50|------------+----+--------------------------|
51| interfaces | 3  | Node                     |
52|            |    | Profile                  |
53|            |    | Timestamped              |
54|------------+----+--------------------------|
55| unions     | 1  | ContentItem              |
56|------------+----+--------------------------|
57| scalars    | 2  | DateTime                 |
58|            |    | URL                      |
59+------------+----+--------------------------+

JSON output (--format json)

JSON

1{
2  "Overview": {
3    "schema_source": "schema.graphql",
4    "total_types": 30,
5    "total_fields": 86,
6    "total_deprecated": 3,
7    "query_fields": [
8      { "name": "user", "return_type": { "Named": "User" } },
9      { "name": "post", "return_type": { "Named": "Post" } },
10      { "name": "categories", "return_type": { "NonNullList": { "NonNullNamed": "Category" } } },
11      { "name": "search", "return_type": { "Named": "SearchResults" } },
12      { "name": "viewer", "return_type": { "Named": "Viewer" } }
13    ],
14    "mutation_fields": [
15      { "name": "createPost", "return_type": { "Named": "CreatePostPayload" } },
16      { "name": "updatePreferences", "return_type": { "Named": "UpdatePreferencesPayload" } },
17      { "name": "deleteComment", "return_type": { "Named": "DeleteCommentPayload" } }
18    ],
19    "objects": ["Category", "Comment", "CommentConnection", "CommentEdge", "CreatePostPayload", "DeleteCommentPayload", "PageInfo", "Post", "PostConnection", "PostEdge", "Preferences", "SearchResults", "Tag", "UpdatePreferencesPayload", "User", "Viewer"],
20    "inputs": ["CreatePostInput", "UpdatePreferencesInput"],
21    "enums": ["DigestFrequency", "Role", "SearchType", "SortOrder"],
22    "interfaces": ["Node", "Profile", "Timestamped"],
23    "unions": ["ContentItem"],
24    "scalars": ["DateTime", "URL"]
25  },
26  "success": true
27}

Type description

Bash

1rover schema describe schema.graphql --coord User

Text

1TYPE User (object)
2
3A registered user
4
5implements Node, Profile
6
78 fields
81 deprecated fields
9
10Fields
11+-----------+----------------+-----------------------------+
12| Field     | Type           | Description                 |
13+==========================================================+
14| id        | ID             |                             |
15|-----------+----------------+-----------------------------|
16| name      | String         |                             |
17|-----------+----------------+-----------------------------|
18| email     | String         | The user's email address    |
19|-----------+----------------+-----------------------------|
20| posts     | PostConnection | Posts authored by this user |
21|-----------+----------------+-----------------------------|
22| bio       | String         |                             |
23|-----------+----------------+-----------------------------|
24| avatarUrl | String         |                             |
25|-----------+----------------+-----------------------------|
26| createdAt | String         |                             |
27+-----------+----------------+-----------------------------+
28
29Available via: Query.user, Mutation.createPost -> CreatePostPayload.post -> Post.author

JSON output (--format json)

JSON

1{
2  "Type": {
3    "type": "object",
4    "name": "User",
5    "description": "A registered user",
6    "implements": ["Node", "Profile"],
7    "fields": [
8      { "name": "id", "return_type": "ID", "description": null, "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 0 },
9      { "name": "name", "return_type": "String", "description": null, "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 0 },
10      { "name": "email", "return_type": "String", "description": "The user's email address", "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 0 },
11      { "name": "posts", "return_type": "PostConnection", "description": "Posts authored by this user", "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 2 },
12      { "name": "bio", "return_type": "String", "description": null, "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 0 },
13      { "name": "avatarUrl", "return_type": "String", "description": null, "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 0 },
14      { "name": "createdAt", "return_type": "String", "description": null, "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 0 }
15    ],
16    "field_count": 8,
17    "deprecated_count": 1,
18    "expanded_types": [],
19    "via": [
20      { "segments": [{ "type_name": "Query", "field_name": "user" }] },
21      { "segments": [{ "type_name": "Mutation", "field_name": "createPost" }, { "type_name": "CreatePostPayload", "field_name": "post" }, { "type_name": "Post", "field_name": "author" }] }
22    ]
23  },
24  "success": true
25}

Field description

Bash

1rover schema describe schema.graphql --coord User.posts

Text

1FIELD User.posts: PostConnection
2
3Posts authored by this user
4
52 args
6Args
7+--------+------+-------------------------------------------------+
8| Arg    | Type | Notes                                           |
9+=================================================================+
10| limit  | Int  | Maximum number of posts to return (default: 20) |
11|--------+------+-------------------------------------------------|
12| offset | Int  |                                                 |
13+--------+------+-------------------------------------------------+
14
15Available via: Query.user, Mutation.createPost -> CreatePostPayload.post -> Post.author
16
17Return type: PostConnection (object)
18+----------+----------+
19| Field    | Type     |
20+=====================+
21| edges    | PostEdge |
22|----------+----------|
23| pageInfo | PageInfo |
24+----------+----------+

JSON output (--format json)

JSON

1{
2  "Field": {
3    "type_name": "User",
4    "field_name": "posts",
5    "return_type": { "Named": "PostConnection" },
6    "description": "Posts authored by this user",
7    "arg_count": 2,
8    "args": [
9      { "name": "limit", "arg_type": "Int", "description": "Maximum number of posts to return", "default_value": "20" },
10      { "name": "offset", "arg_type": "Int", "description": null, "default_value": null }
11    ],
12    "via": [
13      { "segments": [{ "type_name": "Query", "field_name": "user" }] },
14      { "segments": [{ "type_name": "Mutation", "field_name": "createPost" }, { "type_name": "CreatePostPayload", "field_name": "post" }, { "type_name": "Post", "field_name": "author" }] }
15    ],
16    "input_expansions": [],
17    "return_expansion": {
18      "kind": "object",
19      "name": "PostConnection",
20      "fields": [
21        { "name": "edges", "return_type": "PostEdge", "description": null, "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 0 },
22        { "name": "pageInfo", "return_type": "PageInfo", "description": null, "is_deprecated": false, "deprecation_reason": null, "arg_count": 0 }
23      ],
24      "implements": [],
25      "implementors": []
26    },
27    "is_deprecated": false,
28    "deprecation_reason": null
29  },
30  "success": true
31}

Field argument detail

Bash

1rover schema describe schema.graphql --coord "User.posts(limit:)"

Text

1FIELD ARG User.posts(limit:): Int
2
3Maximum number of posts to return
4
5Default: 20

JSON output (--format json)

JSON

1{
2  "FieldArg": {
3    "type_name": "User",
4    "field_name": "posts",
5    "arg_name": "limit",
6    "arg_type": { "Named": "Int" },
7    "description": "Maximum number of posts to return",
8    "default_value": "20"
9  },
10  "success": true
11}

Directive description

Bash

1rover schema describe schema.graphql --coord "@auth"

Text

1DIRECTIVE @auth
2
3Marks a field or object as requiring a minimum role
4
5Locations: FIELD_DEFINITION, OBJECT
6
7Args
8+----------+------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
9| Arg      | Type | Notes                                                          |
10+==================================================================================+
11| requires | Role | The minimum role required to access this field (default: USER) |
12+----------+------+----------------------------------------------------------------+

JSON output (--format json)

JSON

1{
2  "Directive": {
3    "name": "auth",
4    "description": "Marks a field or object as requiring a minimum role",
5    "args": [
6      {
7        "name": "requires",
8        "arg_type": "Role",
9        "description": "The minimum role required to access this field",
10        "default_value": "USER"
11      }
12    ],
13    "locations": ["FIELD_DEFINITION", "OBJECT"],
14    "repeatable": false
15  },
16  "success": true
17}

Directive argument detail

Bash

1rover schema describe schema.graphql --coord "@auth(requires:)"

Text

1DIRECTIVE ARG @auth(requires:): Role
2
3The minimum role required to access this field
4
5Default: USER

JSON output (--format json)

JSON

1{
2  "DirectiveArg": {
3    "directive_name": "auth",
4    "arg_name": "requires",
5    "arg_type": "Role",
6    "description": "The minimum role required to access this field",
7    "default_value": "USER"
8  },
9  "success": true
10}

SDL view

Bash

1rover schema describe schema.graphql --coord User --view sdl

Returns the raw SDL for the requested type or directive definition.

Read from stdin

Bash

1cat schema.graphql | rover schema describe --coord Post
2rover schema describe - --coord Post

schema search

Overview

The rover schema search command searches a GraphQL schema for types and fields by keyword and can read from a local SDL file or pipe from stdin. Rover ranks results by match strength — exact name matches first, then stem matches, then fuzzy matches, then description-only matches — up to a configurable limit.

Usage

Bash

1rover schema search [FILE] [TERMS...] [OPTIONS]

Pass the SDL file as FILE followed by one or more search terms. Pass - as FILE to read from stdin.

Query syntax

Single terms. A single keyword searches all name tokens and SDL descriptions:

email — matches User.email, EmailPreferences, sendEmail
post — matches Post, createPost, PostConnection, post_id

AND logic. Space-separate multiple terms to require all of them to match:

"create post" — matches CreatePostInput and Mutation.createPost, but not Post alone (missing create)
"user email" — only returns results where both user and email match the same coordinate

OR clauses. Comma-separate independent queries to return results matching any clause:

"email, creating" — returns everything matching email plus everything matching creating
"create post, delete comment" — each clause can itself be multi-term

Name tokenization. Rover splits names on camelCase and snake_case boundaries before matching, so a term can match any token in the name. Matching is case-insensitive:

post matches createPost (token post), PostConnection (token Post), and post_id (token post)
create matches CreatePostInput, Mutation.createPost, and createPost

Match tiers. Results are ranked strongest-first within each clause:

Tier	Example query	Matches	Why
Exact	`email`	`User.email`	`email` is a name token
Stem	`creating`	`CreatePostInput`, `Mutation.createPost`	`creating` and `create` share the stem `creat`
Fuzzy	`emial`	`User.email`	one transposition from `email` (terms ≥ `4` chars only)
Description	`membership`	`Role`	`membership` appears in the SDL description of `Role`, not in its name

Options

Option	Description
`-n, --limit <N>`	Maximum number of results to return (default: `10`)
`--include-deprecated`	Include deprecated fields and enum values in results

Examples

All examples on this page use the following schema:

schema.graphql

GraphQL

1"""Root query type"""
2type Query {
3  """Get a user by ID"""
4  user(id: ID!): User
5  """Get a post by ID"""
6  post(id: ID!): Post
7}
8
9type Mutation {
10  """Create a new post"""
11  createPost(input: CreatePostInput!): Post
12}
13
14"""A registered user"""
15type User implements Node {
16  id: ID!
17  """The user's email address"""
18  email: String!
19  displayName: String!
20  """Posts authored by this user"""
21  posts: [Post!]!
22  legacyId: String @deprecated(reason: "Use id instead")
23}
24
25"""A content post"""
26type Post implements Node {
27  id: ID!
28  title: String!
29  """The author of this post"""
30  author: User!
31  body: String!
32}
33
34"""An entity with a stable ID"""
35interface Node {
36  id: ID!
37}
38
39"""Membership tier governing access"""
40enum Role {
41  ADMIN
42  USER
43  GUEST @deprecated(reason: "Use USER instead")
44}
45
46input CreatePostInput {
47  """The post title"""
48  title: String!
49  body: String!
50}

Basic search

Bash

1rover schema search schema.graphql email

Text

11 result for "email"
2
3User.email — The user's email address
4  field  ·  via Query.user, Mutation.createPost -> Post.author

JSON output (--format json)

JSON

1{
2  "json_version": "1",
3  "data": {
4    "query": "email",
5    "results": [
6      {
7        "coordinate": "User.email",
8        "kind": "field",
9        "description": "The user's email address",
10        "via": [
11          {
12            "segments": [
13              { "type_name": "Query", "field_name": "user" }
14            ]
15          },
16          {
17            "segments": [
18              { "type_name": "Mutation", "field_name": "createPost" },
19              { "type_name": "Post", "field_name": "author" }
20            ]
21          }
22        ]
23      }
24    ],
25    "success": true
26  },
27  "error": null
28}

Multi-term AND search

All terms must match.

Bash

1rover schema search schema.graphql "create post"

Text

12 results for "create post"
2
3CreatePostInput
4  type
5
6Mutation.createPost — Create a new post
7  field

OR clauses (comma-separated)

Separate independent queries with commas. A result is included if any clause matches.

Bash

1rover schema search schema.graphql "email, creating"

Text

13 results for "email, creating"
2
3User.email — The user's email address
4  field  ·  via Query.user, Mutation.createPost -> Post.author
5
6CreatePostInput
7  type
8
9Mutation.createPost — Create a new post
10  field

Stem match

Terms match names that share an English stem. Searching creating finds names containing create, creates, and created.

Bash

1rover schema search schema.graphql creating

Text

12 results for "creating"
2
3CreatePostInput
4  type
5
6Mutation.createPost — Create a new post
7  field

Description-only match

If a term appears only in an SDL description and not in any name, the result is still included (ranked last).

Bash

1rover schema search schema.graphql membership

Text

11 result for "membership"
2
3Role — Membership tier governing access
4  type

Include deprecated

Rover excludes deprecated fields and enum values by default. Pass --include-deprecated to surface them.

Bash

1rover schema search schema.graphql guest --include-deprecated

Text

11 result for "guest"
2
3Role.GUEST
4  enum value

Limit results

Limit the number of results with -n.

Bash

1rover schema search schema.graphql post -n 2

Text

12 results for "post"
2
3CreatePostInput
4  type
5
6Mutation.createPost — Create a new post
7  field

No results

When no types or fields match, Rover prints a message instead of an empty list.

Bash

1rover schema search schema.graphql xyzzy

Text

1No results for "xyzzy"

Read from stdin

Pass - as FILE to read the schema from stdin instead of a file.

Bash

1cat schema.graphql | rover schema search - email
2rover schema search - email < schema.graphql

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Rover schema commands

schema describe

Overview

Usage

Options

Examples

Schema overview

Type description

Field description

Field argument detail

Directive description

Directive argument detail

SDL view

Read from stdin

schema search

Overview

Usage

Query syntax

Options

Examples

Basic search

Multi-term AND search

OR clauses (comma-separated)

Stem match

Description-only match

Include deprecated

Limit results

No results

Read from stdin