How to get pivot data in laravel lighthouse?

Question

I use lighthouse package for making my graphql schema (https://github.com/nuwave/lighthouse)

But how to get data from @belongsToMany relationship that is stored in pivot table?

E.g. the Document entity connected N-N to Person entity. And each Person has some meta data in the pivot table.

foreign_citizens: [Person!] @belongsToMany(relation: "foreignCitizens"),

Answer 1

At first you need to get your pivot data in laravel using withPivot at the end of the relation, sth like this:

public function foreignCitizens(): BelongsToMany
{
  return $this->belongsToMany()->withPivot(/* here is a list of your pivot data */);
}

Then you need to define the appropriate type in graphql:

type ForeignCitizenPivot {
  # Here goes the same list again
}

Then add a pivot to your ForeignCitizen type in graphql again:

type ForeignCitizen {
  # other attributes
  pivot: ForeignCitizenPivot 
}

Answer 2

If it's simple data, I like to use model accessors. So, for example, you could add something like this to the model for your metadata.

function getMetaDataItemAttribute() {
    return $this->pivot->meta_data_item;
}

Then in the Graph Schema, if it was a string, for example, you can reference it as a direct property.

type ForeignCitizen {
    # other attributes
    meta_data_item: String 
}