Transport Layers

Grant exposes two API transports that share the same backend (handlers, services, repositories):

Transport	Endpoint	Documentation
REST	/api/*	Swagger UI
GraphQL	/graphql	Apollo Sandbox

Both accept Authorization: Bearer <token> for authentication and use the same scope: { tenant, id } pattern for multi-tenancy.

When to Use Which

Use case	Recommended	Why
OAuth flows (GitHub login)	REST	Requires browser redirects
CI/CD scripts, curl	REST	Simpler to call from shell
Swagger exploration	REST	Interactive docs out of the box
Token exchange (API keys)	REST	POST /api/auth/token is REST-only
JWKS discovery	REST	Standard .well-known endpoint
Web dashboard	GraphQL	Field selection, batching, Apollo Client
Complex nested queries	GraphQL	Query exactly the fields you need
Code generation	GraphQL	Types from @grantjs/schema codegen

Endpoint Parity

Most operations are available in both transports. A few are REST-only due to their nature (browser redirects, file downloads, well-known discovery). No operations are GraphQL-only.

REST-Only Endpoints

Endpoint	Purpose
GET /api/auth/github	Initiate GitHub OAuth — redirects browser to GitHub
GET /api/auth/github/callback	Handle GitHub OAuth callback — redirect handler
POST /api/auth/cli-callback	Exchange one-time CLI code for session tokens
POST /api/auth/token	Exchange API key credentials for JWT
POST /api/auth/is-authorized	Authorization check (used by @grantjs/server SDK)
GET /api/me/export	GDPR data export (returns file download)
GET /.well-known/jwks.json	JWKS public key discovery (+ scoped variants)
GET /api/signing-keys	List signing keys for a project
POST /api/signing-keys/rotate	Rotate a project signing key

Shared Operations

All CRUD operations for these resources are available in both REST and GraphQL:

Organizations, Projects, Users, Roles, Groups, Permissions, Resources, Tags, API Keys, Organization Invitations, Organization Members.

Authentication mutations (login, register, refresh, logout, verify email, password reset) are also available in both.

Scoping

Both transports use the same scope model. The only difference is how scope is passed:

REST — Query parameters for reads, request body for writes:

# GET (query params)
GET /api/roles?scopeId=<orgId>:<projectId>&tenant=organizationProject

# POST (body)
POST /api/roles
{ "name": "Editor", "scope": { "tenant": "organizationProject", "id": "<orgId>:<projectId>" } }

GraphQL — Always in the input argument:

mutation {
  createRole(
    input: { name: "Editor", scope: { tenant: organizationProject, id: "<orgId>:<projectId>" } }
  ) {
    id
    name
  }
}

Authentication

Both transports accept the same JWT token:

Authorization: Bearer <accessToken>

GraphQL additionally supports cookie-based authentication (HttpOnly refresh token cookie) for the web dashboard. The REST API uses the same cookie mechanism for browser-based sessions.

Error Formats

Errors carry the same code values across both transports, but the response envelope differs:

REST:

{
  "error": "User not found",
  "code": "NOT_FOUND"
}

GraphQL:

{
  "data": null,
  "errors": [
    {
      "message": "User not found",
      "extensions": { "code": "NOT_FOUND" }
    }
  ]
}

See Error Handling for the full reference.

GraphQL Sandbox

In non-production environments, the GraphQL endpoint at /graphql serves the Apollo Sandbox — an embedded IDE for building and testing queries.

To authenticate in the sandbox:

1. Open http://localhost:4000/graphql
2. Click the Headers tab at the bottom
3. Add: { "Authorization": "Bearer <accessToken>" }
4. Write and execute queries/mutations

Introspection

Schema introspection is enabled by default in non-production environments (APOLLO_INTROSPECTION=true). It is automatically disabled in production.

GraphQL Operations

The GraphQL API provides 19 queries and 56 mutations. Key operation groups:

Group	Queries	Mutations
Authentication	me, isAuthorized	login, register, refreshSession, verifyEmail, resetPassword, ...
Organizations	organizations, organizationMembers, organizationInvitations	createOrganization, inviteMember, acceptInvitation, ...
Projects	projects	createProject, updateProject, deleteProject
RBAC	roles, groups, permissions, resources	CRUD for each
Users	users	createUser, updateUser, deleteUser
API Keys	apiKeys, signingKeys	createApiKey, exchangeApiKey, rotateSigningKey, ...
Tags	tags	createTag, updateTag, deleteTag
Me	myUserSessions, myUserAuthenticationMethods, myUserDataExport	changeMyPassword, uploadMyUserPicture, ...

The full schema is available via introspection or through the @grantjs/schema package.

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Related:

• REST API — Swagger UI, authentication walkthrough, endpoint reference
• Error Handling — Error codes and status codes
• Integration Guide — End-to-end REST tutorial