response-header-operations.md

description
Similar to request headers, we also allow for operations to be run on the headers of the router responses

Response Header Operations

Response Header Propagation

In addition to the request focused rules, you can also define specific rules for your response header propagation. This enables organizations to select between a variety of propagation algorithms, and tighten their control of the caching capabilities of their graphs.

Header Algorithms

We have defined for options of header algorithms that you can use for propagate requests.

{% hint style="danger" %} We strongly recommend only using one algorithm per header across your graphs. Having different algorithms defined for the same header for different subgraphs may result in inconsistent behavior. If there is a serious need for that, open an issue in the project. {% endhint %}

1. first_write: Propagates the first occurrence of a header from any subgraph to the client. Once a header is set, subsequent values from other subgraphs are ignored.
2. last_write: Propagates the last occurrence of a header from any subgraph to the client, overwriting earlier values.
3. append: Combines all header values from different subgraphs into a single, comma-separated list. This is helpful for aggregating values such as roles or flags that need to be merged.

Enabling Header Propagation

By default, no response headers are forwarded for security reasons. To enable response header propagation, insert the following snippet into your config.yaml file and adjust it according to your needs.

# config.yaml

# See https://cosmo-docs.wundergraph.com/router/configuration#config-file
# for the full list of configuration options.

headers:
  all: # Header rules for all subgraph requests.
    response:
      - op: "propagate"            # Forward a client header
        named: X-Test-Header       # Exact match (Use the canonicalized version)
        algorithm: "first_write"   # This algorithm retains the first value encountered 

      - op: "propagate"
        matching: (?i)^X-Custom-.* # Regex match (Case insensitive)
        algorithm: "last_write"
        
      - op: "propagate"
        named: "X-User-Id"
        default: "123"             # Set the value when the header was not set
        algorithm: "last_write"

      - op: "set"
        name: "X-Custom-Header"
        value: "my-required-key"
        
  subgraphs:
    specific-subgraph: # Will only affect this subgraph
      response:
      - op: "propagate"
        named: "X-User-Id"
        default: "456"             # Set the value when the header was not set
        algorithm: "last_write"

What does the snippet do?

With all we address all subgraph requests. Next, we can define several rules on the client's request. The operation propagate forwards all matching client request headers to the subgraphs. The operation set sets a new header which is forward to the subgraphs.

The subgraphs section allows to propagate headers for specific subgraphs. The name must match with the subgraph name in the Studio.

Supported header rules

Currently, we support the following header rules:

• propagate - Forwards all matching response headers from the subgraphs. You can choose between the following options:
  • algorithm - This defines the algorithm, selecting between first_write, last_write, and append
  • named - It exactly matches on the header name.
  • matching - Regex matches on the header name. You can use regex101.com to test your regexes. Go to the website and select Golang on the left panel. Note: The Router never propagates hop-by-hop headers (such as Connection) when propagating by regex.
  • rename: Replaces the identified header based on its name or matching criteria and transfers the value to the newly specified header.
  • default: Fallback to this value when the named, matching or rename header could not be found.
• set - Sets a header on the request forward to the subgraph. You must set the following values:
  • name - The name of the header to set
  • value - The value to set for the header

{% hint style="warning" %} Go canonicalizes headers by default e.g. x-my-header to X-My-Header. Write your rule accordingly or use (?i)^X-Test-.* flags to make your regex case insensitive. {% endhint %}