Skip to Content
Type MappingEnums

Enums

How Protobuf enums are converted to GraphQL enums.

Basic Conversion

enum Role {
  ROLE_UNSPECIFIED = 0;
  ROLE_ADMIN = 1;
  ROLE_USER = 2;
}
enum Role {
  ADMIN
  USER
}

UNSPECIFIED Value Handling

Enum values with the pattern <ENUM_NAME>_UNSPECIFIED at position 0 are automatically excluded from GraphQL:

enum Status {
  STATUS_UNSPECIFIED = 0;  # Excluded
  STATUS_ACTIVE = 1;
  STATUS_INACTIVE = 2;
}
enum Status {
  ACTIVE
  INACTIVE
}

Non-UNSPECIFIED Zero Values

If the zero value doesn’t follow the _UNSPECIFIED pattern, it’s included:

enum Priority {
  LOW = 0;     # Included (not _UNSPECIFIED)
  MEDIUM = 1;
  HIGH = 2;
}
enum Priority {
  LOW
  MEDIUM
  HIGH
}

Value Name Conversion

Enum value names have the enum name prefix removed:

ProtobufGraphQL
MY_ENUM_FOOFOO
MY_ENUM_BARBAR
MY_ENUM_BAZBAZ
enum MyEnum {
  MY_ENUM_UNSPECIFIED = 0;
  MY_ENUM_FOO = 1;
  MY_ENUM_BAR = 2;
}
enum MyEnum {
  FOO
  BAR
}

Renaming Enums

Override the GraphQL enum name with (graphql.enum_type).name:

enum InternalStatus {
  option (graphql.enum_type).name = "Status";
 
  INTERNAL_STATUS_UNSPECIFIED = 0;
  INTERNAL_STATUS_ACTIVE = 1;
}
enum Status {
  ACTIVE
}

Ignoring Enums

Exclude an enum from generation:

enum Internal {
  option (graphql.enum_type).ignore = true;
 
  INTERNAL_UNSPECIFIED = 0;
  INTERNAL_VALUE = 1;
}

No GraphQL enum is generated.

Ignoring Enum Values

Exclude specific values:

enum Role {
  ROLE_UNSPECIFIED = 0;
  ROLE_ADMIN = 1;
  ROLE_USER = 2;
  ROLE_DEPRECATED = 3 [(graphql.enum_value).ignore = true];
}
enum Role {
  ADMIN
  USER
  # DEPRECATED not included
}

Enums in Fields

message User {
  // Required.
  Role role = 1;
  repeated Role additional_roles = 2;
}
type User {
  role: Role!
  additionalRoles: [Role!]!
}
ScalarsOneofs