didEncounterErrors and willSendResponse are not called on AuthenticationError

Using apollo-server-express 2.12.0.

According to this lifecycle, willSendResponse should always be called, and didEncounterErrors should at least be called if there’s an error:

https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/integrations/plugins/#request-lifecycle-event-flow

However, we’re only seeing requestDidStart being called, and nothing more, if we have an authentication error. We’re using graphql-shield 7.2.6 for our authorization. The response is returned to the client, but willSendResponse is never called (and nor is didEncounterErrors).

Eg, given the following:

const server = new ApolloServer({
  plugins: [
    {
      requestDidStart() {
        console.log('requestDidStart')
      },
      parsingDidStart() {
        console.log('parsingDidStart')
      },
      didEncounterErrors() {
        console.log('didEncounterErrors')
      },
      willSendResponse() {
        console.log('willSendResponse')
      },
    },
  ],
  // ...

All we see output in our logs is:

requestDidStart

And we get a valid response with an errors array with message, location, stacktrace, etc all looking as they should for an authentication error.

So neither parsingDidStart nor willSendResponse is invoked – somehow these are bypassed, which indicates there’s either a bug, or the lifecycle is not accurately documented.

[trevor-scheer]

Hey @mhart, please take a closer look at the examples in the docs. You’ll notice the API for a plugin is slightly different from how you’ve used it in your snippet.

requestDidStart is a function that returns an object of the other hooks you’re looking to use. This allows plugins to maintain a local context or scope during the course of a request that the other hooks can consume.

I believe what you really want is this:

const server = new ApolloServer({
  plugins: [
    {
      requestDidStart() {
        console.log('requestDidStart');
        return {
          parsingDidStart() {
            console.log('parsingDidStart')
          },
          didEncounterErrors() {
            console.log('didEncounterErrors')
          },
          willSendResponse() {
            console.log('willSendResponse')
          },
        };
      },
    },
  ],
  // ...

@trickleup does this apply to you as well or are you experiencing the issue differently? Please provide a reproduction if you think there’s a bug that needs to be addressed. Thanks!

[trickleup]

Thanks @trevor-scheer! Yes, with your example the didEncounterErrors hook does fire for the persisted query exceptions. My bad, thanks for clarifying!