How to set status code in response for errors?

[aarontravass]

Say I want to throw a 401: Unauthorized error, how do I set the statusCode of the response to 401? Moreover, is there a way to programmatically control the statusCode?

[hayes]

Pothos itself doesn't know anything about HTTP, and can't operate at the protocol level, so the answer here depends on the GraphQL server you are using. In general, the answer is that most server implementations support some form of error handling hook that allows you to customize how errors are handled in the response.

The server implementation I am most familiar with is graphql-yoga, which allows setting http response codes based in extensions on GraphQLError instances: https://the-guild.dev/graphql/yoga-server/docs/features/error-masking#modifying-http-status-codes-and-headers

If you are using the scope-auth plugin, you can customize the authorization errors using the unauthorizedError callback option: https://pothos-graphql.dev/docs/plugins/scope-auth#globally

Returning a GraphQLError instance with the correct extension should work:

const builder = new SchemaBuilder<{
  Context: Context;
  AuthScopes: YourScopeTypes,
}>({
  scopeAuthOptions: {
    treatErrorsAsUnauthorized: true,
    unauthorizedError: (parent, context, info, result) => new GraphQLError(
        `Not Authorized`,
        { extensions: { http: { status: 401 } }
      )
  },
  plugins: [ScopeAuthPlugin],
  authScopes: async (context) => ({
     ...scopes
  }),
});