For Headless

Nosto's GraphQL APIs can be used for simplified implementations for headless frontends. While we recommend using our JS API for use in headless environments, there are scenarios where a GraphQL based implementation might be more fruitful.

🚨Implementing Nosto over GraphQL will not allow you to leverage the entire Nosto suite. When Nosto is implemented over tagging and/or Javascript APIs it can modify web-pages automatically with Javascript, which means many things can work out of the box. For example inserting recommendations dynamically onto a webpage, rendering of templates, tracking of user behaviour. GraphQL instead is only an API which can be called from anywhere, so it cannot directly run Javascript or modify web-pages, instead those need to be implemented by the caller of the API. The following features are not available through GraphQL API:

  • Facebook Ads: As the pixel events aren't dispatched.

  • Content Personalization: As the GraphQL API only handles the personalization and not onsite experiences.

  • Popups: As the GraphQL API only handle the personalization and not onsite experiences.

  • AB-testing & dynamic placements: Because the current GraphQL API works with recommendation identifiers directly and not through placements.

Each customer who visits a site is uniquely identified with a session identifier. When a new customer comes to the site, a GraphQL session mutation call must be made to initiate a session. The resultant session identifier must be persisted and reused for all consecutive calls.

💡The session-duration is 30 minutes from the last activity.

We recommend using the following flow to creating and resuming sessions.

  1. Read the session-identifier from the cookie.

  2. If the session-identifier doesn't exist, initiate a new session and store the resultant session identifier in a cookie.

  3. Read the session identifier from the cookie, and leverage the mutations for the outlined page types.

Starting a new session

In order to start a new session when a session-identifier doesn't exist, you'll need to use the newSession mutation

mutation {
  newSession(referer: "https://google.com?q=shoes")
}

The newSession mutation will return a unique session-identifier that you must persist.

⚠️ How you persist the session-identifier is entirely dependant upon your implementation. For example, you can persist it into a cookie or even application storage.

Using a session

If you already have a session-identifier, you can pass that using the updateSession mutation.

The example below is a generic example of how you update a session and pass the appropriate event to Nosto but in practice, you'll be using one of the page-specific mutations as shown in the section "Implementing on pages".

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PAGE
        target: "https://example.com"
      }
    }
  ) {
    id
  }
}

Implementing on pages

In order to use Nosto the different pages, you'll need to make the appropriate mutations for the different page types.

Every page-specific mutation requires you to pass the event for the specific page. These events are used to pass signals to Nosto's intelligence engine. Each of the page-specific mutations also allows you to fetch the recommendations for the given page type.

Sending the cart

When you mutate a session, it is imperative that you send the full cart contents.

If the current shopping cart is empty, this can be omitted.

mutation MySession {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "ad8f0d0e-1156-4df2-b385-10e03f8f8a44",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PRODUCT
        target: "400"
      }
      cart: {
        items: [
          {
            productId: "100",
            skuId: "100-1",
            name: "#100",
            unitPrice: 199,
            priceCurrencyCode: "EUR",
            quantity: 1
          },
          {
            productId: "200",
            skuId: "200-1",
            name: "#200",
            unitPrice: 299,
            priceCurrencyCode: "EUR",
            quantity: 2
          }
        ]
      }
    }) {
      id
    }
  }
}

Sending the customer

When you mutate a session, it is imperative that you send the details of the currently logged-in customer. If no customer if currently logged in, this can be omitted.

mutation MySession {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "ad8f0d0e-1156-4df2-b385-10e03f8f8a44",
    params: {
      customer: {
        firstName: "John"
        lastName: "Doe"
        marketingPermission: true
        customerReference: "319330"
      }
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PRODUCT
        target: "400"
      }
    }) {
      id
    }
  }
}

Sending attribution parameters

When navigating between pages, if the navigation happens as a result of a click on a recommendation element, you must pass the identifier as part of the route and on the next page load, read the attribution parameter and pass it along with the event as the ref parameter.

mutation MySession {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "ad8f0d0e-1156-4df2-b385-10e03f8f8a44",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PRODUCT
        target: "400"
        ref: "frontpage-bestseller"
      }
    }) {
      id
    }
  }
}

⚠️ If you do not pass the attribution parameter, the recommendations statistics will be inaccurate but will not affect the quality of the recommendations.

Previewing the recommendations

All default the recommendation results are returned when the recommendations are enabled and the account is a live account. If you would like to preview the recommendations, all the recommendation fields accept a boolean isPreview parameter.

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PAGE
        target: "https://example.com"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forFrontPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400
      }) {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

⚠️ Any recommendation requests when the preview mode is enabled do not accrue towards the statistics or skew the product relations.

On your home page

Sending the event

In order to use the GraphQL session mutation to fetch recommendations for your home or front page, the event, in this case, must be VIEWED_PAGE and you should specify a fully qualified URL of the home page as the target.

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PAGE
        target: "https://example.com"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forFrontPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400
      }) {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The pages query for home page also supports filtering recommendation for a specific Slot ID using the slotIds parameter in forFrontPage request, as shown below:

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PAGE
        target: "https://example.com"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forFrontPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400, slotIds: ["frontpage-nosto-1"]
      }) {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: slotIds accepts an array of String parameters

Fetching Recommendations

The forFrontPage field will return the result of all the recommendations that are configured for the front page. When slotIds filtering is used, the result will only contain the recommendations for the specified Slot Ids.

On your Category pages

Sending the event

In order to use the GraphQL session mutation to fetch recommendations for your category page, the event, in this case, must be VIEWED_CATEGORY and you should specify a fully qualified category path of the current category. For example, if you have a category called "Dresses" under the category "Women", the FQCN would be "/Women/Dresses".

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_CATEGORY
        target: "/Shorts"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forCategoryPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400
      }, category: "Shorts") {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The pages query for category page also supports filtering recommendation for a specific Slot ID using the slotIds parameter in forCategoryPage request, as shown below:

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_CATEGORY
        target: "/Shorts"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forCategoryPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400, slotIds: ["categorypage-nosto-1"]
      }) {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: slotIds accepts an array of String parameters

Fetching Recommendations

The forCategoryPage field will return the result of all the recommendations that are configured for the category page. When slotIds filtering is used, the result will only contain the recommendations for the specified Slot Ids.

On your Product pages

Sending the event

In order to use the GraphQL session mutation to fetch recommendations for your search page, the event, in this case, must be VIEWED_PRODUCT and you should specify the product-identifier of the current product being viewed.

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PRODUCT
        target: "11923861519"
        ref: "front-page-slot-1"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forProductPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400
      }, product: "11923861519") {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The pages query for product page also supports filtering recommendation for a specific Slot ID using the slotIds parameter in forProductPage request, as shown below:

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PRODUCT
        target: "11923861519"
        ref: "front-page-slot-1"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forProductPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400, slotIds: ["productpage-nosto-2"]
      }, product: "11923861519") {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Fetching Recommendations

The forProductPage field will return the result of all the recommendations that are configured for the product page. When slotIds filtering is used, the result will only contain the recommendations for the specified Slot Ids.

On your search page

Sending the event

In order to use the GraphQL session mutation to fetch recommendations for your search page, the event, in this case, must be SEARCHED_FOR and you should specify the search term of the query.

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: SEARCHED_FOR
        target: "black shoes"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forSearchPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400
      }, term: "black shoes") {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The pages query for search page also supports filtering recommendation for a specific Slot ID using the slotIds parameter in forSearchPage request, as shown below:

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: SEARCHED_FOR
        target: "black shoes"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forSearchPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400, slotIds: ["searchpage-nosto-3"]
      }, term: "black shoes") {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Fetching Recommendations

The forSearchPage field will return the result of all the recommendations that are configured for the search page. When slotIds filtering is used, the result will only contain the recommendations for the specified Slot Ids.

On your cart/checkout page

Sending the event

In order to use the GraphQL session mutation to fetch recommendations for your cart or checkout page, the event, in this case, must be VIEWED_PAGE and you should specify a fully qualified URL of the cart page as the target.

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PAGE
        target: "https://example.com/cart"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forCartPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400
      }, value: 100) {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The pages query for cart page also supports filtering recommendation for a specific Slot ID using the slotIds parameter in forCartPage request, as shown below:

mutation {
  updateSession(by: BY_CID, id: "5b1a481060b221115c4a251e",
    params: {
      event: {
        type: VIEWED_PAGE
        target: "https://example.com/cart"
      }
    }
  ) {
    pages {
      forCartPage(params: {
        isPreview: false, imageVersion:  VERSION_8_400_400, slotIds: ["cartpage-nosto-1"]
      }, value: 100) {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Fetching Recommendations

The forCartPage field will return the result of all the recommendations that are configured for the front page. When slotIds filtering is used, the result will only contain the recommendations for the specified Slot Ids.

On the order page

Sending the event

In order to use the GraphQL session mutation to fetch recommendations for your cart or checkout page, you must use a different mutation as compared to the rest of the pages.

⚠️ The customer, in this case, is the details of the customer making the purchase.

mutation {
  placeOrder(by:BY_CID, id: "514421fce84abcb61bd45241", params: {
    customer: {
      firstName: "Mridang"
      lastName: "Agarwalla"
      email: "mridang@nosto.com"
      marketingPermission: false
    }
    order: {
      number: "25435"
      orderStatus: "paid"
      paymentProvider: "klarna"
      ref: "0010"
      purchasedItems: [
        {
          name: "Shoe"
          productId: "1"
          skuId: "11"
          priceCurrencyCode: "EUR"
          unitPrice: 22.43
          quantity: 1
        }
      ]
    }
  }) {
    id
    pages {
      forOrderPage(value: "25435", params: {
        imageVersion: VERSION_3_90_70,
        isPreview: true
      }) {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The pages query for order page also supports filtering recommendation for a specific Slot ID using the slotIds parameter in forOrderPage request, as shown below:

mutation {
  placeOrder(by:BY_CID, id: "514421fce84abcb61bd45241", params: {
    customer: {
      firstName: "Mridang"
      lastName: "Agarwalla"
      email: "mridang@nosto.com"
      marketingPermission: false
    }
    order: {
      number: "25435"
      orderStatus: "paid"
      paymentProvider: "klarna"
      ref: "0010"
      purchasedItems: [
        {
          name: "Shoe"
          productId: "1"
          skuId: "11"
          priceCurrencyCode: "EUR"
          unitPrice: 22.43
          quantity: 1
        }
      ]
    }
  }) {
    id
    pages {
      forOrderPage(value: "25435", params: {
        imageVersion: VERSION_3_90_70,
        isPreview: true,
        slotIds: ["orderpage-test-1"]
      }) {
        divId
        resultId
        primary {
          productId
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Fetching Recommendations

The forOrderPage field will return the result of all the recommendations that are configured for the order-confirmation page. When slotIds filtering is used, the result will only contain the recommendations for the specified Slot Ids.

Other page type fields are:

forNotFoundPage - 404 page

forLandingPage - landing page

forGeneralLayoutPage - general layout page

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