How to Update Apollo Client in React

Updating Apollo Client in your React application ensures you have access to the latest performance improvements, bug fixes, and features. This article provides a straightforward, step-by-step guide on how to safely upgrade Apollo Client, modify your project dependencies, update codebase imports, and clean up legacy packages.

Step 1: Install the Latest Versions

To begin the update process, you need to install the latest version of the unified @apollo/client package along with graphql, which is a required peer dependency. Run the appropriate command for your package manager:

# Using npm
npm install @apollo/client graphql

# Using yarn
yarn add @apollo/client graphql

Step 2: Update Import Statements

If you are upgrading from Apollo Client v2 to v3 or v4, you must migrate your imports. Older versions of Apollo required separate packages for the client, cache, and links. All of these are now consolidated into @apollo/client.

Locate and replace your old imports:

Old Imports (v2 and below):

import { ApolloClient } from 'apollo-client';
import { InMemoryCache } from 'apollo-cache-inmemory';
import { HttpLink } from 'apollo-link-http';
import { ApolloProvider } from 'react-apollo';
import { useQuery } from '@apollo/react-hooks';

New Unified Imports:

import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, HttpLink, ApolloProvider, useQuery } from '@apollo/client';

Step 3: Verify Client Initialization

Ensure your Apollo Client initialization uses the new consolidated imports. The basic setup remains highly readable and standardized:

import React from 'react';
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';
import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, ApolloProvider } from '@apollo/client';
import App from './App';

const client = new ApolloClient({
  uri: 'https://your-graphql-endpoint.com/graphql',
  cache: new InMemoryCache(),
});

const root = createRoot(document.getElementById('root'));
root.render(
  <ApolloProvider client={client}>
    <App />
  </ApolloProvider>
);

Step 4: Remove Deprecated Packages

Once you have replaced all imports throughout your codebase, uninstall the obsolete Apollo packages to keep your bundle size small and your package.json clean.

# Using npm
npm uninstall apollo-boost react-apollo apollo-client apollo-cache-inmemory apollo-link-http @apollo/react-hooks

# Using yarn
yarn remove apollo-boost react-apollo apollo-client apollo-cache-inmemory apollo-link-http @apollo/react-hooks

Step 5: Test and Verify

After completing the dependency changes: 1. Clear your package manager cache and reinstall node modules if you encounter resolution errors. 2. Run your local development server to check for runtime console warnings. 3. Execute your application’s test suite to verify that queries, mutations, and cache updates behave as expected under the updated client version.