Simple GraphQL R Wrapper

A simple R wrapper for making GraphQL requests with OAuth 2 authentication using the ghql package. Supports both client credentials and authorization code OAuth flows.

Installation

Option 1: Install from GitHub (recommended)

If you have access to the repository:

install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("PlayerData/playerdatar", subdir="playerdatar")

Note: Use "PlayerData/playerdatar" (owner/repo), not the full URL.

Option 2: Install from a local clone

If you've cloned the repo:

cd playerdatar # repo root (the folder containing the playerdatar/ package subfolder)
R CMD INSTALL playerdatar # install the package

Then in R:

library(playerdatar)

Quick Start

Load the package:

library(playerdatar)

Create a client and execute a query:

client<- create_gql_client(
client_id="your-client-id",
client_secret="your-client-secret"
)
result<- execute_query(client, '{ sports { id name } }')

Or run an example script:

cd playerdatar
export CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"export CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret"export CLUB_ID="your-club-id"
Rscript examples/direct/quick_start_client_credentials.R

OAuth Flows

Client Credentials (default, server-to-server):

client<- create_gql_client(
client_id="your-client-id",
client_secret="your-client-secret",
grant_type="client_credentials"
)

Authorization Code (requires browser login):

client<- create_gql_client(
client_id="your-client-id",
client_secret="your-client-secret",
grant_type="authorization_code"
)

Usage Examples

Query with variables:

query<-'query GetSessions($clubId: ID!) { sessions(filter: { clubIdEq: $clubId }) { id startTime }}'result<- execute_query(
client, query, query_name="GetSessions",
variables=list(clubId="your-club-id")
)

Mutation:

mutation<-'mutation UpdateSession($id: ID!, $attributes: SessionAttributesInput!) { updateSession(id: $id, attributes: $attributes) { errors { fullMessages } session { startTime } }}'result<- execute_mutation(
client,
mutation,
mutation_name="UpdateSession",
variables=list(
id="your-session-id",
attributes=list(startTime="2026-01-01T17:59:00.000Z") # ISO 8601 format
)
)

Folder Structure

Layout mirrors the sibling Python package playerdatapy where it makes sense.

playerdatar/ # repo root
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
├── playerdatar/ # R package
│ ├── AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md # AI-assistant instructions
│ ├── DESCRIPTION
│ ├── NAMESPACE
│ ├── R/ # Package source
│ │ ├── client.R # GraphQL client creation
│ │ ├── oauth.R # OAuth 2 flows
│ │ ├── operations.R # execute_query, execute_mutation
│ │ └── utils.R # Utilities
│ ├── examples/
│ │ └── direct/ # Raw-GraphQL quick starts
│ │ ├── queries/ # *.graphql query files
│ │ ├── quick_start_client_credentials.R
│ │ ├── quick_start_authorization_code.R
│ │ └── README.md
│ ├── schema.graphql # Reference schema (vendored from playerdatapy)
│ ├── tests/testthat/ # Unit tests
│ ├── man/ # roxygen2 docs
│ └── vignettes/

Example Queries

GraphQL queries and mutations live as .graphql files in playerdatar/examples/direct/queries/. The example scripts load these files and pass them to execute_query() or execute_mutation(). For queries with variables, use query_name to match the operation name in the file (e.g. SessionDetails for session_details.graphql).

read_query<-function(filename) {
paste(readLines(file.path("examples/direct/queries", filename), warn=FALSE), collapse="\n")
}
result<- execute_query(
client,
read_query("session_details.graphql"),
query_name="SessionDetails",
variables=list(sessionId="your-session-id")
)

Features

• OAuth 2 authentication (client credentials & authorization code)
• Automatic token refresh and caching
• Simple API for queries and mutations
• Built on ghql package

See playerdatar/examples/direct/ for runnable quick starts and the full set of example queries.

Related Projects

• playerdatapy — sibling Python package. Same API, typed PlayerDataAPI available alongside the direct client.