Parse GraphQl Request with Circe.

GraphQLService.scala

  case class GraphQlRequest(query: String, operation: Option[String], variables: Json)

  def parseRequest: Directive1[GraphQlRequest] = {
    import cats.data.Xor
    import io.circe.ParsingFailure
    import io.circe.parser.{parse ⇒ parseJson}

    entity(as[Json]).map { json ⇒
      val cursor = json.hcursor
      val variables = {
        val field = cursor.downField("variables")
        field.as[String] match {
          case Xor.Right(jsonString) ⇒ parseJson(jsonString)
          case _                     ⇒ field.as[Json] match {
            case jsonObject: Xor.Right[Json] ⇒ jsonObject
            case Xor.Left(failure)           ⇒ Xor.Left(ParsingFailure(failure.getMessage(), failure))
          }
        }
      }

      GraphQlRequest(
        query = cursor.downField("query").as[String].getOrElse(throw new RuntimeException("Missing query")),
        operation = cursor.downField("operationName").as[Option[String]].getOrElse(Option.empty[String]),
        variables = variables getOrElse Json.obj()
      )
    }
  }

Assumes Akka.Http.

A version that uses circe's semi automatic derivation.

import sangria.marshalling.circe._
import de.heikoseeberger.akkahttpcirce.CirceSupport._
import cats.data.Xor
import io.circe._, io.circe.parser._, io.circe.generic.semiauto._

case class GraphQLQuery(query: String, operationName: Option[String], variables: Option[Json])

object GraphQLQuery {
  implicit val decoder: Decoder[GraphQLQuery] =
    deriveDecoder[GraphQLQuery].emap { query =>
      query.variables match {
        //  Map JSON strings to objects and otherwise let Sangria complain about improper types
        case Some(v) if v.isString =>
          val obj = v.withString(str => parse(str).map(identity).getOrElse(v))
          Xor.right(query.copy(variables = Some(obj)))
        case other => Xor.right(query)
      }
    }
}

and then use entity(as[GraphQLQuery]) and pass GraphQLQuery.variables.getOrElse(Json.obj()) to Sangria.