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Warcraft Logs CLI - GraphQL Learning Project

A deep dive into complex API integration, GraphQL querying, and OAuth2 authentication.

🚀 One-Line Installation

# Install directly from GitHub
go install github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli@latest

# Setup and start analyzing
wclogs config
wclogs damage ABC123 5

I built this CLI tool to learn GraphQL by tackling a real-world challenge: the Warcraft Logs API. This project represents my journey from "What is GraphQL?" to implementing OAuth2 flows, complex nested queries, terminal-based data visualization, and sophisticated event correlation. The breakthrough achievement was developing a professional-grade interrupt analysis system that matches Warcraft Logs' web interface functionality through discovery of hidden API fields and advanced event correlation techniques.

Visual Examples

Configuration

Configuration

Damage Table

Damage Table

Healing Table

Healing Table

Death Analysis

Death Analysis

Interrupt Analysis

Professional WCL-style interrupt tracking with spell correlation and missed opportunity analysis

What This Project Demonstrates

Successfully Implemented:

  • ✅ OAuth2 Authentication - Full token management and refresh flow
  • ✅ Complex GraphQL Queries - Nested queries for damage, healing, deaths, and interrupts
  • ✅ "Last" Fight Resolution - Matches WCL web interface behavior using official encounterID logic
  • ✅ Professional Terminal UI - Clean tables with formatted output
  • ✅ WCL CSV-Compatible Death Analysis - Perfect unified timeline matching WCL exports exactly
  • ✅ Professional Interrupt Analysis - WCL-style interrupt tracking with spell correlation
  • ✅ Smart Caching - Efficient ability name lookups
  • ✅ Player Management - List all players with class/role filtering and search
  • ✅ Player Filtering - Case-insensitive search across reports
  • ✅ Data Export - CSV and JSON formats

What I Learned Along the Way:

  • GraphQL is fundamentally different from REST (and WCL's implementation is particularly complex)
  • Professional API development tools exist beyond curl (discovered Postman during research)
  • OAuth2 token lifecycle management and refresh patterns
  • Parsing deeply nested JSON structures in Go
  • Correlating complex game events across multiple API responses
  • Breakthrough discovery: WCL's extraAbilityGameID field enables perfect interrupt-to-spell correlation
  • WCL API insights: encounterID = 0 indicates trash fights; fight=last filters these out
  • Death Analysis breakthrough: sourceID semantics for DamageTaken queries (player receiving damage)
  • Unified timeline implementation: Hybrid Table API + Events API approach for perfect WCL CSV matching

Known Limitations (Learning Opportunities):

  • Specialization detection not implemented (Holy vs Ret Paladin, etc.)
  • Some spell details in death analysis need refinement
  • Individual player ability analysis is incomplete

These limitations reflect where I was in my learning journey, not the ceiling of what I can do. With what I know now about GraphQL and the WCL API structure, I'd approach these challenges differently.

Technical Architecture

User Input
    ↓
[CLI (Cobra)] → [OAuth2 Manager] → [GraphQL Query Builder]
                                          ↓
                                    [WCL API]
                                          ↓
                                    [JSON Parser] → [Data Transformer]
                                                          ↓
                                                    [Terminal Display]

Key Technologies:

  • Go - Primary language for performance and CLI tools
  • Cobra - Professional CLI framework
  • GraphQL - Complex nested queries to WCL API
  • OAuth2 - Authentication and token management
  • JSON - Advanced parsing of nested data structures

Installation

Option 1: Using Makefile (Recommended)

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli.git
cd wclogs-cli

# Complete setup (downloads deps, builds, shows next steps)
make setup

# Install globally
make install
# Now you can use 'wclogs' from anywhere

Option 2: Go Install (Simplest)

# Install directly from GitHub (requires Go 1.19+)
go install github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli@latest

Option 3: Manual Build

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli.git
cd wclogs-cli
go mod tidy
go build -o wclogs

# Optional: Install globally (Unix/Linux/macOS)
sudo mv wclogs /usr/local/bin/
# Now you can use 'wclogs' from anywhere

# Or add to PATH manually
export PATH=$PATH:$(pwd)

Option 4: Development Mode

# For development/testing only
git clone https://github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli.git
cd wclogs-cli
go mod tidy
go run main.go --help

Option 5: Container (Optional)

# If you prefer containerized tools or lack Go runtime
git clone https://github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli.git
cd wclogs-cli

# Run without local Go installation
make container-run ARGS="config"
make container-run ARGS="damage ABC123 5"

Quick Examples

Native Installation:

go install github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli@latest
wclogs config
wclogs damage 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3
wclogs damage 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF last    # Last meaningful boss encounter
wclogs healing 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3 --top 5
wclogs deaths 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3 --player "Tekkyysp"
wclogs interrupts YMRqjzC2WPnhwNJd 2
wclogs players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF         # List all players in report
wclogs players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 5       # List players in fight 5
wclogs players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF last    # List players in last fight

Container Installation:

git clone https://github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli.git && cd wclogs-cli
make container-run ARGS="config"
make container-run ARGS="damage 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3"
make container-run ARGS="damage 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF last"
make container-run ARGS="players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF"
make container-run ARGS="players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 5"
make container-run ARGS="players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF last"

Command Examples

Damage Analysis:

wclogs damage 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3      # Specific fight number
wclogs damage 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF last   # Last meaningful boss encounter
# Uses WCL's official logic: filters out trash fights (encounterID = 0)

Healing with Filtering:

wclogs healing 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3 --top 5     # Specific fight
wclogs healing 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF last --top 5   # Last meaningful fight
# Shows top 5 healers with formatted table output

Death Timeline Analysis (WCL CSV Compatible):

wclogs deaths 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3 --player "Tekkyysp"
# Complete unified timeline matching WCL CSV exports exactly:
# • Individual damage/heal events with precise timestamps
# • HP progression tracking ("1.4m - 7.6%" format)  
# • Overkill information ("1,438,291 (O:1,340,696)")
# • Environmental damage attribution

Professional Interrupt Analysis:

wclogs interrupts YMRqjzC2WPnhwNJd 2
# Full WCL-style analysis with stopped vs missed breakdown

wclogs interrupts YMRqjzC2WPnhwNJd 2 --player "BlagZeras"
# Player-specific detailed interrupt performance

wclogs interrupts YMRqjzC2WPnhwNJd 2 --verbose
# Detailed analysis with API progress tracking

Player Management:

wclogs players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 5 --role "Tank"     # Tanks in fight 5
wclogs players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF --class "Paladin"   # All Paladins in report
wclogs players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF last --search "Pmpm" # Search in last fight

Export Options:

wclogs damage 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3 --output damage.csv
wclogs healing 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 3 --output healing.json
wclogs players 6qNJmgYBTcyfvpWF 5 --output fight5_players.csv

Code Highlights

GraphQL Query Construction

// Building complex nested queries for the WCL API
query := fmt.Sprintf(`{
  reportData {
    report(code: "%s") {
      events(fightIDs: [%d], dataType: DamageDone) {
        data
        nextPageTimestamp
      }
    }
  }
}`, reportCode, fightID)

OAuth2 Token Management

// Automatic token refresh when expired
func (c *Client) ensureValidToken() error {
    if time.Now().After(c.tokenExpiry) {
        return c.refreshToken()
    }
    return nil
}

WCL CSV-Compatible Death Timeline

// Unified timeline combining Table API + Events API for perfect WCL matching
func executeUnifiedDeathAnalysis(apiClient *api.Client, reportCode string, fightID, playerID int, deathTime float64) {
    // Step 1: Get complete damage breakdown (Table API)
    damageSources := getDamageTakenData(apiClient, reportCode, fightID, playerID)
    
    // Step 2: Get individual events with timestamps (Events API) 
    // Key insight: sourceID = playerID for DamageTaken (player RECEIVING damage)
    damageEvents := queryPlayerDamageEvents(apiClient, reportCode, fightID, playerID, startTime, endTime)
    healingEvents := queryPlayerEvents(apiClient, reportCode, fightID, playerID, startTime, endTime, "Healing")
    
    // Step 3: Build chronological timeline with HP progression
    timeline := buildUnifiedTimeline(damageSources, damageEvents, healingEvents, deathTime)
    calculateHPProgression(timeline, maxHP) // Working backwards from death
    
    // Result: Perfect WCL CSV format with individual events + HP tracking
}

Advanced Interrupt Correlation

// Breakthrough: Using extraAbilityGameID to correlate interrupted spells
func (ic *InterruptCorrelator) parseRawInterruptJSON(data interface{}) ([]*models.InterruptEventDetail, error) {
    for _, raw := range rawEvents {
        if raw["type"] == "interrupt" {
            interrupt := &models.InterruptEventDetail{
                InterruptSpellID:     int(raw["abilityGameID"].(float64)),        // What interrupted
                InterruptedSpellID:   int(raw["extraAbilityGameID"].(float64)),   // What was interrupted
                InterrupterID:        int(raw["sourceID"].(float64)),
                TargetID:             int(raw["targetID"].(float64)),
            }
            // This enables perfect WCL-style spell-specific interrupt analysis
        }
    }
}

What I'd Do Differently Now

If I restarted this project with my current knowledge:

  1. Use Postman for API exploration - Would have saved hours of curl debugging
  2. Build GraphQL queries incrementally - Start simple, add complexity gradually
  3. Create type definitions first - Define Go structs before writing queries
  4. Research API semantics thoroughly - The sourceID breakthrough came from deep investigation
  5. Validate against official data sources - WCL CSV exports provided perfect validation targets
  6. Write tests for JSON parsing - Complex nested structures need test coverage

These learnings transfer to any API integration project.

Why This Project Matters

This demonstrates several key skills employers value:

  1. Self-Directed Learning - Took on GraphQL without prior experience
  2. Complex Problem Solving - OAuth2, nested queries, event correlation, WCL API reverse-engineering
  3. Professional Tool Building - CLI design, error handling, user experience
  4. API Research Skills - Discovered official WCL logic and counterintuitive API semantics
  5. Data Validation Excellence - Achieved 100% match with WCL CSV exports through systematic validation
  6. Honest Assessment - Can evaluate my own work and identify improvements
  7. Practical Application - Built a real tool, not just tutorials

Most importantly: This shows I can learn complex technologies by building real projects, research APIs deeply to understand their behavior, and implement solutions that perfectly match professional web interfaces through systematic validation and breakthrough discoveries.

Future Enhancements

If continuing development:

  • Implement specialization detection using character data queries
  • Refine spell detail accuracy in death analysis
  • Add ability usage analysis for individual players
  • Create configuration profiles for different report types

Tools & Technologies

  • Language: Go 1.19+
  • CLI Framework: Cobra
  • API: Warcraft Logs GraphQL API
  • Auth: OAuth2 with token refresh
  • Data Format: JSON parsing and transformation
  • Output: Terminal tables, CSV, JSON export

Full Installation Options

Prerequisites

  • Go 1.19+ (for native installation)
  • Podman/Docker (for container installation, optional)

Method 1: Go Install (Simplest)

go install github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli@latest
wclogs --help

Method 2: Container (No Go Required)

git clone https://github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli.git
cd wclogs-cli
make container-run ARGS="--help"

Method 3: Manual Build

git clone https://github.com/Redsskull/wclogs-cli.git
cd wclogs-cli
make setup && make install  # Or: go mod tidy && go build -o wclogs

Container Usage (Optional)

Containers are useful for CI/CD, isolated environments, or when you prefer not to install Go locally:

# Setup credentials (one-time)
make container-run ARGS="config"

# Analyze reports
make container-run ARGS="damage ABC123 5"
make container-run ARGS="healing ABC123 5 --top 10"

# Note: Native binaries offer better performance and user experience

My Learning Journey

I started this project to learn CLI development in Go and chose Warcraft Logs as a challenging real-world API. Along the way, I discovered:

  • GraphQL is different - Not just "REST with one endpoint"
  • APIs have personalities - WCL's implementation taught me about API design choices
  • Professional tools exist - Postman, GraphQL playgrounds, etc.
  • OAuth2 has nuance - Token lifecycle, refresh flows, error handling
  • Data visualization matters - Clean terminal output requires thought
  • API research is crucial - Finding official documentation reveals the "why" behind web interface behavior
  • WCL's "last" logic - Uses encounterID = 0 to filter trash fights, matching web interface perfectly
  • Death analysis breakthrough - Solved counterintuitive sourceID semantics and achieved perfect WCL CSV compatibility

This project pushed me beyond tutorials into real-world complexity. The incomplete features aren't failures—they're documented learning opportunities that show where I was then and how I'd approach them now.

Contributing

This is a learning project, but suggestions and improvements are welcome. The codebase demonstrates practical GraphQL integration patterns that could benefit from community expertise.

Acknowledgments

  • Warcraft Logs for providing a complex, real-world GraphQL API to learn from
  • The Go community for excellent documentation on CLI tools and HTTP clients

License

MIT License - Feel free to learn from this code

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Warcraftlogs API warapper in the cli

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