WTF is GraphQL?

Introduction

GraphQL is particularly great for frontend developers since it completely eliminates many of the inconveniences and shortcomings that are experienced with REST APIs … Complexity is pushed to the server-side …

– @nikolasburk

Query

{
  movie(name: "Rango") {
    ratings
  }
}

Output

{
  "data": {
    "movie": {
      "ratings": ["10/10 - IGN"]
    }
  },
  "errors": { … }
}

How?

Why?

Get the data you want
Get data in the expected shape
All in one request
Goodbye to versioning
No more URL construction
Explorable API

GraphQL enables the server developer to focus on describing the data available rather than implementing and optimizing specific endpoints.

Who?

Implementation

fetch('https://graphql-pokemon.now.sh/', {
  method: 'post',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    query: `{ pokemon(name: "Pikachu") { types } }`
  })
})

Please let me code

devhints.io/graphql

Conclusion