December 2016 Summaries

Apollo is a framework designed to make it easy for developers to use GraphQL in their applications, regardless of the frontend or backend technology being used. It provides a caching JavaScript client for GraphQL, React Apollo for integrating GraphQL data into React applications, and server-side tools that implement the core GraphQL functionality. Apollo Client is built on top of Redux, making it easy to integrate with existing Redux stores. The framework includes features such as server-side rendering, which allows developers to easily render components on the server, and performance optimization techniques. Future plans for Apollo include developing sugar-on-top features, improving performance, and building developer tools to help users understand their app's data. GraphQL is an incrementally adoptable technology that can be added to existing REST API database implementations, allowing developers to continue using their existing backend without rewriting it.

Learn Apollo: Build GraphQL Apps with React, React Native or Exponent` Learn Apollo is an interactive tutorial introducing all Apollo's core concepts to help developers get started with building GraphQL apps using popular frontend frameworks like React, React Native, and Exponent. The tutorial provides a hands-on approach by guiding users through practical examples as they build a fully-fledged application. A pre-configured GraphQL backend endpoint is included for each track to simplify the development process. Learn Apollo is an open-source project that aims to make Apollo more accessible to frontend developers across various technologies, with contributions from the community and plans for future tracks.

The Apollo Client Developer Tools are now available for Chrome, offering a built-in GraphiQL console, store inspector, and watched queries inspector. The tools allow users to make requests against the app's GraphQL server or cache through the Chrome developer console, automatically passing along proper HTTP headers. The GraphiQL console enables easy experimentation with modifications to existing queries, while the store inspector provides a tree-like view of the Apollo Client cache. The watched queries inspector shows all queries being watched on any given page, including their loading state and React component attachment. The tools are designed to make it easier for developers to work with GraphQL, and the project is now available on the Chrome Web Store.

Fine-grained time filters and query variables are now available in Apollo Optics, a GraphQL performance insights tool. These features allow users to compare data from arbitrary time periods and gain more information about what's causing performance issues in their GraphQL API. With fine-grained time filters, users can apply arbitrary time ranges to analyze query performance histograms and field-by-field analytics. Query variables are also now available, providing insight into the variables associated with a query request. Users can try out Optics for free and see performance insights about their GraphQL server in minutes.

The Apollo project has introduced a complete GraphQL developer experience for TypeScript, which includes automatic query and fragments loading using graphql-document-collector. This tool gathers all documents (fragments, queries, mutations) in a single file containing auto-resolved fragments. Additionally, the apollo-codegen generator converts GraphQL documents and schema to TypeScript interfaces, providing automatic type annotation generation. The new setup allows developers to write correct GraphQL queries from the start, with ESLint providing real-time error checking for .graphql files. This improved development experience is designed to streamline the process of working with static GraphQL documents.

graphql-anywhere` is a powerful library that allows developers to use GraphQL without having to declare a schema, making it ideal for cases where importing and running the entire GraphQL schema doesn't make sense. It supports all features of GraphQL, including fragments, variables, directives, aliases, and more. Using `graphql-anywhere`, developers can filter data, denormalize data, and validate arguments with just one resolver that is called for every field of the query. This library allows developers to take advantage of GraphQL's powerful querying capabilities even without a GraphQL server, making it a convenient technology to work with.