January 2019 Summaries

You can stitch multiple APIs together using GraphQL schema stitching, allowing for unified and transparent access to data from different sources without knowing the specific API endpoint. By creating a stitching proxy, you can combine schemas from remote APIs and merge them into a single schema with references between objects. This enables querying across APIs seamlessly, even when data is not directly available in the format needed or has conflicts due to duplicate types. With GraphQL schema stitching, you can also infer new data, expand existing fields, and leverage relationships between APIs to make data more accessible to developers.

APIs can be overwhelming due to the numerous data sources and authentication methods involved, but GraphQL offers a more manageable approach by allowing developers to specify exactly what data they want and get it in one request, making it easier to reason about an API programmatically. This enables frontend-driven data selection and composable APIs, empowering developers to have more control over their data. GraphQL's schema is the core part of every API, and with a unified version of this data, developers can stitch together multiple APIs into a single mashup, simplifying the process of integrating different services.

The client wanted a modern solution that would enhance their workflow and facilitate the ability to create reusable content with a long shelf life, saving time and allowing non-technical users to move components and reorder content layout. The team built a static website using Contentful as the content management system, leveraging GatsbyJS to generate the static site and abstracting content models for better architecture. However, they hit two dealbreaking caveats: editing content was sometimes confusing for editors due to extra abstraction, and the escalating amount of content models was an issue with the client's budget constraints. The team concluded that abstracting content models can be beneficial but also requires careful consideration of project specifics and budget constraints. They recommend using a PIM if possible, as it is specifically designed to model thousands or tens of thousands of products, while a CMS is more adept at serving general content. Contentful impressed the team with its beautiful interface, fast performance, and ease of use, making it an attractive option for modeling web projects geared towards products.