October 2022 Summaries

The "State of GraphQL" survey report provides insights into the usage and popularity of various features, libraries, and tools in the GraphQL ecosystem. Key findings include the most and least used features, popular choices for GraphQL servers and clients, and a variety of API generators and schema builders. Notably, Hasura is a popular choice for building GraphQL APIs, while PostgreSQL leads as the preferred database. The survey also highlights the growing interest in GraphQL outside the JavaScript ecosystem. Overall, the results indicate that the GraphQL community is satisfied with the current state of technologies available for API development and real-time data handling.

Hasura Cloud has partnered with Neon to launch a native Postgres DB integration. This new integration allows users to create a free Postgres database and connect it as a data source to their Hasura Cloud project in just one click, significantly reducing the time taken for setting up a new GraphQL API. The previous Heroku connection method has been replaced with this simpler, faster getting started experience. Neon is a fully-managed serverless Postgres service that offers a generous free tier and is currently in closed preview.

PostgreSQL 15 has been released, introducing several new features and improvements. One of the key additions is the SQL MERGE command, which combines INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations into a single statement. This feature provides more capabilities than the existing INSERT ON CONFLICT feature in Postgres. Additionally, CREATE permission has been revoked for the public schema to enhance security. Structured JSON Logging is now supported, allowing for convenient exporting of logs and integration with monitoring tools like HoneyComb and DataDog. Performance improvements have also been made, particularly in sorting algorithms. The latest version can be tested locally using Docker Compose.

The article presents five free solutions to host your PostgreSQL database. These include Neon, Fly, ElephantSQL, Amazon RDS, and Render. These free tiers are suitable for side projects, MVPs, experimenting with Postgres, or learning Postgres. The providers were not added in any particular order. Each provider offers different features such as automatic scaling, high availability, automated backups, and more. It is also mentioned that Heroku is deprecating their free Postgres tier on Nov 28, 2022, and provides a guide to migrate your Postgres database from Heroku to one of these providers.

Microsoft has announced General Availability for Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL. This integration brings significant features to PostgreSQL on Azure by leveraging the power of Azure Cosmos DB. Users can now connect Hasura to Cosmos DB and get instant GraphQL APIs. The process involves signing up for a Hasura Cloud account, creating a project in the Hasura Cloud Account, and signing up for the Azure Cosmos DB free trial. After setting up the trial account on Azure, users need to reset the password to initialize the trial. Then, they can connect the new database to their Hasura project by copying the PostgreSQL connection URL from the Azure Portal and adding it as an environment variable in their Hasura Cloud account. Once connected, users can start building their database using Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL and leverage its benefits such as being a True PostgreSQL, managed cloud database, powered by Citus, and global availability.

The text discusses how to build real-time chat applications using GraphQL streaming subscriptions with Hasura. It explains that creating a chat app usually requires significant effort due to infrastructure concerns and custom logic for security, performance, and reliability of messages. However, with Hasura, developers can create chat apps instantly from their data models without needing additional infrastructure. The advantages of using streaming subscriptions on Hasura include no extra infrastructure requirements, model-level authz, scalable reads and writes, and easy scaling to handle websocket clients. The text also provides a step-by-step guide for creating data models, adding monotonic ids, setting permission rules, and testing the streaming subscriptions with sample queries. Additionally, it mentions a full sample app with live demo that uses Hasura's Streaming API for real-time chat applications.