May 2020 Summaries

GraphQL, a query language developed by Facebook, has gained significant traction in the five years since its public release, with adoption by major companies like Airbnb, GitHub, and Twitter. As its popularity grows, developers have a variety of integrated development environments (IDEs) to choose from for building APIs. GraphiQL, created by the GraphQL Foundation, is a lightweight and popular in-browser IDE that supports the full GraphQL language, although it lacks some advanced features. GraphQL Playground, an IDE by Prisma, enhances documentation and schema exploration but will soon merge with GraphiQL. GraphQL Editor focuses on schema visualization and offers mock data capabilities, but it has been criticized for runtime errors. Postman, widely used for HTTP APIs, supports GraphQL but lacks some IDE-specific features, while Insomnia provides robust HTTP response displays and collaboration tools, though it is feature-limited for GraphQL. Retool is designed for building internal tools and applications with a focus on data visualization, but it lacks dedicated GraphQL features. Choosing the right GraphQL IDE depends on the specific needs of the project, such as schema development, debugging, or working with multiple data sources.

The document is a detailed guide on building a customer dashboard using the Shopify GraphQL API in Retool, which allows Shopify merchants to view their orders and products in a unified interface. The process involves several steps, including generating a GraphQL API key from Shopify, connecting Shopify data to Retool, creating a master query to gather necessary customer and order data, and implementing server-side pagination and search functionalities. The guide also provides instructions on displaying customer and order data using Retool's UI components and integrating additional features such as analytics and order details. Throughout the process, it emphasizes the importance of keeping queries efficient due to Shopify's query cost limits and offers tips for optimizing the user interface. The document also briefly mentions the growing availability of GraphQL integrated development environments (IDEs) to support developers in building APIs.

A survey of 310 developers and builders from mid-sized companies in sectors like SaaS, Finance, and Retail reveals the critical importance of internal tools to operational success, with over 80% of respondents affirming their significance. However, despite this importance, many teams face challenges in acquiring the necessary time and resources for development, with over half citing these as major hurdles. Additionally, issues such as unclear ownership, rapidly changing data sources, and difficulties in linking tool impact to revenue further complicate the process. Larger companies dedicate more time to internal tools, with those employing over 1,000 people spending close to 40% of their time on them. Full-time roles focused on internal tooling are becoming more common, particularly in operationally intensive companies, though less so in SaaS firms. Dashboards, admin panels, and customer support tools are popular, with internal databases and APIs, especially Postgres, serving as common foundations. Google Sheets is notably popular for tool construction, even among those in technical roles who also utilize frameworks like React. Despite their importance, internal tools can be a source of frustration for developers, highlighting a need for greater discussion and transparency in this area.