December 2024 Summaries

Connectors are a powerful tool in GraphQL Federation that allow you to bring existing REST APIs onto the graph without implementing, deploying, and managing Subgraphs. However, they come with challenges such as being prone to the N+1 Problem, requiring complex configuration for handling different response types and status codes, and testing issues. Additionally, connectors might lead to leaking the REST API semantics into the GraphQL API, and input validation and sanitization can become a challenge. If used carefully, connectors can be a powerful tool to extend a federated graph with existing REST APIs, but if starting from scratch, it might be better to implement Subgraphs instead.

GraphQL has evolved into being the enabler for solving organizational problems at enterprise scale, rather than just a "cool" technology. It's no longer about performance or payload efficiency, but about Federation - the ability to implement a Graph(QL) API across multiple teams and services. GraphQL is not about finding the perfect solution to a problem, but about finding a solution that works well enough for a large enough group of people while also being easy to adopt and maintain. The ecosystem has changed over the years, with alternatives like tRPC emerging that make up for a great developer experience without having to deal with the complexity of GraphQL. Companies adopt GraphQL because they want the benefits of Federation - to scale their API development across multiple teams and services, enable collaboration and change management at scale.