GitHub's GraphQL API offers a more flexible and efficient way to interact with GitHub data compared to traditional REST APIs by allowing users to request exactly the data they need in a single request, which reduces network overhead and simplifies client-side logic. Implemented by GitHub in 2016, GraphQL supports both queries (read-only operations) and mutations (data-modifying operations), providing a clear separation between reading and writing operations. The GitHub CLI further enhances the user experience by streamlining authentication, query syntax, JSON processing, and pagination support, making it a preferred tool for executing GraphQL queries and mutations directly from the terminal. While GraphQL can be more rate limit-friendly when fetching related data, poorly optimized queries may quickly exhaust rate limits. The CLI's built-in support for JQ-style filtering and handling of pagination allows for more efficient data extraction and manipulation, making it a powerful tool for developers to manage GitHub workflows.