Beyond REST — Using GraphQL to shape your data

GraphQL, developed by Facebook in 2012 and open-sourced in 2015, is a versatile query language and specification for accessing hierarchical data, which has gained popularity due to its flexibility compared to REST APIs. It is designed for front-end developers to efficiently fetch and manipulate data, overcoming challenges such as over-fetching and the N+1 problem associated with REST. GraphQL operates with a type system that allows for complex queries, including fetching multiple resources in a single call, supporting mutations and subscriptions, and enabling introspection to query its schema. The GitHub GraphQL API exemplifies the power of this technology with its complex schema, showing how GraphQL can streamline data retrieval processes in a React application without the need for additional libraries like ApolloClient. This capability is illustrated through a demo app that uses GraphQL to fetch Kubernetes release data, highlighting the ease of integrating GraphQL into modern web applications and underscoring its potential to address real-world data modeling issues.