Everything that could go wrong with GraphQL and how OTel can help

OpenTelemetry (OTel) offers valuable solutions to the complexities and challenges associated with GraphQL, benefiting both developers and operations teams. GraphQL, a flexible and general-purpose query language that combines concepts from SQL and REST, can encounter issues like over-fetching, under-fetching, and complex performance profiles, especially in large-scale environments with various consumers. OTel aids in monitoring these challenges by using the RED method—focusing on rate, errors, and duration—to assess the performance of GraphQL services, enabling quick detection of issues such as N+1 queries and cyclic or expensive queries. However, GraphQL error detection requires more than standard REST error handling, as errors may appear in response bodies rather than HTTP layers, necessitating manual instrumentation. While OpenTelemetry is effective in monitoring and troubleshooting GraphQL queries, it still needs further development to fully address GraphQL specifics, and industry players like Tyk are actively participating in discussions to enhance OTel’s capabilities in this area.