This Wednesday Wisdom deck is all about GraphQL. Learn essential GraphQL best practices to enhance efficiency, security, and scalability. Explore the importance of schema design, error handling, caching, and more in this comprehensive deck.
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Content
What we’ll be covering
What is GraphQL
Why we need to adhere to best practices
Importance of Schema design
Security and Versioning
Documentation
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What is GraphQL
The what and the why?
GraphQLis a query language and runtime forAPIs (Application Programming Interfaces)
that was developed by Facebook in 2012 and later open-sourced in 2015. It provides a
more efficient, flexible, and powerful way to interact withAPIs compared to traditional
REST(Representational StateTransfer)APIs.
Instead of having multiple endpoints for different types of data, a GraphQLAPI exposes a
single endpoint where clients can send queries that specify the shape and structure of the
response they expect.This query is essentially a JSON object describing the data
requirements.
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REST vs GraphQL
In traditional RESTAPIs, the client typically has to make multiple requests to different
endpoints to gather all the required data.
GraphQLaddresses these issues by allowing the client to specify exactly what data it
needs and in what format.
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Issues with RESTAPIs
Addressing bottlenecks
In REST, endpoints often return fixed data structures, which can result in clients receiving
more data than needed (over-fetching) or making multiple requests to different endpoints
to gather required data (under-fetching).This leads to increased latency and inefficient use
of network resources.
In RESTAPIs, when changes are made to the data structure or behaviour of an endpoint,
it often requires creating a new version of theAPI to avoid breaking existing clients.This
can lead to maintenance challenges and confusion for bothAPI providers and consumers.
GraphQLsolves this by allowing clients to request only the specific fields they need,
eliminating over-fetching and under-fetching. Clients define their data requirements in
the query, ensuring that they receive precisely the data they expect, without
unnecessary additional information. GraphQLreduces versioning challenges by
introducing a strongly-typed schema.The schema serves as a contract between the
client and the server, defining the types of data that can be queried and the relationships
between them.
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How to make the most out of GraphQL
What are the different practices that can give you superpowers
Following best practices when working with GraphQLis crucial to ensure the efficiency,
maintainability, and scalability of yourAPI and the applications that interact with it. Here are
some reasons why adhering to best practices is important
• Efficiency
• Data Security
• Scalability
• Developer Collaboration
• Future-proofing
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Importance of Schema Design
How you should design your schema and why doing it right matters
The schema acts as a contract between the client and the server, defining the types of
data that can be queried, the relationships between them, and the operations that can
be performed. It matters because a well-designed schema ensures clarity, efficiency,
and flexibility in yourAPI.
• Use clear and meaningful type names
• Hierarchical Structure
• Use Interfaces and Union for Polymorphic types
• Use @deprecated directive
• Add support for pagination and filtering
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Importance of meaningful errors
Why you should care about the error messages as much as the returned data
Meaningful error messages provide clear insights into what went wrong, making it
easier for developers to identify and fix issues in their queries or mutations.
• PromotesAdoption
• Encourages Proper Usage
• Supports Client-Side Development
• Saves NetworkTraffic
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Some other best practices
What can help you make the most of your GraphQLAPIs
Caching and Performance
Utilize caching mechanisms likeApollo Client's cache or Dataloader caching.These
mechanisms store frequently accessed data in memory, reducing the need for repeated
database queries. Implement server-side caching with tools like Redis for queries that
are common and resource-intensive. Minimize the data returned in each request to
reduce payload size and improve performance, especially for mobile clients.
Security
Protect sensitive data with authentication and authorization mechanisms. Ensure that
only authorized users can access certain queries and mutations. Implement field-level
permissions to restrict access to specific fields based on the user's role or permissions.
Be cautious with the introspection query, which can expose your schema structure;
disable it in production to mitigate potential security risks.
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Some other best practices
What can help you make the most of your GraphQLAPIs
Versioning
Plan for schema changes and versioning to prevent breaking changes for clients.
GraphQLschemas can evolve over time, and it's important to provide backward
compatibility for existing clients. Use features like unions and interfaces to maintain
compatibility even as you introduce new types. Provide clear deprecation notices for
fields or types that will be removed in the future.
Tooling
Leverage tools likeApollo Server, GraphQLYoga, or Express GraphQLfor setting up
your GraphQLserver.These tools simplify server creation and provide useful features
out of the box. Use GraphQLtools like GraphiQLor GraphQLPlayground for query
exploration and debugging. Incorporate linting and code generators to maintain code
quality, consistency, and to automate repetitive tasks.
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Key Takeaways
What we learned
What is GraphQL
Bottlenecks with RESTAPIs
Best practices when using GraphQL
