GraphQL

Not to be confused withGraph Query Language,an international standard.

GraphQL

Original author(s)	Meta Platforms
Developer(s)	Open source
Initial release	September 14, 2015(2015-09-14)
Stable release	October 2021(2021-10)
Repository	github/graphql/graphql-spec
Written in	Implementations inJava,JavaScript,Ruby,Scala,others.
Website	graphql.org

GraphQLis a dataqueryandmanipulationlanguage forAPIs,that allows aclientto specify what data it needs ( "declarativedata fetching "). A GraphQL server can fetch data from separate sources for a single client query and present the results in a unifiedgraph,so it is not tied to any specificdatabaseor storage engine.

The associated GraphQLruntime engineisopen-source.

History

Facebookstarted GraphQL development in 2012 and released it as open source in 2015.In 2018, GraphQL was moved to the newly established GraphQL Foundation, hosted by the non-profitLinux Foundation.

On 9 February 2018, the GraphQL Schema Definition Language became part of the specification.

Many popular public APIs adopted GraphQL as the default way to access them. These include public APIs of Facebook,GitHub,Yelp,Shopifyand Google Directions API.

Design

GraphQL supports reading, writing (mutating), and subscribing to changes to data (realtime updates – commonly implemented usingWebSockets).A GraphQL service is created by defining types with fields, then providing functions to resolve the data for each field. The types and fields make up what is known as theschema definition.The functions that retrieve and map the data are calledresolvers.

After being validated against the schema, a GraphQL query is executed by the server. The server returns a result that mirrors the shape of the original query, typically asJSON.

Type system

The root type of a GraphQL schema,Queryby default, contains all of the fields that can be queried. Other types define the objects and fields that the GraphQL server can return. There are several base types, called scalars, to represent things like strings, numbers, and IDs.

Fields are defined asnullableby default, and a trailingexclamation markcan be used to make a field non-nullable (required). A field can be defined as a list by wrapping the field's type insquare brackets(for example,authors: [String]).

typeQuery{
currentUser:User
}

typeUser{
id:ID!
name:String!
}

Queries

A GraphQL query defines the exact shape of the data needed by the client.

queryCurrentUser{
currentUser{
name
age
}
}

Once validated and executed by the GraphQL server, the data is returned in the same shape.

{
"currentUser":{
"name":"John Doe"
"age":23
}
}

Mutations

A GraphQL mutation allows for data to be created, updated, or deleted. Mutations generally containvariables,which allow data to be passed into the server from the client. The mutation also defines the shape of the data that will be returned to the client after the operation is complete.

mutationCreateUser($name:String!,$age:Int!){
createUser(userName:$name,age:$age){
name
age
}
}

The variables are passed as an object with fields that match the variable names in the mutation.

{
"name":"Han Solo",
"age":42
}

Once the operation is complete, the GraphQL server will return data matching the shape defined by the mutation.

{
"data":{
"createUser":{
"name":"Han Solo",
"age":42
}
}
}

Subscriptions

GraphQL also supports live updates sent from the server to client in an operation called a subscription. Again, the client defines the shape of the data that it needs whenever an update is made.

subscription{
newPerson{
name
age
}
}

When a mutation is made through the GraphQL server that updates the associated field, data is sent to all subscribed clients in the format setup through the subscription.

{
"newPerson":{
"name":"Jane",
"age":23
}
}

Comparison to other query languages

GraphQL does not provide a full-fledgedgraphquery language such asSPARQL,or even indialects of SQLthat supporttransitive closure.For example, a GraphQL interface that reports the parents of an individual cannot return, in a single query, the set of all their ancestors.

Testing

GraphQL APIs can be tested manually or with automated tools issuing GraphQL requests and verifying the correctness of the results. Automatic test generation is also possible.New requests may be produced through search-based techniques due to a typed schema and introspection capabilities.

Some of the software tools used for testing GraphQL implementations includePostman,GraphiQL, Apollo Studio, GraphQL Editor, and Step CI.

See also

• Query by Example
• OpenAPI Specification
• Microservices

External links

• Official website
• GraphQL: The DocumentaryonYouTube