Apollo GraphQL has announced the general availability of a free Development Graphs cloud service to simplify management of GraphQL application programming interfaces (APIs) at scale.
GraphQL APIs have been gaining traction as an alternative to REST APIs because they provide developers with more control over who can access data via an API and are easier to build and maintain.
Apollo GraphQL CTO Matt DeBergalis said that approach makes it possible to build APIs using the Agile development methodology versus the waterfall processes that typically are employed today to construct REST APIs.
Originally developed by Facebook, GraphQL APIs are being extended by Apollo GraphQL via a set of Studio tools based on a graph that makes it easier to discover those APIs and search GraphQL schemas. IT teams can also use the tools to launch queries against those APIs using an integrated development environment (IDE) dubbed Explorer. Developers are not required to have a deep knowledge of GraphQL syntax or the shape of a schema to launch a query. They can also copy links to share their queries with other users to copy a version of a query that can be run in the terminal as a CURL command.
DevOps teams can also search for types and fields in a schema using tools that guide them through the process of querying any field in their schema. They also can find and add fields to a query without needing to know in advance where those schemas are actually running.
The tools also make it possible to view samples of results to better gauge what data will be returned by a query, along with latency rates for each field in a query to better understand the overall cost of a query.
DevOps teams can also view response data from their queries as JSON or as tables and create mock responses to queries to test operations, Finally, each request and view of every query can be viewed alongside the data returned.
Connections to a private sandbox in the cloud for each local GraphQL server or any development environment are enabled using the Development Graphs tool.
DeBergalis said he doesn’t expect most DevOps teams will rip and replace the REST APIs that are already strewn across most extended enterprise. Instead, most new applications will make use of GraphQL APIs that over time will become the de facto standard for building APIs. However, developers are clearly voting with their feet to abandon REST APIs in favor of a more agile approach, he said.
Apollo GraphQL is looking to become the software development lifecycle (SDLC) platform for managing GraphQL APIs at scale, DeBergalis added.
The challenge organizations face now is finding a way to integrate the management of those GraphQL APIs within the context of a larger set of DevOps workflows. Of course, that may wind up being more challenging than initially anticipated when they consider REST and GraphQL APIs could be employed alongside one another for years to come.
