GraphQL Basics on Shopify

GraphQL is a schema definition language, resolver to handle and point query, Auth. GraphQL eliminates the need to define, a potentially infinite, number of endpoints for developer to interact with APIs. There is no more need to predefine the endpoints needed to interact with the API.  Many traditional API calls may be needed to get complex results back. "Multiple API calls from different schema hard for developers and slow for users." - Shopify forum discussion. GraphQL is can give back all the information in nested JSON format. Use GraphQL admin to manage the API. REST API (the previous prevalent standard, before GraphQL got popular) needs multiple endpoints for each resource, to be designed and written, GraphQL technically just need one endpoint. In Shopify POST https://{shop}.myshopify.com/admin/api/2019-04/graphql.json for example. Shopify has a GraphQL app ready for installation. Shopify Developers and Shopify Partners can potentially use this to design reporting fast. Traditional API call HTTP request GET /api/user?id=1 HTTP response {“id”:1, “name”:”xyz”}

GraphQL is also used in Neo4j desktop app for low code development. There's a talk called low code development graphQL API by Will Lyson. Can use one-click API generation with Neo4j database. There’s also a talk called Build APIs with Neo4j GraphQL Library - Part of the NODES 2021 training series)  GraphQL schema can spin up API service much quicker than defining endpoint one-by-one and having to modify that when the data model changes. 

GraphQL is easy for front end developers to develop API without full stack knowledge.