Chapter 5. Creating a GraphQL API
You explored the history. You wrote some queries. You created a schema. Now you’re ready to create a fully functioning GraphQL service. This can be done with a range of different technologies, but we’re going to use JavaScript. The techniques that are shared here are fairly universal, so even if the implementation details differ, the overall architecture will be similar no matter which language or framework you choose.
If you are interested in server libraries for other languages, you can check out the many that exist at GraphQL.org.
When the GraphQL spec was released in 2015, it focused on a clear explanation of the query language and type system. It intentionally left details about server implementation more vague to allow developers from a variety of language backgrounds to use what was comfortable for them. The team at Facebook did provide a reference implementation that they built in JavaScript called GraphQL.js. Along with this, they released express-graphql, a simple way to create a GraphQL server with Express, and notably, the first library to help developers accomplish this task.
After our exploration of JavaScript implementations of GraphQL servers, we’ve chosen to use Apollo Server, an open-source solution from the Apollo team. Apollo Server is fairly simple to set up and offers an array of production-ready features including subscription support, file uploads, a data source API for quickly hooking up existing services, and Apollo Engine ...
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