What is GraphQL

GraphQL is a query language for your API

You are probably familiar with SQL, which is a query language for your databases. GraphQL is a query language for your API's. This means you can query various API's using the same syntax. You can every query across multiple API's in the same GraphQL query. In the background GraphQL will take your query, make the necessary API calls (based on the GraphQL schema) and then give you the results in the expected JSON format.

What does it look like

The general format of GraphQL typically looks something like this:

query MyQuery {
  allNodeArticle {
    nodes {
      title
      body {
        processed
      }
    }
  }
}

In this query I am looking for the title and body text of all the Articles on a Drupal site.

Enough talk, let's try it out

GraphQL comes with a tool called GraphiQL that helps you structure your GraphQL queries correctly. GraphiQL is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that runs in your browser and lets you easily query your API data.

Choose your own adventure below to test out some GraphQL:

Click here if you like Star Wars

Click here if you like Dogs

If you don't like either, you will have to go ahead and pick one!