4 GraphQL Tools You Should Know About
Having used GraphQL for 6 months, I share tools that helped me efficiently work with the GraphQL server
First and Foremost
GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data. It provides a complete and understandable description of the data in your API as well as gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more.
It was developed by Facebook as an internal solution for their mobile apps and was later open-sourced to the community.
GraphQL Clients
There are a lot of GraphQL tools available to increase the productivity of a developer. I have used these tools and I have added a sample project for you to see it in action. The application uses Spring Boot and Kotlin. Simply clone the repository and run the app. I would recommend you to do that.
GraphiQL
This is the first client I ever used to query the GraphQL server. It is simply amazing. Through GraphiQL, you can get the Schema definitions from the GraphQL server and start playing with it hands-on.
This IDE comes with Syntax highlighting, intelligent type ahead of fields, arguments, and types, documentation explorer, real-time error highlighting and reporting automatic query completion, and tools to run and inspect query results.
If you are running the application then go to http://localhost:8080/graphiql graphql/graphiql Looking for the GraphiQL Docs? : This is the root of the monorepo! The full GraphiQL docs are located at…github.com
Playground
It is a popular GraphQL IDE, that helps manage subscriptions, docs, and collaboration. It comes in the form of a desktop app or a web version and provides features like context-aware autocompletion & error highlighting, interactive multi-column docs, real-time GraphQL Subscriptions, Config support with multiple Projects & Endpoints, and even Apollo Tracing support.
If you are running the application then go to http://localhost:8080/playground prisma-labs/graphql-playground 🎮 GraphQL IDE for better development workflows (GraphQL Subscriptions, interactive docs & collaboration) …github.com
Altair
Altair is Postman alternative for GraphQL. With Altair, you can add, edit and remove HTTP headers used in making the request, including authentication token headers for requests that require authorized access.
It also lets you add variables to your request, for convenient use of dynamic values in your queries. A response state information display helps you learn how long your requests take, and additional features include schema docs display, syntax highlighting, and more.
If you are running the application then go to http://localhost:8080/altair Altair GraphQL Client A beautiful feature-rich GraphQL Client IDE for all platforms. Enables you to interact with any GraphQL server you are…altair.sirmuel.design
Voyager
GraphQL Voyager represents any GraphQL API as an interactive visual.
With graphql-voyager you can visually explore your GraphQL API as an interactive graph. This is a great tool when designing or discussing your data model. It includes multiple examples of GraphQL schemas and also allows you to connect it to your own GraphQL endpoint. What are you waiting for, explore your API!
It provides quick navigation on your graph, a left panel that provides more detailed information about every type, and the ability to choose any type to be a root of the graph.
If you are running the application then go to http://localhost:8080/voyager APIs-guru/graphql-voyager Represent any GraphQL API as an interactive graph. It's time to finally see the graph behind GraphQL. You can also…github.com
Thanks for reading. I hope it helps you get the most out of your GraphQL service. If you have suggestions apart from these, feel free to leave a response.