Tech

GraphQL

A query language for APIs that lets clients request exactly the data they need.

GraphQL is an alternative to REST that lets clients specify exactly what fields they need in a single request, reducing over-fetching and under-fetching. Developed at Facebook and released in 2015, GraphQL is popular at scale where API response sizes matter.

Example

A mobile app needs a user's name and avatar but not their full profile. With GraphQL: `query { user(id: 1) { name avatar }}` returns only those fields. With REST: full user object is returned regardless.

Related terms

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