GraphQL: the next level of API tooling

By Ivan Goncharov

Elevator Pitch

Even today, API tooling is mainly limited to Docs & SDK generation but GraphQL is a game-changer. With features like introspection, IDL and directives, writing API-tooling has never been easier. I will prove you can make useful things in < 100 lines and it’s time to create tools unthinkable before.

Description

Even today, API tooling is mainly limited to docs, SDK generation, API Consoles, and Postman. We at APIs.guru have been working on API tooling for more than 2 years and I think GraphQL is a game-changer in this field. GraphQL doesn’t only formally specify payloads for request and reply but comes loaded with features like introspection, IDL, directives, type-system, etc. In my talk, I want to prove that writing API-tooling has never been easier and that you can build useful things in less than 100 lines. I will buttress up theory with concrete examples from our open-source tools: GraphQL Voyager, GraphQL Faker and a few other tools not yet released. At the end, I will share my vision about “intelligent” API clients and how we can evolve GraphQL to make things that were unthinkable before.

Notes

I will test some parts of my talk on GraphQL Berlin meetup: https://www.meetup.com/graphql-berlin/events/238109182/

This talk will be an extended version, though. Among other, I will show production-ready tool written in less that 100 lines of code. Also, I will share my vision on how API tooling can evolve together with GraphQL.