Deliver Software Faster with GraphQL and Inigo: Whitepaper Preview
Get the entire 10-page whitepaper here. This blog is a preview of the content.
The dream of a rapid software release cycle—with daily or even hourly updates—is vital for accelerating development and reducing the time to market for new features. As the core of modern software feature delivery, APIs require agile and automated API testing and lifecycle management for sustained rapid releases.
Despite its widespread adoption, the traditional REST API model struggles under the pressures of fast iteration. REST necessitates multiple endpoints and versions, which complicates the management process and hampers the evolution of APIs. Moreover, REST and OpenAPI specifications only allow for deprecation through documentation rather than as an integral part of the API specification itself. This becomes increasingly cumbersome when managing microservices, backends for frontend services (BFFs), and API gateways, as the challenges of REST are multiplied across various deployment targets.
Enter GraphQL: A Powerful Solution for API Management
GraphQL offers a powerful alternative that is transforming API management at scale. Unlike REST, GraphQL supports iterative development and automated testing, which are critical for rapid development environments. Its unique features enable streamlined API evolution, making it a preferred choice for modern software projects.
Improved API Flexibility and Evolution
GraphQL APIs are designed for iterative development and accommodate any GraphQL consumer. This flexibility allows consumers to query only the needed data without needing multiple API endpoints. The deprecation of types and fields is natively integrated into the GraphQL schema, eliminating the need for traditional versioning and significantly streamlining API lifecycle management. Developers can evolve the GraphQL schema, deploying numerous iterations over time while maintaining a seamless API consumer experience.
GraphQL’s schema-driven development enables teams to iterate quickly without the overhead of maintaining multiple versions. This is particularly beneficial in microservices architectures where services are frequently updated. With REST, each update might require new endpoints or versions, leading to a proliferation of endpoints and an increased maintenance burden. In contrast, GraphQL’s single endpoint model simplifies the architecture, making it easier to manage and evolve.
Better API Testing Using Breaking Change Checks
GraphQL simplifies API testing by leveraging actual usage data from GraphQL clients, a feature called Breaking Change Checks. This approach collects detailed API usage metrics, such as type and field usage over a specific period, to proactively identify potential disruptions. This method allows for daily API changes without needing coordination with API consumers unless a breaking change is necessary. Breaking Change Checks empowers developers to confidently and frequently implement API modifications, as shown in Figure 1.
By analyzing real-time usage data, Breaking Change Checks provides a safety net that REST APIs lack. GraphQL’s introspection capabilities and client usage metrics ensure that changes are made with a clear understanding of their impact, reducing the risk of breaking changes and enhancing the API's stability.
Figure 1. Breaking Change Checks in Practice
Inigo supports Breaking Change Checks as part of its broader GraphQL API Lifecycle management capabilities, including Operational Checks against field-level API usage history.
Conclusion
Get the entire 10-page whitepaper here. This blog is a preview of the content.
For all of the steps of GraphQL adoption, Inigo provides the tools, services, and expertise to shorten the adoption timeframe and help implement GraphQL best practices from Day 1. To understand everything that Inigo offers, see the Product Datasheet and schedule a demo to see Inigo in action!
Ready to take the next steps with Inigo? You can:
- Get started for free at app.inigo.io
- Book a demo today at inigo.io/demo
- Ask questions on our Slack channel
