Comment by sheepscreek

What I’ve realized over time is the idea is beautiful and the problem it solves is partly of API/schema discovery.

Yet I am conflicted on whether it’s a real value add for most use-cases though. Maybe if there are many micro-services and you need a nice way to tie it all together. Or the underlying DB (source or truth data stores) can natively support responses in GraphQL. Then you could wrap it in a thin API transformation BFF (backend for frontend) per client and call it a day.

But in most cases, you’re just shifting the complexity + introducing more moving parts. With some discipline and standardization (if all services follow the same authentication mechanics), it is possible to get the same benefits with OpenAPI + an API catalog. Plus you avoid the layers of GraphQL transformations in clients and the server.

100% based on my anecdotal experience supporting new projects and migrations to GraphQL in < $10B market cap companies (including a couple of startups).