Update: As a thank you for all the great feedback, we've decided to offer a free "Project" plan to everybody coming from Producthunt today. You'll find the option on the pricing page! ✌️
Hi everybody, I'm really excited to introduce Graphcool, the GraphQL backend for mobile & web developers :)
About a million lines of code and 1.5 years ago, we set out to build a backend development platform based on GraphQL and serverless functions. Our goal was to provide a better level of abstraction when building backend applications while solving the limitations of existing services like Firebase. I would have never expected that by now, thousands of developers are building apps using Graphcool!
Today, we're announcing two new big additions to our platform: https://www.graph.cool/blog/2017...
Based on the learnings from building Graphcool, we're also presenting a new architecture concept called “Serverless GraphQL backend”: https://www.graph.cool/docs/tuto...
I'm happy to answer any questions!
– Johannes
> I'm happy to answer any questions!
@_schickling Well, you asked for it ;)
Some questions:
I know GraphQL exists, but that's it. Reading the linked GraphQL.org makes it sound like it replaces the GET calls of a REST API. What about PUT, POST, DELETE etc? Is this also covered or is GraphQL bascially a read only API?
I know AWS Lambda and what it does. But Graphcool "has" my database, right? Where will my database actually "live"? What format is my data saved in? Can I access it in a different way than via GraphQL/Graphcool? Also I have loads of data that I have to populate my database with. How do I get them into Graphcool?
I have an Ionic Framework mobile app, which is built on Angular and using another API right now. How would I go about integrating Graphcool there? How do I sync data to the client? Can the client work offline? Can I prepopulate a local database that is synced with changes from Graphcool?
Can you point out any (mobile) apps that already use Graphcool as their backend?
-J
@sujan Hi Jan - great questions!
GraphQL has two concepts: Queries and mutations. Basically, queries are the way you get data and mutations are the way you write and update data. So in other words, queries would map to GET calls, mutations can be used instead of PUT, POST, DELETE.
Graphcool is a fully managed backend, so we take care of your database as well. Here's a link about our infrastructure setup: https://www.graph.cool/docs/faq/....
Many of our customers import large amounts of data using the API which is quite simple based on features like "Nested Mutations". We provide unlimited requests during data import, so it doesn't cost you anything. You can read more about the process in our documentation: https://www.graph.cool/docs/tuto.... (We have similar documentation for how to export your data.)
Subscriptions are a great way to be notified about data changes: https://www.graph.cool/blog/2017.... Both Relay and Apollo support manipulating the local store, but there is no out-of-the-box solution for fully offline-capable apps yet. This is probably one of the biggest areas for innovation in the land of GraphQL right now.
Regarding your last question, here's a cool mobile app built on Graphcool which was recently featured on Indiehackers: https://www.indiehackers.com/bus...
@_schickling Thanks, that explained a lot of things.
You mentioned "Relay and Apollo". I know these have to do with GraphQL again, but not exactly what these are and where do they fit into things between my app and Graphcool?
Is GraphQL just a new name for RPC with some JSON sprinkled on?
Let me also pick two quotes from your initial post:
> ... while solving the limitations of existing services like Firebase.
Where do you see these? Does Graphcool replace all services of Firebase or "only" parts of it?
> ... a new architecture concept called “Serverless GraphQL backend"
You say this is a new concept with Graphcool. How did it work before?
And one from your pricing page:
> Is my data backed up?
> Yes. We take periodic snapshots and can perform point in time restore up to 7 days back in time.
What happens after these 7 days? Can I backup data myself and restore from my own backups?
-J
@sujan Good questions again! I know it can feel quite overwhelming to first get into GraphQL but once you've understood the concepts behind GraphQL, I can promise you a lot of satisfying a-ha moments! :)
> You mentioned "Relay and Apollo". I know these have to do with GraphQL again, but not exactly what these are and where do they fit into things between my app and Graphcool?
Relay and Apollo are "GraphQL clients" which connect your app to your backend. You don't necessarily need a GraphQL client to connect you frontend app to your GraphQL backend (as you can use plain HTTP requests for example) but they provide a lot of very useful features like networking, caching and optimistic UI updates. For a comparison between Apollo and Relay you can read: https://www.graph.cool/docs/tuto...
> Is GraphQL just a new name for RPC with some JSON sprinkled on?
No it's way more than that as it provides a typesystem for your API enabling whole new categories of tooling. A good example is GraphiQL. Check out this great talk by Lee Byron to get a better idea of GraphQL:
> Does Graphcool replace all services of Firebase or "only" parts of it?
Firebase has evolved into an extensive platform providing features like analytics, static file hosting, crash reports etc. In general it provides the most value closer to "frontend" or the app itself where as the initial core component, namely the database, is not flexible enough for bigger applications. The database (and also the logic layer) is exactly the part Graphcool provides a better solution for.
> What happens after these 7 days? Can I backup data myself and restore from my own backups?
Sure, it's very easy to implement your own backup solution. It should be as easy as setting up a cron job function to call the backup mutation the Graphcool API provides to get a full backup ready to download from S3.
We're accompanying Graphcool for a little less than a year now, taking care of User Experience and Design. It's impressive how fast those guys move and how the service evolved in this time. For everyone who's interested in the progress: We'll share more on the design topic here soon: https://dribbble.com/graphcool
@julianbauer_ Thanks a lot for your great continuous work! Graphcool wouldn't look and feel like it does today without your creativity and sense for design! ✨
We build multiple apps every month with a graph cool backend. I know the guys and they are working their asses off 14 hours a day to build a better product.
@danieldaniel Thanks a lot for your support Daniel! As Elon Musk says "[technology] only improves if a lot of people work very hard to make it better" 💪
GraphQL is quickly establishing itself as a key piece of the modern web app stack, and Graphcool is a great way to get started with it without having to write any code. Congrats on the launch!
@apertureless Hey Jakub! The GraphQL community is still mostly focused on React and Angular, so it is great to see that vue.js is working out so well for you! The Vue.js community is starting to pick up some speed too recently. Guillaume is really doing a great job with the vue-apollo integration for Apollo :)
@apertureless Hey Jakub! The GraphQL community is still mostly focused on React and Angular, so it is great to see that Vue.js is working out so well for you.
Being a part of the Graphcool team, I'm particularly impressed with the community that has evolved around GraphQL in the last couple of months! Our Slack is growing rapidly and it's amazing to see community members supporting and helping out each other every day! I'm incredibly excited to see what the future holds for GraphQL 💚🎉
Ever since I seen a demo of Graphcool at a GraphQL meetup in London, I've been hooked.
Their GraphQL API is simple and flexible at the same time with features like filtering, ordering, pagination and GraphQL subscriptions. You can either use their web-based console or a CLI to manage your schema.
They even have a playground to run queries and mutations. 🔥
Their website, console and docs are all open source, built with React & GraphQL too. So there's definitely something everyone can learn.
I've been building with Graphcool since its very early days (August 2016) for https://authory.com/.
In the beginning, I had my doubts about using a new service for such an important piece of the product. Over time, I've become more and more confident that we made the right call.
The Graphcool team has done an excellent job answering support requests and adding new features. More importantly, they've managed to keep the API stable and reliable, while making tons of improvements to the product.
This has allowed us to focus on the core user experience of Authory without worrying too much about scaling.
Thank you @mattmueller! It's super impressive what you have built in such a short time. Many of the improvements you mention are a direct result of your early feedback, so that has been really valuable.
Graphcool's team is the best. Always iterating, answering questions, adding features. I don't think they ever sleep! Great product that is improving by the day. I highly recommend it.
Congratulations @_schickling, @sorenbs and the rest of the Graphcool crew. We're very excited to see Graphcool using Auth0 Extend: https://www.auth0.com/extend to power Graphcool's Serverless extensibility. Great work!
@_marktani Likewise. Yes we just launched. We were feeling the pressure to get out there with all the Graphcool hotness. :-) And thanks for reaching out to us Nilan!
I've been using Graphcool for a couple months now and have been very impressed. Still a very young company but the team and community is great -- special shout out to @_marktani who has helped me and many others more times than I can count. The whole group is very responsive to user needs and it's been exciting being able to grow with Graphcool.
If you ever have a GraphQL project I highly recommend using this service.
Working with Graphcool has been a dream so far ✨
The team have built a product which is incredibly intuitive and easy to use. Tools such as the playground make for an awesome developer experience. The service has been super reliable, and I don't lack confidence in their ability to scale.
Beyond the product itself, the support and contributions to the community from the team are hugely valuable. The learning curve for working with a new technology can often be steep, but they continually produce amazing content to learn from. Awesome work! 🔥
Thanks for your support, @lewisblackwood! We put a lot of effort into our documentation and learning resources, so I am really happy to hear that it's paying off ⚡️
Graphcool is one of these services I stumble upon over and over. Here on Producthunt, on Hacker News, on different blog posts that make it into my Twitter timeline. Seems they are doing something right :)
One to watch! The team is doing a fantastic job of building community around GraphQL and their platform
- at events, conferences, and by being very responsive in their community chat.
For 3rd party services like Algolia, Graph.cool is very attractive because it lets developers plug us into their GraphQL apps immediately. Their integration is smart and avoids duplicate / wasteful operations.
@dzello Thanks a lot, Josh! Really glad you like our integration for Algolia. It's amazing how well GraphQL is suited to connect different systems with each other. In this case we could even re-use a lot of our API infrastructure such a filter rules which makes the integration fairly intuitive to use.
I use GraphQL and believe it's a game changer for the way we build apps. Graphcool is built by some extremely smart and hard working folks, and it shows -- the amount of thought they put into every detail makes using it a joy. Just give it a try, seriously.
@notbrent Thank you Brent - that means a lot coming from you! I'd just add that Graphcool + Expo is a killer combo for mobile development and many are already using this combination to build their apps. It's incredible how fast you can get a new project off the ground nowadays!
Graphcool is an amazing product that allows a small development team, or even a one man shop, to build apps like the big guys.
And the team provides super customer support. I hope they can keep it up as they inevitably grow more popular. :-)
I can't wait to release the couple apps I've been working on which will be fully Graphcool. A full GraphQL backend and I didn't have to write a line of backend code. woot!
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