GraphQL exists because getting the backend team to add three fields to an endpoint was harder than inventing a query language.

Sep 21, 2026 · 1:16 PM UTC

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Replying to @straceX
Jokes on you, they still need to add it to the endpoint.
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Replying to @straceX
the funniest part is this probably isn’t even that far from the truth
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Replying to @straceX
graphql exists because a team of Facebook engineers came up with a plan to get promoted by making everyone else take a hard dependency on their nonsense
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Replying to @straceX
And we already knew it was a bad idea; dynamic queries to the backend has always been a performance hazard. For this reason you need to lock the set of queries down on the backend anyway, so why not just write them there?
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Replying to @straceX
I’ve never really liked GraphQL. I was skeptical when it was introduced at work, and I still am. But one genuinely useful side effect: swapping a downstream API from v1 to v2 behind it can be surprisingly painless. Not what GraphQL was designed for, but I’ll give it that.
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Replying to @straceX
And updating all backend servers at the same time as all front end software was too hard. GraphQL lets the front end team prove that users will use something before the backend team needs to implement it in a sensible way.
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Replying to @straceX
getting those three fields would’ve taken two sprints and a design doc
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Replying to @straceX
If your data isn't graph shaped, you don't need GraphQL
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Replying to @straceX
The era of “if facebook does it, it must be good”
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Replying to @straceX
No, graphql exists because of micro services and hundreds of back end teams
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Replying to @straceX
REST in peace 🪦
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Replying to @straceX
Nah, it exists because backend developers were annoyed about people requesting fields at all.
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Replying to @straceX
😂😂
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Replying to @straceX
But those 3 fields carry a ton of baggage with them.
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Replying to @straceX
?fields=one,two,three
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Replying to @straceX
没写过后端，但是graphql的痛点到底在哪，我觉得这东西理念听起来很美好啊
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Replying to @straceX
No. But because REST mostly is total shit, and it makes your code near total shit after a few years. Whether that needed GQL i don't know.
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Replying to @straceX
Conways law in action
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Replying to @straceX
That's true, so now we can get rid of it
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Replying to @straceX
thats actually the reason why I adopted it back in the day
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Replying to @straceX
Dumb, people invent far worse to pass as querying arguments to “rest” APIs and following links to the resources people always want next
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Replying to @straceX
But then why did it die? No it was a silly ego thing
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Replying to @straceX
A problem created by seperating frontend and backend way too much
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Replying to @straceX
Graphql with federated subgraphs is so good
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Replying to @straceX
GraphQL is dead.
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Replying to @straceX
all that because nobody wanted to open another backend ticket
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Replying to @straceX
No, it's so every client isn't forced to download those three fields for the end of time and just throw them away.
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Replying to @straceX
and now we spend two weeks writing dataloaders just to avoid n+1 taking down the db
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Replying to @straceX
doing graphql well is stupidly hard, and usually ends up on the realization that you need to pay apollo 100k+ to make it scale
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Replying to @straceX
The field still has to exist in the schema and the resolver, so you opened the ticket anyway. It just got a nicer name.
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Replying to @straceX
it's wild how a few extra fields can turn into such a hassle, glad graphql simplifies that
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Replying to @straceX
I ask for a new fields, and they give me a new endpoint 🥀 now I have to call 2 API
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Replying to @straceX
What terrifies me is the number of companies that don't understand that you need to lock GraphQL down and end up just leaving gateways to their database on public-facing APIs
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Replying to @straceX
😂
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Replying to @straceX
I do backend work. I work closely with the front end developers. We have some pretty awesome team work. Perhaps you should ask yourself “How can I work better with the backend team?” Self reflection might be the answer you need.
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Replying to @straceX
GraphQL was built to solve a very niche problem that 95% of backend engineers might never encounter. It’s a technology you’re either in dire need of or you don’t need at all.
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