This is another post related to FastAPI(indirectly) in which I am going to discuss how to use GraphQL based APIs to access and manipulate data. I already have discussed how you can make Rest API in the FastAPI framework in the previous post. We will be learning some basics of GraphQL and how graphene helps us to use Python for writing a GraphQL based application. So, let’s get started!

What is GraphQL

From the official website:

GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data. GraphQL provides a complete and understandable description of the data in your API, gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more, makes it easier to evolve APIs over time, and enables powerful developer tools

GraphQL was internally developed by Lee Byron and his team in 2012 and used in many internal projects including the Facebook mobile app and later it was released publicly in 2015.

The official website provides an excellent resource for learning different parts of GraphQL which you can refer to for details. Here, I will be more discussing the implementation in Python. Don’t worry, I will be sharing a few bits of the basics anyway.

Before I move forward, let’s set up our local dev environment. Like previous FastAPI posts, I will be using Pipenv here as well. I am not going to repeat all steps but the installation of Graphene.

#fastapi #graphql #python