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Show HN: Prototype – build GraphQL backends without code
18 points by rj254 2423 days ago
Hi HN,

We're Rishabh, Aashish, and Noah, the creators of ProtoType: a platform for building GraphQL backends. You can check it out here:

https://www.useprototype.com

We were fed up with creating the same sort of APIs over and over again when building web applications so we built this tool for ourselves. As we're all in university, we showed it around to our friends and they enjoyed using it to kickstart their projects. After that, we thought we'd host it on a website and allow anybody to use it!

ProtoType is different from similar GraphQL backend builders such as 8base in that it focuses on data modeling. All you need to do is model your data then hit deploy (no dealing with relational tables). Once you hit deploy, ProtoType will automatically generate and deploy a GraphQL server that supports your data models.

On the roadmap is migrations, tutorials, roles/permissions, live server logs, and data metrics (how much your models are created, read, updated, and deleted).

Looking forward to all of your feedback!

The ProtoType team

4 comments

This looks really neat.

Do you have plans to support some sort of markup language instead of requiring properties to be added to models one at a time, similar to the DBML used by https://dbdiagram.io ?

Thanks Ryan! Configuring models in a low-code environment is on our roadmap and DBML is a great example.
For starters, can you explain how this is different from other solutions like Hasura?
Good question. The main difference is the steps it takes to build a GraphQL backend in ProtoType vs Hasura. In ProtoType, you model your data first then click deploy.
I'm Noah—one of the creators. Glad to answer anyone's questions!
How do you do code generation?
The "Download" button in the top right of the data modeling page will generate your GraphQL server's code and download it.