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by dgb23 2152 days ago
> Am I alone in thinking this is a ridiculous solution to replace traditional REST endpoints?

Consider implementing GraphQL over a REST-like API if you tick at least one box of:

- Your API has multiple consumers, not just one front-end.

- Your backend has a multiple, possibly heterogeneous providers, for example a set of different APIs.

- You need to decrease the frontend and backend coordination.

- You want to offload complexity or expressivity to the consumer.

---

An example of when not to use it IMO:

We ruled out GraphQL in a current/new project very early on, even though good libraries, tooling and knowledge was all there.

- The coordination is very high and unbureaucratic (small team of full-stack developers).

- single backend, single frontend

- We are very comfortable with SQL and don't need something to patch over an ORM or other scaffolding.

- We are iterating over a specification => the functionality is clear => we can choose where complexity resides. => we decided to keep the frontend simple and optimize on the backend.