Build a Headless WordPress App with Next.js and WPGraphQL

The workshop focuses on building a Headless WordPress application using Next.js and WP GraphQL. It covers topics such as the differences between traditional and Headless WordPress, the benefits of going Headless, and includes a live coding session to create a Next.js app connected to a WordPress backend via GraphQL.

The presenter of the workshop is Kellan Mace, who works at WP Engine, a popular hosting platform specifically for WordPress sites. WP Engine recently launched Atlas, a hosting platform geared towards Headless WordPress sites.

WPGraphQL is a free, open-source plugin for WordPress that turns any WordPress site into a GraphQL API. It is used in a Headless WordPress setup to allow the frontend JavaScript application to communicate with the WordPress backend efficiently, enabling more powerful and flexible data queries compared to the traditional REST API.

Benefits of using a Headless WordPress approach include keeping the preferred CMS for content creators, improved performance and scalability, a platform-agnostic backend, the ability to pull data from multiple sources, increased security, and an improved developer experience with component-based architectures.

Drawbacks include additional complexity with more moving pieces, the need to recreate some built-in WordPress features like user authentication and post previews, inability to use WordPress plugins to add visual elements, and the inability to use new full-site editing features in WordPress 6.0.

You can turn a WordPress site into a GraphQL server by installing and activating the WPGraphQL plugin. This plugin provides a GraphQL endpoint that the frontend application can query to fetch data.

The workshop uses Apollo Client to manage GraphQL queries on the client side. Apollo Client provides features like in-memory caching, hooks for running queries and mutations, and tools for handling loading and error states.

For dynamic pages like search results, the workshop uses Apollo Client's useQuery hook to run GraphQL queries on the client side. This allows the application to fetch data in real-time based on user input and update the UI accordingly.

GraphQL fragments are reusable units of a GraphQL query that can be defined once and then included in multiple queries. In the workshop, fragments are used to co-locate a component’s data requirements with the component itself, improving code organization and maintainability.

The graphical IDE (GraphiQL) is used to compose and test GraphQL queries. It provides a user-friendly interface to explore the GraphQL schema, build queries, and see the responses. This is particularly useful for ensuring that the queries return the expected data before integrating them into the frontend application.