GraphQL + JAMStack - Panel Discussion

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FAQ

GraphQL and Jamstack align well because both technologies share similar goals around performance and efficiency. GraphQL allows for fetching specific data a client needs, which complements Jamstack's focus on improving performance through pre-built pages that can pull in data from multiple sources efficiently.

Using GraphQL in Gatsby allows developers to pull data from multiple sources through a unified querying interface. This simplifies data integration and enhances developer experience with features like auto-completion and immediate API documentation, making data fetching and usage more efficient and less error-prone.

Integrating GraphQL with Jamstack sites offers several benefits, including optimized data fetching, reduced data over-fetching, and a unified API for multiple data sources. This integration also helps in building more dynamic, scalable, and performant web applications.

GraphQL enhances the developer experience by providing a powerful, flexible API for efficiently querying data. This matches well with the Jamstack architecture, which separates the frontend from the backend, allowing developers to manage and fetch content more dynamically and efficiently.

One of the main challenges is the learning curve associated with GraphQL. New developers might find GraphQL's syntax and concepts intimidating at first. However, this can be mitigated by leveraging resources and tools like Gatsby, which integrates GraphQL natively and offers extensive documentation and community support.

Yes, GraphQL can be used at runtime in Jamstack applications for dynamic user interactions and real-time data fetching. Although Jamstack sites are pre-built at compile time, GraphQL can be integrated for handling dynamic content or user-specific data that needs to be fetched after the initial page load.

In Jamstack architectures, GraphQL clients can be used at runtime to manage data fetching and state management for dynamic parts of the application. They are especially useful in hybrid applications where static generation is combined with dynamic client-side operations.

Developers new to GraphQL and Jamstack can start by experimenting with frameworks like Gatsby, which provides out-of-the-box support for GraphQL. This approach allows learning and building simultaneously, leveraging extensive documentation and community examples to ease the learning process.

Sid Chatterjee
Sid Chatterjee
Alex Lobera
Alex Lobera
Scott Moss
Scott Moss
37 min
02 Jul, 2021

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Video Summary and Transcription
GraphQL can simplify the integration of content creators, CMSs, and site generators in the JAMstack ecosystem. WPGraphQL is an example of how data can be syndicated between WordPress instances using GraphQL. The use of GraphQL reduces the need for extensive application code and ensures type safety, making it easier to define connections between different endpoints. This video discusses the benefits of using GraphQL in Gatsby, which allows for easy consumption of multiple data sources through plugins. The learning curve associated with GraphQL is acknowledged, but the advantages such as auto-completion and immediate API documentation are highlighted. The talk also covers the trade-offs between using static site generators like Next.js without GraphQL, which requires imperative code, and using Gatsby, which simplifies data fetching. The panelists discuss the role of GraphQL clients in JAMstack, emphasizing that they may not be necessary for static sites but are useful for dynamic content. The discussion also touches on the future of JAMstack, which is moving towards hybrid and server-rendered pages, making GraphQL clients more relevant.

1. Introduction to GraphQL and the JAMstack

Short description:

Thank you everyone for joining us today. This is Alex Lobera. We're going to be talking about GraphQL and the JAMstack together. What's this interesting relationship between? Are they going to procreate? There are a lot of interesting things we can talk today about the two and of course any gossip between them is also welcome.

Thank you everyone for joining us today. This is Alex Lobera. I'm an independent software developer and coach, maybe best known as the React GraphQL Academy Head Coach. So thank you everyone for joining today. We're going to have a very interesting discussion. We're going to be talking about GraphQL and the JAMstack together. And what's special about it? What's this interesting relationship between? Is this a one off thing? Is this something is going to last or what's coming after these? Are they going to procreate? There are a lot of interesting things we can talk today about the two and of course any gossip between them is also welcome.

1. Introduction to GraphQL and JAMstack

Short description:

Alex Loberham introducing the topic of GraphQL and the JAMstack and inviting panelists to introduce themselves.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This is Alex Loberham. I'm an independent software developer and coach, maybe just known as React GraphQL Academy head coach. So thank you, everyone, for joining today. We are going to have a very interesting discussion. We're going to be talking about GraphQL and the JAMstack together and what's special about it? What's this interesting relationship between? Is this a one-off thing? Is this something that's going to last or what's coming after these? Are they going to procreate? There are a lot of interesting things we can talk today about the two. And of course, any gossip between them is also welcome.

So after this, hopefully, entertaining introduction of the topic, let's have a quick round of introductions because we have a very, very good panel today. So maybe we can go clockwise or maybe, I don't know, Sid, you want to go first and introduce yourself, please? Yeah, sure. Thanks Alex. My name is Sid. I live in India. I work at Gatsby, Inc. Gatsby, Inc. is a company which builds the Gatsby, JS, open-source static site generator, and more. You've probably used it, in case you haven't checked it out. We also build Gatsby Cloud, which is a cloud platform that helps build your Gatsby sites even faster. And, yeah, I'm looking forward to this discussion. Thank you for having me here.

Thank you, Seth. Scott, would you like to introduce yourself, please? Yeah. I'm Scott Moss. I'm the CEO of a company called Type. With an I, because we couldn't afford the Y, because it's really expensive. We're a headless CMS. If you don't know what that is, you can think of us as basically a CMS that has no idea or doesn't really care how your app, or what your app is and how it's built, and we just provide content over an API. We structure your data with a schema. We do the rest. Most of our product is open source. We just handle the API, and the infrastructure, and all the hard stuff for you.

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