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Comment by serpix | Hacker News Reader

Then we just come back full round trip to REST where the backend clearly defines what is allowed and what is returned. So using GraphQL it is unnecessary complicated to safeguard against a caller querying for all of the data and then some. For example the caller queries nested structures ad infinitum possibly even triggering a recursive loop that wakes up somebody at 3am.

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But GraphQL doesn't allow for infinitely nested queries; the query itself has to include as much depth as it wants in the response.

> Then we just come back full round trip to REST

Except that GraphQL allows the back end to define the full set of fields that are available, and the front end can ask for some subset of that. This allows for less load; both on the network and on what the back end needs to fetch data for.

From a technical perspective, GraphQL is (effectively) just a REST API that allows the front end to specify which data it wants back.

You are correct and I agree with you. GraphQL can be used effectively like this and I've seen one example where GraphQL is used like this. New endpoint can be defined very quickly and it is essentially like a REST API with the possibility of the client specifying what data it wants back (as you described).

The other extreme end example is to expose by default the entire data model (PostGraphile) and then getting lost in the customisation and authorisation.

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