schickling

I'm super excited about this release! Great work Jan, Lee, Joe and everybody else who was working on this! :)

At Graphcool (https://www.graph.cool/) we were using Relay since the very beginning. It has enabled us to build frontend products at an incredible speed and while staying confident about the data layer. For instance our entire console is written using Relay at its core. (It's open-source btw: https://github.com/graphcool/console)

PS: We're also the authors of Learn Relay (https://www.learnrelay.org/) which we'll update to Modern Relay soon!

Huge congrats to the amazing team at Apollo! :)

We at Graphcool (https://www.graph.cool) are super excited about this release as the majority of our customers are building their apps with Apollo Client.

A few months back we launched Learn Apollo (https://www.learnapollo.com/) here on Hackernews which so far has helped thousands of developers to get started with Apollo. (HN Link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13187431)

For people just starting out with Apollo: With tools like graphql-up (https://www.graph.cool/graphql-up/) it's super easy to get a GraphQL API for your Apollo apps. We're looking forward to contribute more to Apollo and its ecosystem going forward!

Hi Tom! We really like how easy it is to get started with Firebase or Parse, but like you mentioned, we're convinced that GraphQL is the future of APIs. That's why we're building Graphcool (https://www.graph.cool/) which is a Serverless GraphQL Backend. Here is a short tutorial on how to get started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SooujCyMHe4

Regarding the ability to "switch away": https://www.graph.cool/docs/faq/graphcool-moving-projects-aw...

Thanks a lot for bringing this up. We'll shortly adjust the pricing plan to be more transparent and fair.

Thanks a lot for that feedback!

I've just created a Github issue for that. Please feel free to add a comment: https://github.com/graphcool/graphql-up/issues/2

It's also super easy to embed graphql-up into your own docs & tutorials. Simply add the graphql-up badge as a link and you're tutorial basically comes with a free hosted server.

Thanks a lot for the shoutout, bh13731. The sunset of Parse and the rise of GraphQL was indeed one of the reasons for us to start working on Graphcool. We have a lot of customers who migrated from Parse to our platform which was a good usability benchmark for us.

In general GraphQL provides many advantages over a traditional REST like API provided by most BaaS. It frees you from the need for proprietary SDKs and reduces vendor lock-in.

Here is a quick way how you can get started: https://www.graph.cool/docs/quickstart

Hi ruslan_talpa, I'm one of the founders of Graphcool. Thanks a lot for your feedback. You're totally right: Not having direct access to YOUR data is one of the main concerns about BaaS which we'll address at its core over the coming months.

I'd be very keen on hearing your experience getting started building something on Graphcool!

That's a really good point and the foundation for what we're building with Graphcool (https://www.graph.cool). It's basically combining a GraphQL BaaS with AWS Lambda (or similar services). We take away the pain of configuring and maintaining your database + GraphQL schema so you can focus on implementing your business logic.

Our mission is to make software development like playing with Lego. You're combining existing services like Stripe, Algolia (...) to quickly build your own applications. GraphQL is the common denominator between all these components and provides an incredible developer experience.

On a more general note what distinguishes Graphcool from other services: We're optimizing for the best possible developer experience (DX) while maximizing the degrees of freedom what's possible to build with Graphcool.

Very good point, mrpoller. DataLoader works great in combination with GraphQL. We're using a similar concept at Graphcool (which is written in Scala using Sangria). This method combined with a smart caching strategy turned out to be very effective.

Hi hobofan (funny name btw), really good questions: 1) BI/Data analysis for non-developers: It's not a feature we're providing yet out of the box but it's on our roadmap for the upcoming months. For now we're focussing on the best possible DX. 2) FAQ link: Yup, you're right. That's broken right now. We're fixing it. 3) Competitor matrix: Good point, we'll try to make this more clear/objective. 4) Dedicated "features" page: I agree, we'll consider it while restructuring the page.

Again, thanks a lot for your great feedback. And I'm glad you enjoyed using Graphcool so far!

That's a really good point, kabes.

At Graphcool (https://www.graph.cool) we're working on exactly what you're describing. We're putting a lot of work into optimizing for the best possible performance while providing a powerful and flexible API. The key for this will be combining GraphQL and serverless technologies like AWS Lambda to implement your business logic.

Concerning security: We're currently testing a new permission system with a group of beta testers which leverages the Graph structure of your backend to specify data access rules.

Thanks Robin! I've love what you guys are doing at Apollo! I've just answered a similar question below, so I'll just copy the most important bits here as well:

One important thing to note here, is that Relay and Apollo are taking different approaches. Relay provides a great framework which works excellent for a lot of use cases and provides the most convenient and robust solution for that. In some cases you want to "break out" of that framework and be more in control how data is fetched or mutated. In that case Apollo is a fantastic choice as well. Especially in combination with Redux. Fun fact: We're actually using both - Relay AND Apollo - in our dashboard at Graphcool. Feel free to take a look at the source here: https://github.com/graphcool/dashboard

On a side note: We're already working on a similar project but focussed on Apollo. If you're interested in getting involved, we're still looking for collaborators: https://github.com/learnapollo

Very good point, morgante! One important thing to note here, is that Relay and Apollo are taking different approaches. Relay provides a great framework which works excellent for a lot of use cases and provides the most convenient and robust solution for that. In some cases you want to "break out" of that framework and be more in control how data is fetched or mutated. In that case Apollo is a fantastic choice as well. Especially in combination with Redux. Fun fact: We're actually using both - Relay AND Apollo - in our dashboard at Graphcool. Feel free to take a look at the source here: https://github.com/graphcool/dashboard

On a side note: We're already working on a similar project but focussed on Apollo. If you're interested in getting involved, we're still looking for collaborators: https://github.com/learnapollo

Thanks for your feedback scottmf! We're mostly working with frontend developers and trying to simplify their workflows as much as possible. One of the first and most important steps are great learning resources. That's why we're focussing for now on frontend technologies such as Relay, Apollo, ...

We'd be more than happy to share some insights on what we've learned while building Graphcool. The best way going forward will be following our blog: https://blog.graph.cool/

Also, feel free to join our Slack in case you have any questions: https://slack.graph.cool/

Thanks Jungberg! One of the most common hurdles for frontend developers getting started with Relay (or GraphQL in general) is that you need to build a GraphQL backend first before you can do your first query and start building. That's why we've tried to make this as easy as possible by including a GraphQL server directly into the guide.

Have you also seen the integrated GraphiQL and data browser?

This is amazing! Finally payment systems are getting easier to integrate!