Basics of GraphQL with Ruby on Rails

Learn to use GraphQL in a Rails app to talk to your front-end clients. Updated in 2022!

Content updated in 2022 to reflect latest versions of Ruby, Rails and GraphQL!

This course teaches the basics of using GraphQL in a Rails application. GraphQL is a query language invented by Facebook in 2012, and made open source in 2015. While it has certain clear advantages over REST, it also has a somewhat steeper learning curve.

Structured in a simple and accessible manner, these lectures will help you get on your way to using GraphQL to circulate data between back-end and front-end applications.

In the first section we will learn about reading data. The second section will be focused on changing data, and the slightly more advanced third section is about protecting data, using techniques both implemented in the GraphQL library or suggested by myself.

GraphQL has a number of features that make it an advantageous change for REST adopters, like the ability to only get what you ask for, or having instant API documentation available after every change. After completing this course, you'll be in a position to implement GraphQL in a new or existing Rails application with basic features all the way up to authorisation and access control. This should definitely get you started on your way!