GraphQL vs graphql-yoga: What are the differences?

Introduction

GraphQL and graphql-yoga are both technologies used to build APIs, but they have some key differences that set them apart.

1. Programming Language Support: GraphQL is a query language and runtime that can be used with a variety of programming languages such as JavaScript, Ruby, Python, and more. On the other hand, graphql-yoga is a fully-featured GraphQL server library specifically built for Node.js, making it ideal for server-side JavaScript applications.

2. Server Configuration: GraphQL provides a specification for querying and manipulating data, but it doesn't provide a server implementation out of the box. graphql-yoga, on the other hand, is a fully-featured GraphQL server that is easy to set up and configure. It comes with built-in support for features such as subscriptions, playground, and middleware.

3. Middleware Support: graphql-yoga provides middleware functionality that allows developers to modify or intercept requests and responses before they reach the resolver. This makes it easy to add authentication, caching, or any other custom logic to the GraphQL server. GraphQL itself does not provide built-in middleware support and requires external libraries to achieve similar functionality.

4. Subscription Support: graphql-yoga has built-in support for subscriptions, which allow clients to receive real-time updates from the server. Subscriptions are a powerful feature that GraphQL does not natively support. While there are external libraries that can add subscription support to a GraphQL server, graphql-yoga makes it easier to implement and manage subscriptions out of the box.

5. Error Handling: GraphQL provides a standard approach to handling errors by including an "errors" field in the response payload. However, graphql-yoga takes error handling a step further by providing customizable error formatting and advanced error handling features. With graphql-yoga, developers have more control over how errors are returned to the client and can add additional metadata or debugging information if needed.

6. Development Workflow: GraphQL can be used with a variety of development tools and frameworks, which allows developers to choose the best tooling for their specific needs. graphql-yoga, being a fully-featured GraphQL server library, provides a streamlined development workflow by including many essential features out of the box. This can save development time and effort compared to setting up a GraphQL server from scratch using GraphQL alone.

In Summary, graphql-yoga is a specialized GraphQL server library that provides additional features and streamlined development workflow compared to GraphQL itself. It offers built-in support for server configuration, middleware, subscriptions, error handling, and is specifically designed for Node.js applications.