Why Use Rails and GraphQL? A Perfect Pair for Modern Web Development
In the world of web development, flexibility, scalability, and efficiency are some of the key factors in developing high-performing applications. Ruby on Rails is a MVC framework that you can use for developing web applications using the Ruby programming language. While the GraphQL is a declarative query language and server-side runtime that makes it easier for developers to fetch the data. Now what are the benefits of combining Rails and GraphQL together?
What is Ruby and Rails and GraphQL?
Ruby on Rails is one of those few frameworks that are around the corner for the past two decades. There have been thousands of web applications built with this legendary framework and some of the most popular applications built with it are Shopify, Airbnb, Bloomberg, GitHub etc.
Now what is GraphQL? It is a programming language that helps to make APIs fast, flexible, and developer-friendly. As an alternative to REST, GraphQL allows to fetch the data from multiple sources from only a single API call.
Benefits of Using Rails and GraphQL
The following are some of the benefits of combining Rails and GraphQL.
Efficient Data Fetching
GraphQL helps to improve the data fetching efficiency by allowing only the required data, and eliminating the common issues of over-fetching and under-fetching that was one of the things to look after in REST APIs. This approach will minimize the payload size, reduce server processing, and optimize network usage, which results in faster response times and better overall performance for applications.
Flexible API Design
GraphQL provides a flexible API design by allowing clients to structure queries based on their specific data requirements, unlinke REST, which offers a fixed endpoints with predefined responses. This adaptability is particularly helpful for front-end developers building dynamic UI components, as they can request only the necessary data in a single query which reduces the redundant API calls and improves application performance.
Better Developer Experience
Combining Rails and GraphQL enhances the experience of developers to explore the capabilities of API in real time without extensive documentation. Various tools like GraphiQL and GraphQL Playgound enables the interactive query testing which makes it easier to understand the data structures available, debug issues, and optimize all the pending requests efficiently. This approach will not only accelerate the development but will also improve the productivity of the developers.
Improved Performance with ActiveRecord
GraphQL improves the performance in Ruby on Rails applications by integrating ActiveRecord and bataching techniques to minimize N+1 query problems, where the multiple inefficiency database cells slow down the response times. By optimizing how the data is fetched and resolved, GraphQL ensures fewer queries, reducing database load and significantly improving the overall performance of the application.
Strong Type System
The strong type system of GraphOL makes strict schema compulsory which ensures that APIs are reliable and less prone to runtime errors. While in Rails, developers can explicitly define data types, which helps to validate the requests and responses and helps to prevent inconsistencies. This combination of Rails and GraphQL improves the data integrity, improves debugging, and ensures a more predictable API behavior.
Versionless API Evolution
The GraphQL allows versionless API evolution which helps to eliminate the need for multiple versions (v1, v2) like in REST APIs. This helps developers to introduce new fields or modify existing ones without breaking existing queries, as clients only request the data they need. This flexibility simplifies long-term maintenance and it will also ensure backward compatibility, and allows seamless feature updates without disrupting the user journey.
Ideal for Microservices & Monoliths
Because of its versatility, GraphQL may be used effectively in both microservices architectures and monolithic Rails apps. It can aggregate data from multiple services into a single query and will act as a unified API gateway which makes communication seamless between systems. This reduces the need for multiple API calls, helps to improve performance, and also providea a more streamlined fetching of data processes for complex applications.
Better Real-Time Capabilities
By combining Rails and GraphQL you will be able to receive real-time updates without the need for continuous polling. It will allow your applications to push data instantly to clients whenever changes occur and this makes it ideal for features like live notifications, chat applications, and dynamic dashboards. This combination will improve performance, reduce the server load, and enhance user experience with seamless real-time interactions.
Robust Ecosystem & Community Support
Ruby has a powerful ecosystem for GraphQL, with powerful tools like graphql-ruby, apollo-client, and GraphQL Pro which makes API development efficient and scalable. The active developer community continuously contributes to enhancements, security updates, and best practices which ensures that GraphQL remains a reliable and evolving solution for modern Rails applications.
Conclusion
Combining Ruby on Rails and GraphQL creates a powerful and efficient stack for modern web applications development. This combination is perfect for creating scalable, high-performance applications because it offers flexible data fetching, performance enhancements, a robust type system, and real-time capabilities. Whether you are working with monolithic architecture or microservices, Rails and GraphQL will help you streamline API development, reduce server load, and improve the experience of the developers. If you are looking to leverage the full potential of GraphQL with Ruby on Rails, partnering with a Ruby on Rails development company will help build robust, scalable, and future-proof applications with faster time-to-market.