Design and Build Efficient GraphQL

I’ve been working with the team at Aurena in Austria since the beginning of 2021. It’s been a lot of fun, and interesting work.

The Journey with Aurena

Working with Aurena has been an exciting journey in helping them digitize their distribution process. As part of this effort, I built two microservices using Apollo Federation that form a critical part of their GraphQL API infrastructure.

Identifying Performance Issues

During development, we identified significant performance issues in our GraphQL API design. Using Elastic APM, we were able to analyze and pinpoint inefficient database queries that were impacting our API response times.

The N+1 Query Problem

One of the key challenges we discovered was the classic N+1 query problem, where our GraphQL resolvers were making excessive database queries for related data. This is a common issue in GraphQL implementations where each field resolver triggers separate database queries.

Implementing DataLoaders

To solve this problem, we integrated DataLoaders into our GraphQL architecture. DataLoaders provide a batching and caching layer between your GraphQL server and data sources, dramatically reducing the number of database queries needed to fulfill a GraphQL request.

Results and Impact

The improvements were significant:

Reduced database query count
Improved API response times
Better system scalability
Maintained flexibility for future development

Making APIs More Extensible

Beyond performance, we focused on making our APIs more extensible. This involved:

Designing flexible schema structures
Implementing proper separation of concerns
Creating reusable resolver patterns
Building with future requirements in mind

Lessons Learned

This project reinforced several key principles for building efficient GraphQL APIs:

Always monitor and profile your API performance
Be proactive about addressing N+1 query problems
Use tools like DataLoaders to optimize data fetching
Design for extensibility from the start
Keep your system flexible for future development needs

For a more detailed technical deep dive into this project, check out the full article on Aurena’s tech blog.