Roy Derks
StepZen
GraphQL Isn't An Excuse To Stop Writing Docs
About the talk:
The main goal of API documentation is to help developers understand how to use an API. With GraphQL, developers often assume it's self-documenting capabilities are sufficient for anyone that consumes their GraphQL API. But did you ever validate this?
Good API documentation offers both static and interactive ways to learn how to consume the API. API's that support GraphQL often only come with interactive documentation, in the shape of a GraphiQL Playground. However, the first time you (or your users) use a GraphQL API can be very frustrating as GraphQL APIs typically only have an interactive playground. it increases the complexity for newcomers to GraphQL as it assumes you’re already familiar with GraphQL. But with GraphQL, you’re not limited to just an interactive playground, as you can create static or interactive documentation next to having this playground. This talk explores which forms of documentation you can use and how they add value to your GraphQL API.
About the author:
Roy is an entrepreneur, speaker and author from The Netherlands and, in his own words, 'wants to make the world a better place through tech. He has been giving talks and trainings to developers worldwide on technologies like GraphQL, React and TypeScript. Most recently he wrote the book Fullstack GraphQL.
