What is the difference between REST and GraphQL?

Q: What is the difference between REST and GraphQL?

## REST vs GraphQL - **REST:** resources exposed as multiple endpoints, manipulated with HTTP verbs. Simple and cacheable, but a screen often needs **several round trips**, and each endpoint returns a fixed shape (**over- or under-fetching**). - **GraphQL:** a **single endpoint** with a typed schema. The client sends a query describing **exactly** the fields it wants, and gets them back in **one round trip** — great for nested data and varied clients. REST: many endpoints client <rect class='d-box' x='70' y='150' width='90' h

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REST: assemble from several endpoints

// REST: a screen needs data from multiple endpoints (N round trips)
const user   = await fetch('/api/users/42').then(r => r.json());
const orders = await fetch('/api/users/42/orders').then(r => r.json());
const items  = await fetch('/api/orders/' + orders[0].id + '/items').then(r => r.json());

GraphQL: one query, exact shape

# One request; the server returns exactly this shape, in one round trip.
query {
  user(id: 42) {
    name
    orders(first: 1) {
      id
      items { sku, qty }
    }
  }
}

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