Skip to main content

Public API Choices

· One min read

In summary, to choose a tool for the public API, API gateway, or BFF (Backend For Frontend) gateway, I prefer GraphQL for its features like tailing results, batching nested queries, performance tracing, and explicit caching.

JSON RPCGraphQLRESTgRPC
UsecasesEtherumGithub V2, Airbnb, Facebook BFF / API GatewaySwaggerHigh performance, Google, internal endpoints
Single Endpoint
Type System✅ as weak as JSON
No uint64

No uint64
✅ w/ Swagger
No uint64

has uint64
Tailored Results
Batch nested queries
VersioningSchema ExtensionYes, w/ v1/v2 route sField Numbers in protobuf
Error HandlingStructuredStructuredHTTP Status CodeStructured
Cross-platform
Playground UIGraphQL BinSwagger
Performance tracing?Apollo plugin??
cachingNo or HTTP cache controlApollo pluginHTTP cache controlNative support not yet. but still yes w/ HTTP cache control
ProblemLack of community support and toolchainBarrister IDL42.51 kb client-side bundle sizeUnstructured with multiple endpoints. awful portability.Grpc-web dev in progress140kb JS bundle. Compatibility issues: not all places support HTTP2 and grpc dependencies