What I mean about graphql

proto-annotate.toml

protoPackageName = "si.account"

service.Account.CreateAccount.skipauth = true
service.Account.CreateAccount.mutation = true
service.Account.GetBillingAccount.query = true
service.Account.CreateUser.mutation = true
service.Account.GetUser.query = true
service.Account.ListUsers.query = true
service.Account.ListWorkspaces.query = true
service.Account.ListOrganizations.query = true

message.LoginRequest.skip = true
message.LoginReply.skip = true
message.User.passwordHash.skip = true

[message.User.billingAccountId.has_one]
to = "billingAccount"
grpcServiceName = "Account"
method = "GetBillingAccount"
type = "BillingAccount"

[[message.BillingAccount.id.has_many]]
to = "users"
grpcServiceName = "Account"
method = "ListUsers"
type = "ListUsersReply"
inputType = "ListUsersRequest"

[[message.BillingAccount.id.has_many]]
to = "organizations"
grpcServiceName = "Account"
method = "ListOrganizations"
type = "ListOrganizationsReply"
inputType = "ListOrganizationsRequest"

[message.Organization.billingAccountId.has_one]
to = "billingAccount"
grpcServiceName = "Account"
method = "GetBillingAccount"
type = "BillingAccount"

[[message.Organization.id.has_many]]
to = "workspaces"
grpcServiceName = "Account"
method = "ListWorkspaces"
type = "ListWorkspacesReply"
inputType = "ListWorkspacesRequest"

query.gql

query getProfile($userId: String!) {
  getUser(input: { userId: $userId }) {
    user {
      id
      email
      domain
      displayName
      givenName
      familyName
      picture
      billingAccount {
        id
        displayName
        shortName
        organizations {
          items {
            id
            name
            workspaces {
              items {
                id
                name
              }
              nextPageToken
              totalCount
            }
          }
          nextPageToken
          totalCount
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

results.js

{
  "data": {
    "getUser": {
      "user": {
        "id": "user:afaae8c7-2ade-411a-aa08-ec551cacab95",
        "email": "adam@systeminit.com",
        "domain": "systeminit.com",
        "displayName": "Adam Jacob",
        "givenName": "Adam",
        "familyName": "Jacob",
        "picture": "",
        "billingAccount": {
          "id": "billing_account:3ca74d69-f23e-4a2e-9668-3e2a8e6acec2",
          "displayName": "adam",
          "shortName": "adam",
          "organizations": {
            "items": [
              {
                "id": "organization:b8f5bac0-dc4b-4ff4-8fb9-bde9aaec0bb8",
                "name": "default",
                "workspaces": {
                  "items": [
                    {
                      "id": "workspace:2abf3d98-e818-4378-a91a-3d7e1325d6c8",
                      "name": "default"
                    }
                  ],
                  "nextPageToken": "",
                  "totalCount": 1
                }
              }
            ],
            "nextPageToken": "",
            "totalCount": 1
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

This generates four backend gRPC calls. One to get the user, one to get the billing account, one to list organizations, and one to list workspaces. If there were more organizations and workspaces added, we would fetch those too (and send consequently more backend API calls).

This is glorious, because you would have had to make these calls regardless - if I was doing REST, I would make N calls from the frontend, maybe fuck around with some stateful store a-la redux or vuex. Here, you don't even bother - you just make the call once, cache the data on the client side, and move on. All the "expensive" calls are inside my span of control (in particular with regards to latency), and the graphql server layer is where I can do all kinds of tricks to speed things up if I need to.

It's the same architecture I would have wound up with if I used REST, but standardized (ish), and with guide-rails that neatly drop you into the kind of design that scales well. I'm stoked about it.