Hasura enables GraphQL joins for data federation
Connecting multiple GraphQL services is about to get easier with new Hasura features that are generally available Thursday with the provider’s 2.6 release.
Hasura, GraphQL enterprise provider has developed its own platform to enable organizations to link different data sources using open source GraphQL API Standard.
A major challenge that users often face is the need to use multiple GraphQL services. Querying multiple GraphQL sources in an integrated and efficient approach can be complicated.
The new GraphQL join feature in the Hasura 2.6 update aims to help users overcome this challenge, by providing a degree of data federation for GraphQL data sources.
Hasura’s approach to data federation with GraphQL is a way to simplify software development, said Paul Nashawaty, analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group.
Companies have increasing demands to create new data applications and lack of skills or lack of resources is slowing down the process, he noted. Hasura speeds up the delivery process, but also acts to eliminate custom coding that can take extra time and skill to unify data sources, he said.
“In terms of the general direction Hasura is taking, I see this offering as an optimized data bridge in the data ecosystem,” Nashawaty said. “Through this bridge, data producers and consumers can work with new and legacy sources.”
Hasura bridges data silos with GraphQL joins
The provider has gradually added features over the past year to help join different data sources, said Tanmai Gopalco-founder and CEO of Hasura.
In 2021, the vendor added the ability to enable Hasura as a GraphQL layer to connect multiple databases and perform what’s called an SQL join between them. With databases, the ability to use SQL to join rows from two or more tables is a common feature.
Hasura now adds with the update the ability to perform GraphQL joins.
Users will now be able to combine data from multiple GraphQL data sources, enabling a form of data federation.
The GraphQL join capability is part of the Hasura metadata engine that powers the vendor’s platform and Gopal noted that Hasura still uses the open source GraphQL specification which is overseen by the GraphQL Foundationof which Hasura is a founding member.
GraphQL joins are analogous to database joins
Traditional database joins have been available for decades and are a common and often used feature. As to why Hasura is only adding support for GraphQL joins now, Gopal said it was a capability that had been on its roadmap for several years, but growing user demand and maturity of the GraphQL market have led Hasura to now release support for GraphQL joins.
Gopal said organizations now often use multiple GraphQL services beyond just connecting databases because several common platforms, including GitHub and Shopify, now provide support for the GraphQL API.
“As the consumption of GraphQL services increases, the use case of being able to join multiple GraphQL services becomes very useful,” he said.
Editor’s note: Enterprise Strategy Group is a division of TechTarget