Ultimate GraphQL for Scalable Web Apps

Master GraphQL to build scalable, production-ready web applications.

Key Features

● Build a complete Netflix-style streaming platform using GraphQL, React, Node.js, and Apollo.
● Master production-grade concepts including DataLoader, caching, scalability, and performance tuning.
● Learn by doing, and progress from GraphQL fundamentals to advanced real-world full-stack development.

Book Description

APIs power modern web applications, but traditional REST often lacks flexibility and scalability. GraphQL changes that by offering a faster, more efficient way to fetch and manage data. Ultimate GraphQL for Scalable Web Apps takes you from core concepts to production-ready apps, helping you build real-world, high-performance web applications with confidence.

Through the hands-on creation of Streamify, a Netflix-style streaming platform, you can master the complete GraphQL ecosystem using Node.js, Express, Apollo Server, MongoDB, React, and Apollo Client. From designing schemas and writing efficient queries to building authentication systems and recommendation engines, every concept is grounded in real-world development.

This is not a theory-heavy manual. It is a practical, project-driven guide. Each chapter builds on real implementation, helping you craft an admin panel, design a compelling interface, implement rating systems, and develop intelligent recommendations. You will confront production challenges head-on, solving the N+1 query problem with DataLoader, implementing advanced caching for performance, and architecting scalable backends for real-world traffic.

Thus, by the end, you will confidently design GraphQL schemas, optimize queries, and build scalable, production-grade web applications. You will understand not just how GraphQL works, but why it matters, equipping you well to architect modern, high-performance applications that meet today’s demanding scalability standards!

What you will learn

● Design and implement production-ready GraphQL APIs with Apollo Server.
● Build full-stack applications using React, Node.js, and MongoDB stack.
● Solve N+1 query problems using DataLoader for optimal performance.
● Implement advanced caching strategies on frontend and backend layers.
● Create scalable architectures that handle real-world traffic and growth.
● Develop authentication systems, rating features, and recommendation engines efficiently.

Who is this book for?

This book is designed for software engineers, web developers, frontend and backend engineers, full-stack developers, and technical leads with basic JavaScript knowledge. It is ideal for professionals and students aiming to master GraphQL, enhance their API design skills, and build scalable, production-ready web applications using modern technologies.

Part 1 Introduction to GraphQL and Core Concepts

1. Introduction to GraphQL
2. Installing GraphQL: Backend
3. Building with GraphQL: Frontend and Apollo Integration

Part 2 Building Streamify: A Netflix-Like Streaming Platform

4. Setting the Stage for Building a Streaming Website
5. Building the Admin Panel
6. Designing the Storefront
7. Crafting the Video Detail Page
8. Building Video Recommendations
9. Unleashing the Power of Caching in GraphQL

Part 3 Scalability and Advanced Concepts

10. Ensuring Scalability: Backend Strategies
11. Advanced Frontend Development: High Scalability
12. Caching on the Frontend: Performance Optimization
13. Conclusion: The Future of Web Development
Index

Robins Gupta is an engineering leader and entrepreneur with a proven track record of building successful products and driving innovation across multiple industries. His entrepreneurial journey includes co-founding several startups, and developing successful software products from the ground up, demonstrating his ability to transform ideas into scalable solutions.

With extensive experience spanning construction, gaming, e-commerce, finance, and hospitality sectors, Robins has developed deep expertise in building high- performance applications that solve real-world problems. His cross-industry perspective enables him to approach technical challenges with creativity and pragmatism, always focusing on delivering value to end users.

About the Technical Reviewer

Deeptiman Mallick has over seven years of experience building high-stake, consumer facing, large-scale enterprise web applications. He began his journey as a freelance developer during the second year of his bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, building web applications with PHP and jQuery from his hostel room.

In his professional career, he has built internal dashboards for leading central as well as consumer banks dealing in transactions worth millions of dollars daily. Deeptiman has worked on some of the most marketed features of JioCinema, which have stood along the scale, and been enjoyed by millions of cricket fans in India, during the Indian Premier League.

Surya Pratap Singh is a full-stack software engineer with over four years of experience in designing and optimizing scalable web and backend systems. He specializes in building distributed architectures and data-driven applications using technologies such as Node.js, React, GraphQL, and Kafka.

At Fynd (Shopsense Retail Pvt. Ltd.), he has contributed to the architecture of Fynd Engage, a loyalty and rewards SaaS platform serving over 100,000 users. Surya led initiatives to modularize backend services for transactions, reward management, and point redemption, improving scalability and maintainability. He also migrated the key APIs from REST to GraphQL, enhancing performance and reducing redundant data calls. Surya has designed event-driven pipelines enabling near real-time processing and analytics, supporting seamless integrations with major retail partners such as Tira, Netmeds, and JioMart.