GraphQL with Django: Clean Queries and Strong Typing

By NSLTD | Published on June 25, 2025

API Development

From REST to GraphQL: A New Way to Query Django

While REST has long been the standard for APIs, GraphQL offers a more flexible, precise, and efficient way to retrieve exactly the data your frontend needs. With Django, integrating GraphQL is surprisingly elegant thanks to graphene-django.

Installing Graphene

pip install graphene-django

Then add 'graphene_django' to your INSTALLED_APPS and set:

GRAPHENE = {
    'SCHEMA': 'myapp.schema.schema'
}

Creating a Schema

import graphene
from graphene_django.types import DjangoObjectType
from blog.models import Post

class PostType(DjangoObjectType):
    class Meta:
        model = Post

class Query(graphene.ObjectType):
    all_posts = graphene.List(PostType)

    def resolve_all_posts(self, info, **kwargs):
        return Post.objects.all()

schema = graphene.Schema(query=Query)

Running Your GraphQL Endpoint

Add this to your urls.py:

from graphene_django.views import GraphQLView
from django.urls import path

urlpatterns = [
    path("graphql", GraphQLView.as_view(graphiql=True)),
]

Benefits of GraphQL

• Fetch exactly the data needed—no overfetching or underfetching
• Strong typing with introspection and auto-documentation
• Single endpoint to rule them all

Use Cases

• Frontend-heavy apps using React, Vue or Next.js
• Mobile apps with tight bandwidth needs
• Complex data visualizations with nested relations

GraphQL doesn’t replace Django—it refines how your data is exposed. Pair it with a modern frontend and watch your API layer shine.

“Don’t just expose your models—let them speak in your user’s language.”