AWS AppSync simplifies GraphQL query prototyping in the AWS Console with GraphiQL Explorer and Cognito integration improvements

Posted on: Sep 4, 2020

Today we are making it easier to create, prototype and test GraphQL queries directly in the AWS AppSync GraphQL Console.

AWS AppSync is a managed GraphQL service that simplifies application development by letting you create a flexible API to securely access, manipulate, and combine data from one or more data sources with less network calls. With AWS AppSync you can build scalable applications, including those requiring real-time updates, on a range of data sources such as NoSQL data stores, relational databases, HTTP APIs, and your custom data sources with AWS Lambda.

AppSync leverages the popular open source tool GraphiQL in the AWS AppSync GraphQL Console. GraphiQL is a graphical, in-browser GraphQL development environment that provides an interactive playground to compose, test, and see the live results of your queries. Today we’re integrating the popular GraphiQL Explorer plugin built and open sourced by the team at OneGraph into the AWS AppSync GraphQL Console. The Explorer adds a graphical representation of available fields and inputs that can be used to construct full queries by clicking through available fields and inputs without the repetitive process of typing the queries out by hand.

We are also making it easier to test Amazon Cognito User Pools authorization when prototyping queries in the AWS AppSync GraphQL Console. When adding a Cognito User Pool as an authorization mode in your AWS AppSync GraphQL API, the GraphiQL IDE login dialog in the Queries section of the console will now automatically display all available Client IDs for the user pool. There is no longer the need to manually copy and paste Cognito Client IDs from the Amazon Cognito Console to test API authorization in an AWS AppSync GraphQL API.

You can try these new capabilities in the Queries section of your GraphQL API in the AWS AppSync GraphQL Console.