GraphQL Codegen & Tooling

Codegen-based (run a CLI, get types)

• ★ GraphQL Code Generator (@graphql-codegen/*) — the standard for years; presets for any client (Apollo, urql, Relay, TanStack Query). Use the client-preset for new projects.
• Apollo Client codegen — works fine; same idea.
• Houdini — full GraphQL framework with codegen + runtime; great for SvelteKit.
• @grafbase/typed-document-string — typed documents in a single string.

No-codegen (type-only inference)

• ★ gql.tada — types from your GraphQL strings via TS type inference; zero codegen step. The default for new TS projects in 2026.
• Houdini has runtime/inference paths too.

Schema authoring (server)

• ★ Pothos — TypeScript-first schema builder; type-safe; the default for new Node GraphQL servers.
• TypeGraphQL — decorator-based.
• Nexus — older code-first builder.
• graphql-tools — for schema stitching, utilities, mocks.
• Mercurius (Fastify) / graphql-yoga (multi-platform) / Apollo Server — execution layer.

Federation

• Apollo Federation — incumbent.
• GraphQL Hive — hosted schema registry; OSS self-host option.
• Cosmo (Wundergraph) — newer federation router.
• Mesh — for stitching disparate APIs into one GraphQL.

Persisted documents / hashing

• @graphql-tools/relay-operation-optimizer, @graphql-codegen/persisted-operations — persisted queries; reduce payload size + improve security.
• Standard pattern: hash → CDN cache, server only accepts known hashes.

Subscriptions

• graphql-ws — WebSocket transport.
• graphql-sse — Server-Sent Events transport.
• Apollo's HTTP multipart — newer alternative.

Servers / gateways with GraphQL built-in

• Hasura — generate GraphQL from Postgres / SQL Server.
• PostGraphile — same idea, Postgres-only, more configurable.
• Grafbase — hosted GraphQL platform.
• WunderGraph — composes APIs into a typed gateway.
• Stepzen (IBM) — federated GraphQL.

Validation / linting

• graphql-eslint — lint queries / schemas.
• graphql-inspector — diff schemas, find breaking changes.

Pick this if…

• Default new GraphQL client: gql.tada.
• Existing codegen pipeline: GraphQL Code Generator with client-preset.
• Server schema in TS: Pothos.
• Postgres → GraphQL: PostGraphile or Hasura.
• Federation: Apollo Federation or Cosmo.
• Schema CI checks: graphql-inspector.