"REST" as we've come to know it is just a useful design pattern for APIs. That's it. It's not a law. You probably don't lack understanding of REST, every develo

"REST" as we've come to know it is just a useful design pattern for APIs. That's it. It's not a law. You probably don't lack understanding of REST, every developer just has their own interpretation of edge cases (multi-resource responses, etc.) and different experience with what's worked and what hasn't. I wouldn't get caught up in the details. Use whatever tool is appropriate to solve your problem(s). I think it's likely we'll find certain design patterns (GraphQL vs. REST) are best suited to projects with specific problem spaces or scope. Maybe it's always best to start out "RESTful" and begin migrating to a different interface as your app scales in complexity. Maybe the latter problem is only an issue with medium or larger projects. Perhaps it's best to teach developers to be strict with REST to develop good habits and start migrating away once they're confident and comfortable with their ability to make architectural decisions. Either way --- don't sweat it. Experiment with what you like because you're the creator. Figure out what works best for you, and you'll be able to identify wins and challenges and decide for yourself how to use the technologies around you and what they bring to the table.