Indeed in most cases replacing simple code with GraphQL only adds complexity. The old approach has been more like this: [client] <- RESTful request -> [your

Indeed in most cases replacing simple code with GraphQL only adds complexity. The old approach has been more like this: [client] <- RESTful request -> [your API] <- Your data fetching logic -> [DB] <- SQL query (with parameters) -> [DB] Replacing your data fetching logic with GraphQL just means translating your JS/Python to GraphQL - something that isn't as flexible, turing complete, or predictable (in execution). If anything, I'd prefer to go the other way and get rid of SQL altogether - let me express queries in code: books.filter(book => book.author === "Alice") .group(book => book.year) .map(group => group.reduce(({ sum = 0 }, { year, sales }) => ({ year: year, sales: sum + sales }), {})) .sort((a, b) => b.year - a.year) which translates to: SELECT year, SUM(sales) FROM books WHERE author = 'Alice' GROUP BY year ORDER BY year DESC but is far more composable, debuggable and potentially more deterministic - I'd like more control over query execution planner, not less.