I dont konw if this is a good practise. I start off initially with REST endpoints that expose (basic) data models - and then have the API the calls it needs.

I dont konw if this is a good practise. I start off initially with REST endpoints that expose (basic) data models - and then have the API the calls it needs. Over time there is a tendency to bloat your REST calls (a good sign is you need to combine two different models - joins). At this point what I have found useful is instead of putting a full blown layer graphql layer that does this scatter-gather for you - I add explicit "viewmodel" APIs. I am sure this was what graphql was for - but for some reason for me having explicit protos/rest specs to model your view models seems more incremental and less stressful. Or may be just old-school thinking?