GraphQL on Rust: Building Modern APIs from Scratch

This book is your practical guide to building modern APIs using GraphQL and the Rust language. In the era of microservices and high-load systems, Rust offers a unique combination of C++ performance and memory safety, while GraphQL provides flexibility and efficiency in client-server interaction. Together, they form a powerful stack for building next-generation web services.

Who is this book for?

• Rust developers who want to learn GraphQL;
• Backend engineers looking for an alternative to REST;
• CTOs and architects evaluating a stack for a new project;
• Anyone who wants to understand how to build type-safe APIs.

What you will learn:

• GraphQL basics: schemas, types, resolvers, mutations, and subscriptions;
• Integration with Actix-web, Axum, and Rocket frameworks;
• Working with popular crates — async-graphql and Juniper;
• Designing complex queries and optimizing N+1;
• Authentication, authorization, and protection against injections;
• Testing resolvers and integration tests;
• Deployment, monitoring, and logging of GraphQL services.

The book is structured from simple to complex. You will start with a minimal server that returns "Hello, GraphQL!", and by the end, you will build a full-fledged application with real-time support via WebSocket subscriptions. Each chapter contains practical, ready-to-run examples and analysis of common mistakes.

Special attention is given to security: you will learn how Rust helps prevent entire classes of vulnerabilities at compile time, and how to properly validate input data in GraphQL. A separate chapter is dedicated to benchmarking and profiling — you will learn how to measure performance and find bottlenecks.

The author is Alexey Zakharov, a senior backend developer with 10 years of experience, the last 5 of which have been dedicated to Rust and GraphQL. The book is written in a lively style, with humor and real stories from production. After reading it, you will be able to confidently design and maintain GraphQL APIs in Rust for commercial projects.

Additional materials: a repository with example code, a code review checklist, and an async-graphql syntax cheat sheet.

Get this book if you want to write APIs that don't crash under load, are easy to extend, and delight users with response speed.