Why Graphitron?
What is Graphitron?
Graphitron is a collection of code generation tools for doing API-first development against relational database models. By mapping GraphQL schemas to database models through GraphQL directives, it automatically generates the source code needed to build maintainable APIs. Developed by Sikt – the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research, this tool streamlines GraphQL API implementation.
We believe API-developers should focus on understanding business information models and designing great APIs. Our experience shows that a surprisingly large amount of implementation work can be automated through generation.
Graphitron is open source and free to use – We've made it available to the community so everyone can benefit from our approach to API-first development.
Key Advantages
Efficiency and Code Reduction
- Generates the correct source code – Ensures accuracy and consistency, reducing the risk of errors.
- Reduces code duplication – Common patterns that would otherwise be repeated multiple times in the codebase can be generated automatically, improving consistency and reducing redundancy.
- Smaller codebase – Less manually written code means a leaner, more readable, and maintainable project.
- Strong focus on stability – Reduces technical debt and minimizes disruptions caused by frequent code changes.
- Enhances developer efficiency – Reduces time spent debugging and maintaining legacy code.
Easier Maintenance
- Lower risk of introducing errors – By reducing manual coding, the chances of mistakes and inconsistencies decrease.
- Centralized updates and fixes – Changes, improvements, and bug fixes only need to be made in one place, ensuring that updates propagate across the entire codebase without the need for repetitive modifications.
- Designed for long-term maintainability – Facilitates easy updates and modifications over time.
- Optimized for managing a large graph – Scales effectively without becoming overly complex.