nexus-prisma VS nexus

Defining the exposed GraphQL schema will often involve re-creating our Prisma models using Nexus types, which can be tedious and error-prone. By using the official Prisma plugin for Nexus, we can easily project models from the data layer unto GraphQL types in our API layer.

Indeed, with nexus-prisma you can easily construct your GraphQL schema based on your database schema.

There are multiple ways available of constructing a graphql schema. Usually, you can break down those into "SDL" First and "Code" First. A simple example of a Code First approach is the programmatic graphql.js API using `new GraphQLObjectType`. You define your schema with code. In an SDL First approach, you write your schema in the GraphQL SDL (as text) and define a resolver map. You can find some examples over here: https://graphql.org/graphql-js/constructing-types/ A lot of tooling has emerged of those two methods of building GraphQL schemas and you usually have to choose whether you wanna stick to Code First or SDL First. Tools like gqtx (https://github.com/sikanhe/gqtx), giraphql (https://github.com/hayes/giraphql), and nexus (https://github.com/graphql-nexus/nexus) are built around the Code First approach and improve the developer experience over the programmatic API form graphql.js by providing a more type-safe API when utilizing TypeScript. They ultimately all do the same, with slightly (more or less opinionated) different APIs. On the other hand tooling for SDL has also evolved. graphql-tools provides a more advanced interface over how you define the resolvers map and a lot of utilities for constructing your schema from SDL/resolver map partials distributed across different files (https://www.graphql-tools.com/docs/generate-schema/). Together, with graphql-codegen resolver type generation (https://www.graphql-code-generator.com/docs/plugins/typescript-resolvers) you can bring this to the next level if you are working with TypeScript and generate fully typed resolvers from the GraphQL SDL. You have to find out for yourself which approach is best suited for you. I have been using both on different projects and they both have benefits and trade-offs. My opinion is mostly based on the TypeScript developer experience. Code First seems to be the better pick for me if you have lots of computed fields that cannot be mapped 1:1 to the data sources, where you would have to add a lot of type resolver mappings configuration for codegen. With SDL I like that I have the feeling that I can write the schema faster and less clumsy, and the SDL is immediately readable. On Code First you, however, can still generate an SDL file from the coding schema. Maybe there is a niche open for an approach that combines Code and SDL First approaches. We will have to see what the future brings. Here are some more articles/threads regarding the topic: https://www.prisma.io/blog/the-problems-of-schema-first-graphql-development-x1mn4cb0tyl3 https://www.reddit.com/r/graphql/comments/fpkx7a/codefirst\_vs\_schemafirst\_development/ https://blog.logrocket.com/code-first-vs-schema-first-development-graphql/ Also, note that most GraphQL server/transports do or should not care about the way you construct your schema. E.g. the apollo-server docs show you only an SDL first way of constructing the schema (https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/schema/schema/), but it is also possible to provide a schema instance(https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/api/apollo-server/#schema). apollo-server defaults to advocating creating a schema with SDL (by using an old graphql-tools@4 version under the hood).

Tools like gqtx (https://github.com/sikanhe/gqtx), giraphql (https://github.com/hayes/giraphql), and nexus (https://github.com/graphql-nexus/nexus) are built around the Code First approach and improve the developer experience over the programmatic API form graphql.js by providing a more type-safe API when utilizing TypeScript. They ultimately all do the same, with slightly (more or less opinionated) different APIs.

If you want in-dept examples of plugins in nexusjs, I suggest that you have a look at how the default plugins are written here.