from Hacker News

Prisma: Turn your database into a real time GraphQL API

by dikaiosune on 1/16/18, 5:17 PM with 9 comments

• by divyenduz on 1/16/18, 6:14 PM

  I am so excited about Prisma, I have been lucky enough to follow Graphcool for almost a year. I am sure with all the experience Graphcool team had hosting a Graphcool BaaS, prisma is a take on the harder problems in GraphQL ecosystem. From an initial look at the docs, I can see that prisma is language and database agnostic (with the help of connectors) and it has built in support for subscriptions (and more). I have a few questions about the service though:

  1. GraphQL specification does not have the spec for subscriptions yet, moreover, even when added I am sure where and how to manage the state of subscription will be an implementation detail. How close is the Prisma implementation to what can end up in the spec? What does the subscription implementation detail look like, how is the state stored? I noticed from docs “Because Prisma is a standalone process, it can be scaled independently from your application layer and provide scalable subscriptions infrastructure.” Can we elaborate on where prisma sits in the stack?

  2. Is prisma language agnostic? How easy it is to add new languages?

  3. Is prisma DB agnostic. Can it be connected to an existing database or REST service.

  I think questions 2,3 boil down to “How is prisma different from a GraphQL application server like graphql-yoga with GraphQL binding”

  Awesome to see Graphcool team coming up with solutions to build a flexible and scalable GraphQL infrastructure.

• by iamclaytonray on 1/16/18, 6:15 PM

  Prisma is a great layer of abstraction for GraphQL! I started using Graphcool Console, then switched over to the Framework when it was announced. I've loved the experience so far!

  I do wonder... Why does Prisma only support SQL? What's holding Prisma back from supporting NoSQL databases as well? I'd be very interested to hear why!

• by hoodsy on 1/16/18, 5:26 PM

  Prisma (what used to be Graphcool) has increased my team's dev speed by 5x. These guys have a product of amazing value.

  This isn't even to mention the inclusive, responsive, and engaging community. Whenever support is needed or there are questions to be answered, they are on top of it ASAP.

  Came for the product, stayed for the team (and the product ).

• by gentle-noah on 1/16/18, 6:17 PM

  Prisma (used to be Graphcool) has completely revolutionized the way we approach product development at MarketMuse. We are still trying to calculate the actual velocity difference, but I can't recommend Prisma enough.

• by mlukaszczyk on 1/16/18, 5:54 PM

  Guys! This looks extremely promising like all the things you create.

  What databases does it support?

  Also love the name and logo. I see you at the dark side of my resolvers :v

• by forsakenharmony on 1/16/18, 6:17 PM

  Interesting concept.

  What are the options for self hosting?