Repolode
Submit
graphile

graphile/crystal

A monorepo of GraphQL and PostgreSQL tooling, home to the Grafast execution engine and the PostGraphile automatic GraphQL API builder.

Open-source alternative to:Hasura

View on GitHubWebsite
Stars
12,934
Forks
631
Open issues
181
Last commit
16 hours ago

What is it?

Graphile Crystal is a monorepo containing many packages from the Graphile project, most of which relate to GraphQL. Its two headline projects are Grafast, a planning and execution engine for GraphQL.js that can be used as a drop-in replacement for the execute method, and PostGraphile, which generates a GraphQL API automatically from a PostgreSQL database.

Grafast uses plan resolvers instead of traditional resolvers, so the declarative structure of a GraphQL request can be used to run business logic more efficiently. PostGraphile treats the database as the source of truth and can also serve as a starting point for an API that is later maintained by hand, via graphile-export.

The repository also includes supporting libraries such as pg-sql2 for building parameterized PostgreSQL queries with tagged template literals, pg-introspection for typed database introspection, graphile-config for plugin and preset configuration, and graphile-build for assembling GraphQL schemas from plugins. For PostGraphile V4, the legacy branch is maintained separately.

Key features

  • 01Grafast offers a planning and execution engine that drops into GraphQL.js in place of execute.
  • 02PostGraphile generates a GraphQL API automatically from a PostgreSQL schema.
  • 03Plan resolvers allow business logic to be declared in a way the engine can optimise.
  • 04pg-sql2 builds SQL-injection-safe PostgreSQL queries from tagged template literals.
  • 05graphile-export can export a dynamically built schema to plain JavaScript source.

Use cases

  • Building a GraphQL server on top of GraphQL.js that needs efficient data loading.
  • Generating a GraphQL API directly from an existing PostgreSQL database.
  • Creating a starting-point API from PostgreSQL that is later customised by hand.
  • Writing type-safe, dynamic SQL queries for PostgreSQL in Node.js.

Things to know

  • This is a monorepo of many packages, so there is no single install or run command in the README.
  • PostGraphile V4 lives on a separate legacy branch rather than in this main line.

Topics

#graphql#postgresql#api#nodejs#typescript#orm#sql#automatic-api#express#graphile

FAQ

What is crystal?
A monorepo of GraphQL and PostgreSQL tooling, home to the Grafast execution engine and the PostGraphile automatic GraphQL API builder. Graphile Crystal is a monorepo containing many packages from the Graphile project, most of which relate to GraphQL. Its two headline projects are Grafast, a planning and execution engine for GraphQL.js that can be used as a drop-in replacement for the execute method, and PostGraphile, which generates a GraphQL API automatically from a PostgreSQL database.
Is crystal free to use? What license does it have?
crystal is open source under the MIT license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is crystal still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to crystal was on Oct 21, 2026.
What can I use crystal for?
Building a GraphQL server on top of GraphQL.js that needs efficient data loading. Generating a GraphQL API directly from an existing PostgreSQL database. Creating a starting-point API from PostgreSQL that is later customised by hand. Writing type-safe, dynamic SQL queries for PostgreSQL in Node.js.
Where can I get crystal?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/graphile/crystal

Summary generated by AI from the project's README. GitHub stats refresh daily.

Related projects