Live data · Countries GraphQL API

Country facts from a GraphQL API

Pick a country and the facts you want. This page writes a GraphQL query for exactly those facts, sends it to a free API and draws the card from the answer. Scroll down to see the query and what came back.

Choose a country

From the API

🇬🇧United Kingdom

Capital: London
Currency: GBP
Languages: English

Behind the scenes

One query, one answer

Everything on the card came from a single request to the Countries API (opens in a new tab), a free GraphQL API that needs no key. This is the real query and answer from this page, and they change when you change your choices.

The query
The page always sends a POST to the same address. What changes is the query inside it: a list of the fields you ticked.
POST https://countries.trevorblades.com/graphql
```
query CountryFacts {
  country(code: "GB") {
    name
    emoji
    capital
    currency
    languages {
      name
    }
  }
}
```

The answer

JSON in exactly the shape of the query: the same fields, nested the same way, and nothing else.

Example answer

{
  "data": {
    "country": {
      "name": "United Kingdom",
      "emoji": "🇬🇧",
      "capital": "London",
      "currency": "GBP",
      "languages": [
        { "name": "English" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

The same with REST
An imaginary REST version of this API would have an address for each thing. Here's what the same card would cost:
1. GET /countries/GBThe country, with every field it has
2. GET /countries/GB/languagesIts languages, in full
2 requests, each sending back everything it has. GraphQL: 1 request, 5 fields.
Which is better? It depends. REST or GraphQL?

Country explorer

One query, one answer