Glossary Terms

WPGraphQL

WPGraphQL is a free, open-source plugin that adds a GraphQL API to any WordPress site, where GraphQL is a way to ask a site for exactly the data you want in a single request. It lets developers pull content (posts, pages, custom post types, taxonomies, users, menus, settings) into any front-end framework, choosing precisely which fields they need. The difference that matters: where the older REST API returns a fixed set of fields per endpoint and often needs several requests to assemble related data, a single WPGraphQL query asks for exactly the fields you want across related objects in one round trip. It's become the default choice for headless WordPress and JavaScript front ends, used with Faust.js, Gatsby, and custom Next.js builds. Major ecosystem players including Advanced Custom Fields, Yoast SEO, and WooCommerce ship official extensions, so almost all standard WordPress data can be exposed through it.