Altair GraphQL Client - An awesome new GraphQL IDE
Published: 2019-03-13 19:31:53

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title: Altair GraphQL Client - An awesome new GraphQL IDE
published: true
description: 
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---
![GraphQL](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/63gg841vdswawic7rd7q.png)
[GraphQL](https://graphql.org) has been up and coming as an alternative to the classical REST architecture and it's been gaining a lot of popularity among the developer community. In GraphQL development, you cannot use typical clients like [postman](https://getpostman.com) and instead GraphQL IDEs are used which make a developer's life easier by allowing them to develop faster. But our choice is limited as very few of them can be integrated directly in our application for an in-browser experience.

[Altair GraphQL Client](https://github.com/imolorhe/altair) is one such which has been gaining popularity in the developer community and all for the right reasons. It has all the features like the much popular [Prisma GraphQL Playground](https://github.com/prisma/graphql-playground) and more. In this post, I'm going to cover some of the key features of the Altair GraphQL Client.

###Documentation and addition of queries directly
![Query addition](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/ejn6lsd2ns9l77jqzauh.gif)
You can view your GraphQL schema in the docs in a nicely displayed manner with information about queries, mutations, types, arguments and description provided. You can search through the documentation. However the ability to add queries on a single click is an unique and really useful feature.

###Headers, Variables and History of requests
![Variables](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/6a78xq15stdywoo963l0.gif)
You can set headers and add variables to your requests. You can also checkout your previously made requests in history(with an option to clear them too).

###GraphQL subscriptions
You can test your [GraphQL subscriptions](https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphql-subscriptions/) without any worry. Just provide the subscription URL and start the subscription, and you would get each message as they are sent once you're subscribed.

###Import and Export window state
![Import/Export](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/ynqdr1p0qw5x3flau9am.gif)
You can export your current window state with all the queries, variables or headers and can import it or another .agq file.

###Change language and appearance
![Settings](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/k55zc6cs4fv80858nlql.gif)
You can change your language - translations are provided. Currently available languages include English, Spanish, French, Italic, Russian among others. You can switch your client's theme between light and dark. Keyboard shortcuts are also available in settings.

###Some other features include:
* Autocompletion - You get an autocomplete list of valid terms you can use as you type out your query in the editor.

* Prettify query - You can format the query in the editor in a properly indented manner for easier reading.

* Compress query - You can compress the query to a minified form, removing any unnecessary whitespace and comments.

* Convert to cURL request - Convert your GraphQL request to cURL request which you can use elsewhere.

* Response Stats - You can easily know how long your query takes with the response stats information displayed for each request you make.

* Syntax and error highlighting - The syntax and your errors of code are highlighted as you type your query.

* Multiple windows - You are not limited to only one window at a time but you can have multiple windows open to work with multiple different queries at the same time.

With many features being added by contributors around the globe, Altair is developing rapidly towards becoming the go to option for the GraphQL community. From my point of view Altair solves all major use cases that GraphQL developers face and I would recommend it to anyone.