Guide to the graph

Getting Started with The Graph: A Developer’s Guide

Introduction to The Graph

The Graph is a decentralized protocol for indexing and querying blockchain data. It allows developers to create subgraphs, which are open APIs that organize blockchain data for easy access.

Setting Up Your Environment

Before diving into The Graph, ensure you have the following prerequisites:

Node.js installed on your system.
An Ethereum wallet with some ETH for deploying contracts.
Familiarity with GraphQL, as it’s the query language used by The Graph.

Creating Your First Subgraph

Install The Graph CLI: Use npm to install The Graph Command Line Interface (CLI) globally on your machine.
```
 npm install -g @graphprotocol/graph-cli
```
Initialize Your Subgraph: Run the graph init command to create a new subgraph project.
```
 graph init --from-contract <CONTRACT_ADDRESS> --network <NETWORK> <GITHUB_USER>/<SUBGRAPH_NAME>
```
Replace <CONTRACT_ADDRESS>, <NETWORK>, <GITHUB_USER>, and <SUBGRAPH_NAME> with your contract’s address, the network it’s deployed on, your GitHub username, and a name for your subgraph.
Define Your Subgraph Schema: Edit the schema.graphql file to define the entities and their properties that you want to index from the blockchain.
Map Blockchain Events to Data: In the src/mappings.ts file, write the event handlers that transform blockchain events into data for your subgraph.
Build and Deploy Your Subgraph: Compile your subgraph and deploy it to The Graph’s hosted service.
```
 graph build
 graph deploy --product hosted-service <GITHUB_USER>/<SUBGRAPH_NAME>
```

Querying Your Subgraph

Once deployed, you can query your subgraph using The Graph’s Playground or integrate it into your dApp with GraphQL.

Next Steps

Explore advanced features like full-text search and filtering.
Participate in The Graph’s community and contribute to the ecosystem.
Keep learning about blockchain development and how The Graph fits into the larger picture.

Quick Start Guide to The Graph

Table of contents