tailcallhq/tailcall

---

tailcallhq/tailcall.json

{
  "createdAt": "2023-01-06T10:38:37Z",
  "defaultBranch": "main",
  "description": "High Performance GraphQL Runtime",
  "fullName": "tailcallhq/tailcall",
  "homepage": "https://tailcall.run",
  "language": "Rust",
  "name": "tailcall",
  "pushedAt": "2025-11-25T22:03:54Z",
  "stargazersCount": 1417,
  "topics": [
    "api-gateway",
    "backend-for-frontend",
    "battle-tested",
    "cloud-native",
    "extendable",
    "graphql",
    "graphql-api",
    "graphql-server",
    "io-efficiency",
    "microservices",
    "open-source",
    "orchestration",
    "performance",
    "protocol-agnostic",
    "proxy",
    "resiliency",
    "runtime-tuning",
    "seamless-devx",
    "security"
  ],
  "updatedAt": "2025-11-15T13:02:53Z",
  "url": "https://github.com/tailcallhq/tailcall"
}

Tailcall is an open-source solution for building [high-performance] GraphQL backends.

Please support us by giving the repository a star

[high-performance] !: https://github.com/tailcallhq/graphql-benchmarks

Installation

NPM

npm i -g @tailcallhq/tailcall

Yarn

yarn global add @tailcallhq/tailcall

Home Brew

brew tap tailcallhq/tailcall
brew install tailcall

Curl

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tailcallhq/tailcall/master/install.sh | bash

Docker

docker pull ghcr.io/tailcallhq/tailcall/tc-server
docker run -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 ghcr.io/tailcallhq/tailcall/tc-server

Get Started

The below file is a standard .graphQL file, with a few additions such as @server and @http directives. So, basically, we specify the GraphQL schema and how to resolve that GraphQL schema in the same file, without having to write any code!

schema @server(port: 8000, hostname: "0.0.0.0") @upstream(httpCache: 42) {
  query: Query
}

type Query {
  posts: [Post] @http(url: "http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts")
  user(id: Int!): User @http(url: "http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users/{{.args.id}}")
}

type User {
  id: Int!
  name: String!
  username: String!
  email: String!
  phone: String
  website: String
}

type Post {
  id: Int!
  userId: Int!
  title: String!
  body: String!
  user: User @http(url: "http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users/{{.value.userId}}")
}

Now, run the following command to start the server with the full path to the jsonplaceholder.graphql file that you created above.

tailcall start ./jsonplaceholder.graphql

Head out to [docs] to learn about other powerful tailcall features.

[docs] !: https://tailcall.run/docs

Benchmarks

Throughput comparison of various GraphQL solutions for a N + 1 query:

query {
  posts {
    title
    body
    user {
      name
    }
  }
}

Check out detailed benchmarks on our benchmarking repository.

Contributing

Your contributions are invaluable! Kindly go through our [contribution guidelines] if you are a first time contributor.

[contribution guidelines] !: https://tailcall.run/docs/contribution-guidelines

Support Us

⭐️ Give us a star.

👀 Watch us for updates.

License

This initiative is protected under the Apache 2.0 License.