DrupalCon Seattle 2019: Secrets of the decoupled Drupal practitioner

Decoupled Drupal implementations are now commonplace across the Drupal community, and thanks to a flurry of innovation and activity, novel approaches are around every corner. Now that many of us are now accustomed to API-first architectures leveraging core REST, JSON:API, and GraphQL, what are some of the lesser-known elements in the decoupled Drupal ecosystem?

The fact is that there is a plethora of unique and underused features and modules in the Drupal universe that can help transform the way you retrieve and manipulate information, improve performance in production, or even add unexpected features to your consumer. Some of these tools of the trade are well-kept secrets in some circles and commonplace in others.

In this whirlwind tour of some of the most compelling modules available for decoupled Drupal, we take a step back from typical implementations and seek the unused and the unusual. We'll turn first to web services and investigate different API solutions and ways to extend our existing web services. Then, we'll turn our attention to the modules and projects that can enrich and extend the available features in our architectures.

Over the course of this presentation, we'll explore projects like RELAXed Web Services, JSON:API Extras, JSON:API Defaults, JSON-RPC, Schemata, OpenAPI, and Contenta.js. In the process, you'll learn about the least well-known projects in the decoupled Drupal ecosystem and how you can leverage them in your own projects.

A brisk reintroduction to decoupled Drupal

An alternative API: RELAXed Web Services

Extending JSON:API with Extras and Defaults

Running Drupal remotely: JSON-RPC

Derived schemas and documentation: Schemata and OpenAPI

Rev up with proxies: Contenta.js

Epilogue: What to expect in decoupled Drupal in the 8.7 era

This session is for anyone working with decoupled Drupal implementations today, including front-end and back-end developers, Drupal developers, QA specialists, and technical architects and decision-makers. Though some knowledge of decoupled Drupal, Drupal development, and JavaScript development is presumed, this session has something for decoupled Drupal practitioners at all levels.

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