In this hands-on workshop, you'll go from an empty project to a deployed, production-grade GraphQL API, no prior GraphQL experience required. Basic Spring Boot knowledge is desired. Starting with schema design fundamentals, we'll incrementally build a fully functional API using Spring for GraphQL (or your preferred JVM framework). Each module builds on the last: defining your schema and first resolvers, modelling relationships and solving the N+1 problem with DataLoaders, adding field-level authentication and input validation, writing integration tests with GraphQL-specific assertions, and deploying to a live environment. By the end, you'll have a running service you built yourself, a clear understanding of GraphQL's core concepts, and, just as importantly, the judgment to know when GraphQL is the right choice and when it isn't. Bring your laptop and your curiosity.