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GraphQL / Security Interview Questions 2026

Published July 22, 2026 · Updated July 22, 2026

11 GraphQL / Security interview questions from Amazon, General and more. Real questions from Technical, System Design, and HR rounds.

11 questions
Companies: Amazon, General

All GraphQL / Security Questions

Amazon Hard Screening round 4-7 years

Explain how GraphQL's execution model works. When does it execute resolvers in parallel vs sequentially?

↑ 64 upvotes · 52 engineers asked this · SDE2
General Medium System Design round 3-6 years

Your GraphQL schema evolved and you need to deprecate a field. Old clients use it. New clients use the replacement. How do you handle this?

↑ 63 upvotes · 51 engineers asked this · SDE2
General Hard System Design round 4-8 years

Should you use GraphQL subscriptions or WebSockets directly for real-time updates in a chat application? Compare the approaches.

↑ 62 upvotes · 50 engineers asked this · SDE2
Amazon Medium Scenario round 3-6 years

A client says your GraphQL API is 'too slow.' What metrics would you collect to diagnose this? What tools exist in the GraphQL ecosystem?

↑ 61 upvotes · 49 engineers asked this · SDE2
Amazon Hard Scenario round 3-7 years

Explain the N+1 problem in GraphQL. You have a query that returns 100 posts, each with their author. Without optimization, this makes 101 database queries. Fix this.

↑ 60 upvotes · 48 engineers asked this · SDE2
Amazon Hard Scenario round 3-7 years

Your GraphQL API has a query that allows clients to nest objects 10 levels deep. A malicious client sends a deeply nested query that takes 30 seconds and uses 4GB of memory. How do you prevent this?

↑ 59 upvotes · 47 engineers asked this · SDE2
General Medium Screening round 2-5 years

What are GraphQL fragments and how do they improve client code?

↑ 38 upvotes · 36 engineers asked this · SDE2
General Hard Scenario round 3-6 years

Your GraphQL API has a deeply nested query that hits 15 database tables. How do you prevent abuse?

↑ 37 upvotes · 35 engineers asked this · SDE2
General Easy Screening round 1-4 years

Explain the difference between GraphQL queries, mutations, and subscriptions. When would you use each?

↑ 36 upvotes · 34 engineers asked this · SDE2
General Hard Screening round 3-6 years

What is the N+1 problem in GraphQL and how do DataLoaders solve it?

↑ 35 upvotes · 33 engineers asked this · SDE2
General Medium Screening round 3-6 years

Explain GraphQL's schema-first vs code-first approach. Trade-offs for a team of 5 backend developers?

↑ 10 upvotes · 18 engineers asked this · SDE2

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Same topic at specific companies

Amazon GraphQL / Security General GraphQL / Security

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Frequently asked questions

Explain how GraphQL's execution model works. When does it execute resolvers in parallel vs sequentially?
Explain how GraphQL's execution model works. When does it execute resolvers in parallel vs sequentially?
Your GraphQL schema evolved and you need to deprecate a field. Old clients use it. New clients use the replacement. How do you handle this?
Your GraphQL schema evolved and you need to deprecate a field. Old clients use it. New clients use the replacement. How do you handle this?
Should you use GraphQL subscriptions or WebSockets directly for real-time updates in a chat application? Compare the approaches.
Should you use GraphQL subscriptions or WebSockets directly for real-time updates in a chat application? Compare the approaches.
A client says your GraphQL API is 'too slow.' What metrics would you collect to diagnose this? What tools exist in the GraphQL ecosystem?
A client says your GraphQL API is 'too slow.' What metrics would you collect to diagnose this? What tools exist in the GraphQL ecosystem?
Explain the N+1 problem in GraphQL. You have a query that returns 100 posts, each with their author. Without optimization, this makes 101 database queries. Fix this.
Explain the N+1 problem in GraphQL. You have a query that returns 100 posts, each with their author. Without optimization, this makes 101 database queries. Fix this.