Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you!
Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone. 

Hi all,
Hello and welcome to another week of Kaizen!
In this post, we will be discussing Frequently Asked Questions on Zoho CRM GraphQL APIs.  GraphQL is a query language that provides a more flexible and efficient way to access data and metadata within your Zoho CRM organization. 

Why should I try GraphQL APIs?

 Using GraphQL with Zoho CRM allows you to fetch exactly the data you need in a single request, reducing over-fetching and under-fetching. It also enables you to combine multiple operations in one request, which can improve performance and reduce network overhead.

How do I authorize GraphQL requests?

Similar to Zoho CRM REST APIs, GraphQL APIs use OAuth 2.0 for authorization.
For self-clients, you can use the self-client option in the API console to get an authorization grant code. This code can be exchanged for an access token and a refresh token. Once you receive the access token, send the token in your HTTP authorization header with the value "Zoho-oauthtoken {access_token}" for each request. Check out our Postman collection for GraphQL APIs for examples.

Are GraphQL APIs available for all Zoho CRM editions?

GraphQL APIs are available in Enterprise, Zoho One Enterprise, CRM Plus and Ultimate edition of Zoho CRM. Note that it is not available in any trial editions.

What is the difference between REST APIs and GraphQL APIs?

REST APIs let clients talk to servers using standard HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE. Instead of fetching a fixed dataset like with REST, GraphQL APIs allows you to ask for precisely the data you want. We have covered this topic in detail in our previous Kaizen post that compares REST APIs and GraphQL APIs

Do I need to do any initial setup to start using GraphQL APIs?

To start using GraphQL APIs, you have to enable GraphQL APIs for your Zoho CRM profile through the enable GraphQL API call. 
  • Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/graphql/actions/enable
  • Method : POST
  • Scope: ZohoCRM.GraphQL.UPDATE
This API call generates the GraphQL schema. GraphQL schema defines the capabilities of a server, the data it contains and the actions that can be done on it. Note that it is sufficient to invoke this API call once for each profile

What are the operations supported in Zoho CRM GraphQL APIs?

   Currently, Zoho CRM GraphQL APIs support only query operations. Query operation is analogous to the GET method in REST APIs.

How do I configure requests for Zoho CRM’s GraphQL APIs?

How do I write a basic query in GraphQL? 

The below query can be used to fetch Last_Name in Leads module.

Request body 

query {

    Records {

        Leads {_data {Last_Name {value}}}

    }

}

 

Output 

{"data":{"Records":{"Leads":{"_data":[

  {"Last_Name":{"value":"Kitzman"}},

  {"Last_Name":{"value":"Frey"}}

  // ...

]}}}}


What are the supported metadata types that can be fetched using GraphQL APIs?

Using GraphQL APIs you can fetch metadata from Modules, Users, KanbanView, UserProperties, ProfilePermissions, Profiles, Rolesand Widgets

Can I fetch metadata and data of a particular module in a single query using GraphQL APIs?

Yes, using GraphQL it is possible to fetch both metadata and data in a single query. 
 For example, the below query can be used to fetch Last_Name from Leads module and metadata information of the Last_Name field in the Leads module.

Request body

{

  Records {

    Leads { _data { Last_Name { value } } }

  }

  Meta {

    Modules(filter: { api_name: "Leads" }) {

      _data {

        fields(filter: { api_names: "Last_Name" }) {

_data {

                        id

                        api_name

                        display_label

                        json_type

                        data_type

}}}}}}

 

 Output 

{

  "data": {

    "Records": {

      "Leads": {

        "_data": [

          { "Last_Name": { "value": "Kitzman" } },

          { "Last_Name": { "value": "Frey" } }

          // ...

        ]

      }

    },

    "Meta": {

      "Modules": {

        "_data": [

          {

            "fields": {

              "_data": [

                {

                  "id": "6660682000000002595",

                  "api_name": "Last_Name",

                  "display_label": "Last Name",

                  "json_type": "string",

                  "data_type": "text"

   }]}}]}}}}

 

We have covered this in detail in this Kaizen post: Using GraphQL APIs to fetch data in a consolidated way.

Are there any limits applicable for a GraphQL API query?

Yes, Zoho CRM imposes certain limits on the GraphQL API to ensure fair usage. 
  • Credits: A single query can consume up to a maximum of 10 credits
  • Complexity: Complexity is a measure of workload a query exerts on the server based on the number of fields and depth of the query. The maximum complexity allowed for a single query is 1000. 
  • Depth: The nesting level of a queried field is referred to as depth. The limit for metadata is seven, and for data is three.
Refer to the official documentation on GraphQL credits.

Is it possible to retrieve selective data using GraphQL APIs?

Records

You can use the where argument to filter records from each module.  Each field can support type specific operators and can be combined with Boolean logic and wildcards.

For example. to fetch Email, Last_Name, ID, Phone and Mobile of  contacts where last name starts with "Ni" and mobile contains the digit 5 or phone number equals 555-678-9999

Request body

{

  Records {

    Contacts(where: {

      and: [

        { Last_Name: { like: "Ni%" } },

        {

          or: [

            { Phone: { equals: "555-678-9999" } },

            { Mobile: { like: "%5%" } }

          ]

        }

      ]

    }) {

      _data {

        Email { value }

        Last_Name { value }

        id { value }

        Phone { value }

        Mobile { value }

  }}}}

 

Introspecting the GraphQL schema in Postman will reveal the details of fields and supported operators for each module. Check out our previous Kaizen, where we explained this using videos.

Metadata

You can use the filter argument to filter metadata resources.

For example, the query below fetches metadata of Deals module and api_name of its layouts and fields

Request body

query {

  Meta {

    Modules(filter: { api_name: "Deals" }) {

      _data {

        id

        singular_label

        plural_label

        layouts {

          _data {

            id

            api_name

          }

        }

        fields {

          _data {

            api_name

     }}}}}}

How do I paginate results in GraphQL?

In GraphQL, we use the offset and limit argument to paginate results.
You can use offset to fetch the next page of results by passing the value from your previous response, starting with null for the initial set.  For each page, the number of records has a limit: up to 100 records for root queries or 10 for nested data.
The value to be passed in offset is obtained by querying for previous_offset and next_offset inside _info object.

Is it possible to sort records in GraphQL? 

The order_by argument can be used to sort the response set after fetching records to ascending or descending order.

For example, the below query fetches the fields Deal_Name, Expected_Revenue, and Probability from Deals module in descending order of probability.


Request body

query {

  Records {

    Deals(order_by: { Probability: { order: DESC } }) {

      _data {

        Deal_Name { value }

        Expected_Revenue { value }

        Probability { value }

}}}}

When should I choose Zoho CRM GraphQL APIs over Zoho CRM REST APIs, and vice versa? 

Use Zoho CRM GraphQL APIs when:

  • You need to fetch complex, nested data from multiple resources (e.g., accounts with linked contacts and deals) in a single request and avoid under-fetching of required data/metadata.

  • You need to minimize over-fetching of data/metadata by selecting only specific resources, fields of the resources, and relationships of the resources.

  • You need to query data and metadata together efficiently. 

Use Zoho CRM REST APIs when :

  • You need to perform simple CRUD operations (e.g., fetch/update a single product).

  • Your use case involves straightforward endpoints without nested data/metadata.

  • You need to do add/update/delete operations.

We trust that this post addressed your doubts on GraphQL APIs. If you have any questions please let us know in the comment section or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com.


      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • Sticky Posts

          • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

            Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.
          • Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

            Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this
          • Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

            Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how
          • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

            Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.
          • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

            Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ



                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Zoho Desk - Support Plan by Time Log Hours

                                    Hi Desk Team, When creating a Support Plan, it would be great to have an option under Plan Type for Time Based Plan. This would be based on the number of work logs created for a customer account. It's very common to offer a support contract which has
                                  • Help Center and SEO: Any Benefit to My Domain-Mapped Website Ranking?

                                    First of, I love the Help Center which I've just decided to integrate into my website to replace its old-fashioned FAQs. So much more to achieve there now! Lots of new benefits to the site visitors and to me in terms of organizing and delivering all the
                                  • How to set custom Sales Order numbers

                                    I am trying to create Sales Orders with data from Jotform submissions. Auto number generation is disabled within Books. Whereas the flow Input recognizes the number (40732 in this example), the Output does not. How can I fix this? I'd like the number
                                  • What's New in Zoho Inventory | January - March 2026

                                    Hello users, The first quarter of 2026 has been dynamic! We’ve shipped a powerful set of updates in Zoho Inventory to enhance item control, improve warehouse efficiency, expand integration and reporting capabilities. From a unified item creation experience
                                  • Zoho Commerce - Mobile App Order Creation

                                    Hi Commerce team, I would like to suggest a feature for the mobile app that would make it much easier to create and process orders on the go. Problem Currently, while it is possible to create a Sales Order in Zoho Inventory, the process is not optimised
                                  • Inventory "Bulk Actions" button - add more fields to "Bulk Update > Select a field"

                                    Can we not get a lot more actions that are commonly used by customers into the "More Actions" button on the Inventory list? More fields listed in the Bulk Update > Select A Field? Possible Bulk update Fields Preferred Supplier ( to quickly move items
                                  • Zoho Mail Android app update: UI revamp

                                    Hello everyone! We are excited to share that the first phase of the Zoho Mail Android UI revamp is now live. In this update, we have redesigned navigation bar at the bottom to quickly access the Email, Calendar, Contacts, and Settings modules. Also, the
                                  • Users I've shared the sheet with cannot use the Custom Functions

                                    Hi, I have a Zoho Sheet worksheet that I shared to 2 colleagues, giving them full access: In that worksheet, I created a button with a custom Deluge function and it works flawlessly for me: For those I shared the worksheet to, when they click the button,
                                  • Zoho books - Project Module - Itemised expenses

                                    Hi All, I heavily use the projects function in Zoho books and can work for one client for successive weeks, providing labour and incurring the occasional general expenses.  As an example, during the one purchase, I purchase 10 widgets and of these 10, 
                                  • Urgent Security Feature Request – Add MFA to Zoho Projects Client Portal Hello Zoho Projects Team,

                                    Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit an urgent security enhancement request regarding the Zoho Projects Client Portal. At this time, as far as we are aware, there is no Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) available
                                  • Full Module-Level Access Control for Custom Profiles in Zoho Projects

                                    Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request regarding access control limitations in custom user profiles within Zoho Projects. Current Behavior: We created a custom profile intended for support agents,
                                  • How to save custom report for future use ?

                                    Dear, How to save custom report for future use ? Thanks & Regards Shamnad 94460055258
                                  • Need to be able to save Customized Reports

                                    There are several standard reports in zoho books.  Each of these can be 'customized' with various parameters - BUT, these cannot be saved for re-use later. In several of the zoho modules you can customize a search list (eg for Estimates or Invoices etc)
                                  • Split Bills/Expsense between multiple projects and/or clients

                                    I need to be able to split vendor invoices/ expenses between multiple clients. Entering the bill multiple times is not only time consuming, it defeats the purpose of having a unquie identifity bill number and will allow for possible duplicated entry.  Below is an example from Quickbooks Desktop. Splitting costs over various projects is a common job costing function that I am very sad and surprised is not an option in Zoho Books. Unless I am missing it somewhere? Thanks for your help!
                                  • Vendor bills cannot be assigned to a customer or a customer project?

                                    I'm confused on how to handle outsourced contractor expenses on a customer project.  Between my business and the contractor, the invoice they send me fits obviously into Zoho Books as a Bill. However, I need to be able record those expenses to the client
                                  • A few suggestions for Zoho Books

                                    Hello. I've been evaluating Zoho Books for a small law firm practice. The interface is solid and I like the integration of accounting and time tracking, which is hard to find among cloud based services. I have a few suggestions that would be very helpful in determining whether we can adopt Zoho Books: 1. Be able to assign bills to clients/projects. Quickbooks desktop allows this and is very helpful in keeping track of bills that haven't been paid, but will be invoiced to clients as an expense. Creating
                                  • Book project costs to tasks

                                    Hi all, New to zoho but far from new to this sort of platform. I've been scouring the web for a suitable platform for my growing business. I'm currently using Xero and WorkFlow Max but it lacks a key need. I signed up to zoho projects and books to test
                                  • Project expenses in Zoho Books

                                    Just the way timesheet is used to calculate labour cost for a particular project, how do i record other expenses against a project such as materials and consumables used for the project? So that under report, I can view the total amount expended on each
                                  • Supplier Purchase Orders applied to a Project

                                    We are finding it difficult to decide the best way track project expenses in Zoho books and would like to know how other users are handling this task. We provide Professional Services and engage 3rd party Suppliers on most projects and provide them with
                                  • Anyone using Books to track Project Profitability? If so, I could use some guidance

                                    Hello Zoho Community. I am a recent subscriber to Zoho, and its part of an ongoing evaluation.  My company (and my clients) have extensive project-tracking needs.  The Projects module seems to be good from a project management standpoint, but I am perplexed
                                  • date & datetime client script getInput types

                                    Please add date & datetime as available types for the getInput client script function. https://www.zohocrm.dev/explore/client-script/clientapi/Client#getInput
                                  • Opt-out from mailing list means can't email at all??

                                    It seems that if a contact unsubscribes from a mailing list the only way to email them is to uncheck the email opt-out box first, then re-check after the email has been sent. I've been through a chat with support and they confirmed this. This seems bizarre. Many of my clients don't want to receive a monthly newsletter but they definitely want to be in email communication with me, often on a daily basis. Any thoughts out there?
                                  • Email Opt Out Question

                                    Has the problem where if a customer is emailed opt out prevents you sending standard emails? For me this feature is simply to stop any email marketing and should not block people from receiving emails via Zoho mobile, which makes no sense.
                                  • Multi-currency and Products

                                    One of the main reasons I have gone down the Zoho route is because I need multi-currency support. However, I find that products can only be priced in the home currency, We sell to the US and UK. However, we maintain different price lists for each. There
                                  • Approval Workflow Not Triggering When Status Updated via Custom Button

                                    Hi Team, I’m facing an issue with an approval workflow in my application. I have a workflow that updates a record’s Status field from “Pending” to “Waiting for Approval.” I have configured an Approval Workflow with the condition: Status = "Waiting for
                                  • Zoho TeamInbox stuck / unusable – possible orphaned organization?

                                    Hi all, I’m running into an issue with Zoho TeamInbox under Zoho One Trial and wondering if anyone has seen this before. We’re trying to set up a shared inbox for orders (orders@), but TeamInbox appears to be in a broken state: • The app does not load
                                  • Audio transcript not working in Zoho notebook

                                    Greetings all! I'm enjoying the Zoho notebook as I tested out over other notebook applications. I would really love the audio transcripts to work as that would save us a lot of time so that we can utilize the notes from an audio recording. Currently when
                                  • Re: Application Architecture in Zoho Creator — A Platform-Specific Deep Dive

                                    A recent community post on application architecture made some excellent points about planning architecture early in Zoho Creator projects. The core message is right — Creator applications have a habit of growing organically into maintenance nightmares,
                                  • Schedule Timeout 5 minutes vs. stated 15 minutes

                                    I am running into a function run timeout error after 5 minutes for my schedules. The Functions - Limits documents states it should be 15 minutes: Functions - Limits | Online Help - Zoho CRM. What should it actually be? Due to the 5 minute timeout, I'm
                                  • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

                                    Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards
                                  • Placeholders in Ticket Templates

                                    We should be able to use placeholders in ticket templates. When we create a new ticket, our description field is shown to the client in the email they receive.  It would be very handy to be able to personalize that description field in our ticket templates to pull in the name of the client that the ticket is for. Using them in the subject field as well, so we can auto populate Account Names, etc. 
                                  • Favorite Views list sort order?

                                    Is there a way to rearrange the Favorite Views list?
                                  • Will I see emails sent via campaigns in CRM?

                                    It would be useful for people to be able to see emails sent via campagins in Zoho CRM is that possible?
                                  • Introducing Product Catalog in Bigin

                                    Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. For many small businesses, sharing products and collecting customer interest often involves multiple tools, manual follow-ups, or even building a full ecommerce website. To address this challenge, we're excited
                                  • Products in Email Template

                                    I’m a little confused as to how to add the listed products, from within a specific deal, to an email template. I want to generate said email template when a deal reaches a specific stage and include the products that have been selected for the deal in
                                  • Option for - CSV Export from Pipeline Deals by Stage (Including Products, Companies, and Contacts)

                                    I would like to know when we will be able to export a simple CSV file from pipeline deals, with the option to select a specific stage within the pipeline. This export should include data for products, companies, and contacts, all in a single view. For
                                  • Zoho Billing Partial Proration...

                                    Hi, In Zoho billing, we offer upgrades, downgrades, suspends, and resumes. We use online payment for most subscriptions, but have only a few that are offline, but we treat them the same either way.. We prorate only parts of these changes.. Right now zoho
                                  • Announcing Zoho Sheet desktop app for macOS and Windows (Beta)

                                    Hello Sheet users, We know you’ve been waiting for this one. It has always been the top priority on our roadmap to provide a single native desktop app for macOS and Windows that works both online and offline. Today, we are excited to announce that the
                                  • What is the maximum length/size of a presentation on Apple TV?

                                    Hello, I have a presentation here that I regularly show on Apple TV. It’s always the same presentation, which keeps getting longer and more extensive over time. Almost every slide contains a graphic or photo that takes up the entire slide. That means:
                                  • CRM Notes

                                    Hello, We want to add a Note to the Contact record when a Note is added to a Case or Deal. I wasn't able to do this using a workflow, so I tried using Zoho Flow, but that didn't work either. Does anyone have a suggestion on how we can accomplish thi
                                  • Next Page