urql

urql is a highly customizable and lightweight GraphQL client for React, built by the Formidable Labs team (including Phil Pluckthun and Jovi De Croock). The name urql stands for Universal React Query Language, reflecting its design goals of being universal (works in any JavaScript environment including Node.js, browsers, React Native, and edge runtimes), React-first (designed specifically for React with hooks-based API), and lightweight (smaller bundle size compared to Apollo Client). urql distinguishes itself from Apollo Client through its emphasis on a modular, extensible architecture where almost every aspect of the client's behavior can be customized or replaced via exchanges (pluggable middleware that intercepts, modify, or generate network operations). The default exchange stack includes: a dedupExchange that prevents duplicate in-flight requests, a cacheExchange that handles client-side caching and normalized data management, and a fetchExchange that executes actual HTTP requests. Additional exchanges provided by the urql team include graphcache (a normalized cache implementation with automatic cache updates, optimistic updates, and cache invalidation via schema-aware updates), multipartUpload for file uploads, persistedFetch for automatic query persistence via APQ (Automatic Persisted Queries), retry for automatic request retrying, auth for authentication token management, and subscriptionExchange for WebSocket-based subscriptions. Key features include: a hooks-based API (useQuery, useMutation, useSubscription), request deduplication, SSR support via urql's server-side rendering utilities, streaming and incremental data support, and Suspense mode. As of 2026, urql has over 8,500 GitHub stars.