Ponder

Introducing Ponder 0.9

We built a SQL-based alternative to GraphQL, with live query support and a TanStack Query integration.

Apps & websites that use Ponder for indexing are about to feel much faster →

Building ponder.sh. EVM, TypeScript, open-source enjoyer.

The GraphQL API works, but tends to fall short as new requirements appear.

1) Flexibility → no complex filters, aggregations, or joins
2) Dev ex → requires additional tooling & codegen
3) Realtime data → gql subscriptions suck, must poll

This release introduces a new option – @­ponder/client, a SQL library for querying indexed data over HTTP.

Write SQL queries directly from your frontend (or any JS code) using Drizzle with full-stack type inference.

The client library also supports live queries, powered by HTTP server-sent events, which update whenever a new block gets indexed.

For latency-sensitive apps, live queries are a *huge* improvement over polling the GraphQL API.

We also shipped @­ponder/react, a library that makes it easy to use the SQL client in any React app. It extends TanStack Query – a familiar experience for Wagmi users.

The usePonderQuery hook uses a live query to re-render whenever the query result has changed.

0.9 includes other new features, including simplified API functions (just export a Hono App object) and multiple custom event filters for one contract.

Migration guide: ponder.sh/docs/migration-guide
GitHub: github.com/ponder-sh/ponder
Telegram (come say hi): t.me/ponder_sh

I like baking /goodbread and building apps on web3 protocols. DevRel @ ENS Labs. gregskril.com

We have not! Should be a low-hanging fruit improvement.

The live query invalidation logic is also a bit naive right now, but clear path to making it much more efficient.

excited to try this — i wonder if you guys have explored caching at the http client level so it doesnt have to make slower db queries every time ?