Fastify is a cutting-edge web framework for Node.js that offers exceptional speed and efficiency. With its extensible plugin system, support for asynchronous programming, and focus on minimalism, it is an ideal choice for backend developers developing Node.js applications. But even the most performant web applications can encounter issues that are difficult to debug without the proper tools in place. We will explore how to use AppSignal for a Fastify application.

When relying on data from external services, it's important for the retrieval to be accurate and timely. While we may not control how efficiently an external API responds to our requests, we can control how and when we request data from that API. However, over time as your application and the API that serves it change, once efficient requests may turn into bottlenecks.

While a GraphQL API may be less susceptible to the common REST API performance issues of under and over-fetching data, allowing users to request and receive a wide range of data in a single, nestable query can also come with performance risks. AppSignal for Elixir now supports Absinthe out of the box, and automatically adds Absinthe spans to your app's metrics. AppSignal also automatically instruments Ecto, giving you insights into your application's queries.