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Quick Start/
Connect Frontend To Backend

Connect Frontend To Backend

Your stack:

Goal

Connect a React app to backend logic with Graftcode - no REST clients, no DTOs, no handwritten integration code.

What You'll See

  • Install a typed Graft from a live backend service instead of writing REST client code.
  • Configure the generated client to point at a sample backend server.
  • Call a backend method directly from a React component as if it were local code.
  • Use IDE autocompletion on backend methods and types - powered by the installed Graft package.

Prerequisites

Step 1. Start with a React app

This gives you a working React app where you can add your first Graft.

git clone https://github.com/grft-dev/react-hello-world
cd react-hello-world
npm install

Step 2. Open the backend in Graftcode Vision

Before you install anything, compare the two views of the same backend:

  • Swagger shows routes, verbs, and payloads.
  • Graftcode Vision shows public classes and methods and gives you the package manager command to install them.

This is the key Graftcode shift: instead of reading an API spec and building a client, you install the service as a dependency and call methods directly.

Step 3. Install the Graft

Open Graftcode Vision, pick npm, and copy the generated install command.

hypertube-nodejs-sdk is still required for this example today, but that extra step is temporary.

npm install hypertube-nodejs-sdk
npm install --registry https://grft.dev/4b4e411f-60a0-4868-b8a6-46f5dee07448__free @graft/nuget-energypriceservice@1.2.0

Step 4. Configure the generated client

Open src/App.jsx and connect the generated client to the service host. The exact configuration snippet for your language is available in Graftcode Vision under the Configuration installation tab:

import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
import { BillingLogic, GraftConfig } from "@graft/nuget-energypriceservice";

GraftConfig.host = "wss://gc-d-ca-polc-demo-ecbe-01.blackgrass-d2c29aae.polandcentral.azurecontainerapps.io/ws";

@graft/nuget-energypriceservice is the Graft you installed - it exposes the backend's public classes and methods as normal JavaScript imports. Setting GraftConfig.host tells the client where the backend is running.

Step 5. Call a backend method

BillingLogic is a class from the backend, and CalculateMonthlyBill(...) is one of its public methods - the same ones you browsed in Graftcode Vision. You call it like any other imported function.

function App() {
  const [data, setData] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    BillingLogic.CalculateMonthlyBill(88.4, 1.4, 23).then(setData);
  }, []);

  return <h1>Calculated Energy Monthly Bill is: {data?.toFixed(2)}</h1>;
}

export default App;

Step 6. Run the app

Start the development server:

npm run dev

Open the URL shown in the terminal (typically http://localhost:5173). You should see the calculated energy bill rendered on the page.

If something is not working, expand below to see the full src/App.jsx source:

Step 7. Explore more methods and keep up with backend changes

Go back to Graftcode Vision to inspect more methods on BillingLogic.

Your IDE can autocomplete available methods and arguments because the service is installed as a typed package, not consumed through handwritten API code. Your AI can now generate frontend code using backend methods as easily as using other npm modules you imported.

When the backend evolves - new methods, changed signatures, updated types - the Graft package version updates just like any other npm package. You see the change in your package.json, update with a single command, and your IDE immediately reflects the new API surface:

npm update @graft/nuget-energypriceservice

No need to regenerate clients, rewrite fetch calls, or re-sync OpenAPI specs. Backend changes flow through the same package manager workflow you already use for every other dependency.

NextExpose Backend