Facebook, the inventors of GraphQL, didn't just invent the language itself. At the same time they invented the Relay client. This client, back then, persisted all Queries at compile time. They never had actual Queries at runtime. It's Apollo with their Apollo client who made it popular to not follow this path. The devs at Facebook never said you must use GraphQL their way but I think if you don't follow their best practices you're kind of on your own. Why not follow their advice? They must have learned this lesson already.