Guide: Index blockchain events with The Graph for dApps

[PetarStoev02]

Description

Guide showing how to use The Graph protocol to index and query smart contract events — the decentralized alternative to running your own indexer.

Why this matters

The 32-hour course uses The Graph for the NFT marketplace frontend. Every serious dApp needs indexed event data — transaction history, NFT ownership, DeFi positions. Scanning logs directly is slow and expensive. The Graph provides a GraphQL API over indexed events.

Scope

• What is The Graph and why indexing matters
• Subgraph definition (schema, mappings, manifest)
• Deploying a subgraph to The Graph's hosted/decentralized service
• Querying subgraphs from TypeScript with GraphQL
• Subgraph Studio vs self-hosted
• Common subgraph patterns (NFT ownership, DeFi events, token transfers)
• Alternatives to The Graph (Goldsky, Envio, custom indexers)

w3-kit approach

• Focus on the TypeScript querying side (most devs consume, not create, subgraphs)
• GraphQL client setup with type safety
• Practical: query Uniswap, Aave, or OpenSea subgraphs
• When to use The Graph vs direct event polling

Acceptance criteria

• Guide in guides/
• Subgraph creation walkthrough
• TypeScript GraphQL querying examples
• Comparison of indexing solutions
• .learn.md explaining how The Graph's decentralized indexing works (curators, indexers, delegators)

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