Monday.com GraphQL API: Tutorial + 14 Query Templates

Why use the GraphQL API at all?

Most monday.com users never touch the API — and that's fine for day-to-day work. But there's a long list of tasks the UI either makes painful or doesn't expose at all:

• Audit who changed what, when. The UI doesn't have a workspace-wide audit log; the API does.
• Find duplicates by name across an entire workspace. The UI search is per-board.
• Fetch every overdue item across 50 boards in one shot. Custom dashboards only get you part-way.
• Monitor your complexity budget. The UI hides this; rate-limit errors are how you usually find out you're over.
• Pull the full schema of every column on a board — useful when documenting a setup for a client or replicating it elsewhere.

The Query Inspector exposes all of that as one-click templates so you can run them without writing a line of code.

First-run setup (60 seconds)

1. Install the extension from the Chrome Web Store (free).
2. Get your API token: in monday.com, click your avatar → Admin → API → "Generate" (or copy your existing personal token).
3. Open the Query Inspector: click the extension icon → "Query Inspector" launcher card. The first-run card asks for your token; paste it and click "Save & continue."

The token is stored locally via chrome.storage.local and is never sent anywhere except https://api.monday.com/v2 — the extension is open source and we run no servers. Privacy policy →

GraphQL basics in 3 minutes

If you've never used GraphQL before, here's everything you need to read the templates:

• One endpoint, one request — instead of /api/boards, /api/items, etc., everything goes to https://api.monday.com/v2 as a single POST.
• You ask for the fields you want. No more over-fetching. boards { id name } returns only id and name.
• Variables are typed. Declare them at the top of the query (query ($boardId: ID!)) and pass JSON values in the variables panel.
• Mutations look just like queries, prefixed with mutation. They create / update / delete data.

Here's the simplest possible query — your account info:

query Me {
  me {
    id
    name
    email
    is_admin
    account { id name slug tier }
  }
}

Run that first to verify your token works. If it returns your name and email, you're good to go.

The 14 ready-made query templates

Every template is one click away in the left pane of the Query Inspector. Each is a small, well-commented monday.com query you can run as-is or use as a starting point. They're grouped by category so you can scan vertically.

📋 Boards

🗂 Schema

📦 Items

🌳 Subitems

👥 Users + Workspaces

📝 Audit

Multi-level boards (the new API in 2026-04)

Monday.com's multi-level boards are the biggest API change in the 2026-04 version. The key shifts:

• One board for every depth. Multi-level boards support up to 5 nested levels on the same board id — no separate "subitem board" exists.
• hierarchy_types filter required. By default the boards query EXCLUDES multi-level boards. Pass hierarchy_types: [classic, multi_level] (or [multi_level]) to include them.
• Rollup columns. Parent rows show calculated values from their children (status rollups, number sums, date ranges). Reading them requires column_values(capabilities: [CALCULATED]) with ... on BatteryValue fragments for status rollups.
• Writes to parents silently no-op. If you try to set a column value on a row that has children, monday accepts the mutation but keeps the rolled-up value. Update leaves instead.
• Use items_page(hierarchy_scope_config: "allItems") to fetch every depth in one call.

The Query Inspector includes a multi-level template with the right fragments pre-wired so you don't have to look up BatteryValue's shape.

Complexity budget & rate limits

Every monday.com query consumes "complexity points." Big queries (lots of items, many fields per item) cost more. Your account has a per-minute budget; exceeding it returns a 429.

Practical rules of thumb:

• Stick to small page sizes. 200 items per items_page is usually safe; 500 can blow the budget on heavy column setups.
• Don't over-fetch column values. If you only need names and IDs, omit column_values entirely.
• Watch the complexity pill. The Query Inspector shows you the exact cost of every run plus your remaining budget.
• Retry with backoff. If you do hit 429, the extension's import paths automatically retry with exponential backoff so your bulk operations recover gracefully.

Saving + sharing your queries

Built up a query you'll reuse? Hit 💾 Save in the editor toolbar and name it. The Query Inspector keeps a saved-query library in chrome.storage.local with one-click load. Two extras:

• JSON export — download your whole library as a single file. Hand it to a teammate to bootstrap their setup.
• JSON import — pull in someone else's library and merge it with yours.

The library lives entirely on your device. Nothing syncs to a server.

From inline panel to full-page in one click

The inline Inspector panel inside monday.com has a Query tab too — perfect for quick checks while you're on a board. When you need more room (big results, saved templates, etc.), hit the ↗ Full Inspector button at the top of the inline Query tab. It opens the full page with your current draft already loaded via URL params.

FAQ

Related Guides

More monday.com automation reading: