Install banana-cake-pop with Homebrew Cask

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

No executable aliases were found in the local package database.

Project history

ChilliCream announced Banana Cake Pop in 2019 as a new GraphQL schema exploration and query tool associated with its Hot Chocolate platform. Early releases were delayed while the developers improved performance for very large schemas.

A substantially reworked generation appeared during the Hot Chocolate 12 cycle. ChilliCream subsequently expanded it from a local IDE into desktop, cloud, and embeddable forms.

In the Hot Chocolate 13-to-14 migration, ChilliCream renamed Banana Cake Pop and its related middleware, packages, configuration names, domains, and command-line components to Nitro.

Adoption history

Banana Cake Pop became available as a downloadable desktop application, a browser-hosted application, and middleware embedded in Hot Chocolate GraphQL servers. The cloud version added synchronized workspaces and optional authentication workflows.

Hot Chocolate 12 restored cross-platform desktop and middleware availability. Hot Chocolate 12.5 bundled a redesigned release, and later releases added collaboration, request-import, schema-exploration, and API-management features.

How it is used

Developers connect the IDE to a GraphQL endpoint, inspect its schema, compose queries and mutations, set request headers or authorization, and execute operations. Signed-in cloud users could synchronize documents across devices.

The official migration guide mentions the former `bcp-config.json` name for related tooling, but it does not establish a documented filesystem location for the desktop application's configuration or credentials; therefore no location is asserted here.

Why package nerds care

Banana Cake Pop is notable as a vendor-built GraphQL IDE that could be used as a desktop app, hosted service, or server middleware. It belongs to the lineage of GraphQL exploration tools alongside GraphiQL and GraphQL Playground, but ChilliCream built its editor around Monaco rather than GraphiQL.

The Banana Cake Pop name was retired in favor of Nitro during the Hot Chocolate 14 generation. The cask remains interesting as a package identity that preserves the former product name.

Timeline

• 2019: ChilliCream announces Banana Cake Pop as a GraphQL developer tool.
• 2021: A reworked desktop, middleware, and cloud generation becomes available.
• 2022: Hot Chocolate 12.5 integrates a redesigned Banana Cake Pop release.
• 2023: Banana Cake Pop 4 adds request import and schema-reference improvements.
• 2024: ChilliCream renames Banana Cake Pop to Nitro during the Hot Chocolate 14 transition.

Related projects

• Nitro is Banana Cake Pop's successor name. Hot Chocolate is ChilliCream's GraphQL server and gateway, while Strawberry Shake is its .NET GraphQL client.

Sources

• Official 2019 announcement: https://chillicream.com/blog/2019/06/05/hot-chocolate-9.0.0/
• Official Hot Chocolate 12 announcement: https://chillicream.com/blog/2021/09/27/hot-chocolate-12/
• Official cloud announcement: https://chillicream.com/blog/2021/11/22/banana-cake-pop-cloud/
• Official rename documentation: https://chillicream.com/docs/hotchocolate/migrating/migrate-from-13-to-14