Enhance customer experiences with Apollo GraphOS


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Writing resolvers for REST APIs has been a rite of passage for developers working with GraphQL, but what if there were an easier way? Meet Apollo Connectors.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As shown in Figure 1, Apollo Connectors mitigate the need to write code that connects to and returns data from REST APIs, reducing code surface area and time so you can focus on the business problem you&#8217;re trying to solve.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdJZU6oZN7MiGs9r1tQQXZkwJJpcuPFikCrKor3lk6x3MroNldHwChst6pbHyV0h2d8fx0bdhmW7xxntWRZCNWhxOe3ZrMe-lt0P1_MZQ16jxNuOmPkQdayuZT_XW9cF_69YpmiEA?key=Tfq51hg4_0CBkUiIKxkXplEo" alt=""/></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Figure 1: Data flow showing Apollo Connector for REST APIs</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this article, we will walk through a React client web application that leverages the Apollo GraphQL client to call a public <a href="https://currencyapi.com/">CurrencyAPI</a> web service using the REST API Apollo Connector for REST APIs.&nbsp; A screenshot of the UI is seen in the following figure:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdmYwlhbO07vkGGfTIugVC2usLpczle-KJMiJoGsGgE53FYx4zzzo3TFsFiMJ5InCSTzJ7HA7cSxtF9HRXJLQ7j6zhZ1jatfDn1WGDFQ2sY-ixRi7Fmpz-HNH2TQPQiOOmat7an?key=Tfq51hg4_0CBkUiIKxkXplEo" alt=""/></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Figure 2: Screenshot of the Currency Converter</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Under the covers, the React app uses the GraphQL Client as usual and issues the query statement.&nbsp; There are no changes there.&nbsp; On the backend, you simply define the GraphQL schema file and that’s it. There is no need to create resolvers to fetch the data from the REST API.&nbsp; In the following sections, you will learn how to set up and configure the Apollo Connector for REST APIs.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#getting-started" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="getting-started"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Getting Started</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this article we will use a third party service called CurrencyAPI to fetch real-time currency exchange rates.&nbsp; At the time of this writing (Nov 2024), CurrencyAPI offers a free API key.&nbsp; If you wish to follow along, create an API key from <a href="https://currencyapi.com/">https://currencyapi.com/</a> and copy it down, as you will need it later.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You will also need an Apollo account and the latest version of Apollo Rover CLI.&nbsp; See sections 1 and 2 of the following Apollo Connector tutorial for installation instructions:</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/tutorials/connectors-intro-rest/02-setup">https://www.apollographql.com/tutorials/connectors-intro-rest/02-setup</a></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Next, clone the repository.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><code class="" data-line="">git clone https://github.com/RWaltersMA/CurrencyConverter.git</code></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#obtain-api-keys-and-configure-demo" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="obtain-api-keys-and-configure-demo"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Obtain API keys and configure demo</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">At the time of this writing, Apollo Connectors is in preview with an anticipated general availability in early 2025.&nbsp; This blog will be updated as this feature evolves.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now, we are ready to configure Apollo Studio and obtain our API Key.&nbsp; Navigate to <a href="http://studio.apollographql.com/?_gl=1*tm0r8z*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzE3MDM4ODQuQ2owS0NRaUFfOXU1QmhDVUFSSXNBQmJNU1BzRm5OM1NIXzRWQWN2VHJGRFBrQkctcVltVk9ncU1iLUJjczh4YkpBOVlUZzFGQ3MyWngwZ2FBaHBfRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*MTM2NzI4NDM4Ny4xNzMwMjIwNjQ0">Apollo Studio</a> and click “Create a new Graph.”&nbsp; In the “Publish your schema using Federation” dialog, you will see toward the bottom the API Key to be used with Rover.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Below is a sample:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-shell-session" data-line="">APOLLO_KEY=service:Currency-02wxjh:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx \
  rover subgraph publish Currency-02wxjh@current \
  --schema ./products-schema.graphql \
  --name your-subgraph-name \
  --routing-url http://products.prod.svc.cluster.local:4001/graphql</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Copy the value for <code class="" data-line="">APOLLO_KEY</code>.&nbsp; Open the <code class="" data-line="">rover-dev.md file</code> and update the section with your personalized <code class="" data-line="">APOLLO_KEY</code>.&nbsp; Copy the service name to <code class="" data-line="">APOLLO_GRAPH_REF</code> and save the file.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Next, update the <code class="" data-line="">router-config.yaml</code> file and replace the placeholders “&lt;&lt;REPLACE&gt;&gt;” with the API Key you obtained from currencyAPI and save this file.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">preview_connectors:
  subgraphs:
    currency:
      $config:
        # Replace this value with your currencyAPI key
        apikey: &lt;&lt;REPLACE&gt;&gt;</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now, we are ready to start a local Apollo instance.&nbsp; Copy and paste into a terminal the <code class="" data-line="">rover dev</code> statement that is within your <code class="" data-line="">rover-dev.md </code>file.&nbsp; For example, the command for <code class="" data-line="">sh</code> looks like the following:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-shell-session" data-line="">APOLLO_KEY=&quot;service:Currency-02wxjh:xxxxxxxxxx&quot; \
APOLLO_GRAPH_REF=&quot;Currency-02wxjh@current&quot; \
APOLLO_ROVER_DEV_ROUTER_VERSION=2.0.0-preview.1 \
rover dev --supergraph-config supergraph.yaml --router-config router-config.yaml</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If successful, the console will display the following:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="" data-line="">supergraph config loaded successfully
warning: Do not run this command in production! It is intended for local development only.
==&gt; Watching /Users/robwalters/Code/CurrencyConverter/currency.graphql for changes
WARN: Connector debugging is enabled, this may expose sensitive information.
==&gt; your supergraph is running! head to http://localhost:4000 to query your supergraph
successfully composed with version =2.10.0-preview.0
successfully composed with version =2.10.0-preview.0 after updating the &#039;currency&#039; subgraph</code></pre>



<div class="wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A note about <code class="" data-line="">router-config.yaml</code>:&nbsp; In this example, we are launching a react client on the same machine as Rover.&nbsp; Since these are operating on different ports, the client on localhost:4000 and Rover on localhost:3000, the server needs to address CORS (Cross origin resource sharing).&nbsp; To do this, we added the following configuration to the <code class="" data-line="">router-config.yaml </code>file:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">cors:
  allow_any_origin: true</code></pre>
</div></div>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Note that setting CORS to allow any origin option is not recommended for production use unless necessary.&nbsp; For more information on configuration parameters in the router, check out the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/reference/router/configuration#yaml-config-file">online documentation</a>.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#starting-the-client" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="starting-the-client"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Starting the client</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Navigate to the <strong>client</strong> folder and issue:</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><code class="" data-line="">npm install</code></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Then</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><code class="" data-line="">npm start</code></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Once launched, a web browser will open to localhost:3000 and display the UI shown in Figure 2.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Enter any value into the amount and select your favorite base and desired currency.&nbsp; Press Convert to see the most current amount in your desired currency.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Let’s take a look at what is happening under the covers.&nbsp; First let’s look at the client code, specifically the <code class="" data-line="">convert.js</code> file within the <strong>src/components </strong>folder.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-typescript" data-line="">// GraphQL query to fetch currencyList and listExchangeRate
const GET_currencyList = gql`
  query Query {
    currencyList {
      symbol
      name
    }
    listExchangeRate {
      symbol
      rate
    }
  }
`;</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Our simple example has two queries <code class="" data-line="">currencyList</code><strong>,</strong> which returns the complete list of symbols and names for the currency, and <code class="" data-line="">listExchangeRate</code><strong>,</strong> which returns the current rate for each symbol.&nbsp; These data are used to populate the drop-downs in the UI.&nbsp; When using Apollo Connectors, the client does not need to make any changes.&nbsp; It is business as usual for your front-end folks.&nbsp; The real magic is in the back end.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#taking-a-closer-look-at-the-apollo-connector" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="taking-a-closer-look-at-the-apollo-connector"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Taking a closer look at the Apollo Connector</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Open the <code class="" data-line="">currency.graphql</code> file.&nbsp; This file contains the configuration for the REST Apollo Connector.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line="">extend schema
  @link(
    url: &quot;https://specs.apollo.dev/federation/v2.10&quot;
    import: [&quot;@key&quot;]
  )
  @link(
    url: &quot;https://specs.apollo.dev/connect/v0.1&quot;
    import: [&quot;@source&quot;, &quot;@connect&quot;]
  )
  @source(
    name: &quot;v1&quot;
    http: {
      baseURL: &quot;https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/&quot;
      headers: [{ name: &quot;apikey&quot;, value: &quot;{$config.apikey}&quot; }]
    }
  )

type Query {
  &quot;A list of currencies&quot;
  currencyList: [Currency]
    @connect(
      source: &quot;v1&quot;
      http: { GET: &quot;/currencies&quot; }
      selection: &quot;&quot;&quot;
        data-&gt;entries {
          symbol: key
          name: value.name
        }
      &quot;&quot;&quot;
    )

  &quot;List exchange rates&quot;
  listExchangeRate: [ExchangeRate]
    @connect(
      source: &quot;v1&quot;
      http: { GET: &quot;/latest&quot; }
      selection: &quot;&quot;&quot;
        data-&gt;entries {
          symbol: key
          rate: value.value
        }
      &quot;&quot;&quot;
    )
}

type Currency {
   symbol: String
   name: String
}

type ExchangeRate {
   symbol: String
   rate: Float
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This is all that is needed for your Apollo Server to connect to a REST API, no extra resolver code!&nbsp; Looking at the GraphQL query, you’ll see an <code class="" data-line="">@link</code> statement referencing Apollo Connector.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line="">@link(
  url: &quot;https://specs.apollo.dev/connect/v0.1&quot;
  import: [&quot;@source&quot;, &quot;@connect&quot;]
)</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here, we are importing the <code class="" data-line="">@source</code> and <code class="" data-line="">@connect</code> directives.&nbsp; The <code class="" data-line="">@connect</code> requires additional configuration parameters such as the details about the HTTP request, any headers, and a parameter called “selection” which filters the data from the REST API results.&nbsp; Here is the <code class="" data-line="">currencyList</code> field in our example:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line="">  &quot;A list of currencies&quot;
  currencyList: [Currency]
    @connect(
      source: &quot;v1&quot;
      http: { GET: &quot;/currencies&quot; }
      selection: &quot;&quot;&quot;
        data-&gt;entries {
          symbol: key
          name: value.name
        }
      &quot;&quot;&quot;
    )</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this query, the Apollo Connector will use the base url defined in the <code class="" data-line="">@link</code> and append the string defined as part of the HTTP request type in this case is GET.&nbsp; Since our currencyAPI endpoint requires an authentication header, we add the <strong>headers</strong> field and add a key-value pair referencing the API Key and value we defined earlier in the <code class="" data-line="">router-config.yaml </code>file.&nbsp; Next, we need to tell the connector what data to extract from the API results.&nbsp; We define this in the <strong>selection</strong> parameter.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-perl" data-line="">data-&gt;entries {
  symbol: key
  name: value.name
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For reference, the data that returns from the CurrencyAPI is similar to the following:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-json" data-line="">{
  &quot;data&quot;: {
    &quot;AED&quot;: {
      &quot;symbol&quot;: &quot;AED&quot;,
      &quot;name&quot;: &quot;United Arab Emirates Dirham&quot;,
      &quot;symbol_native&quot;: &quot;د.إ&quot;,
      &quot;decimal_digits&quot;: 2,
      &quot;rounding&quot;: 0,
      &quot;code&quot;: &quot;AED&quot;,
      &quot;name_plural&quot;: &quot;UAE dirhams&quot;,
      &quot;type&quot;: &quot;fiat&quot;,
      &quot;countries&quot;: [
        &quot;AE&quot;
      ]
    },
    ...
  }
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For our client we want to return just the symbol and name of each of the currencies.&nbsp; Since our return result has all our data under the “data” field, we start with data and iterate through each subdocument using the <strong>entities</strong> keyword.&nbsp; For each of these <strong>entities,</strong> we return the key, which in this example result is “AED” and add that value to a “symbol” field.&nbsp; We give the field “name” the value of the name field in the result. For a complete discussion and more examples of selection parameters, see the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/schema-design/connectors/selection">online documentation</a>.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#summary" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="summary"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Summary</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Building resolvers for REST APIs can be a complex yet essential task for developers working with GraphQL. However, Apollo Connectors now provide a simpler, more efficient way to integrate REST APIs into your GraphQL schema, eliminating the need for custom resolver code. In this article, you learned how to setup and configure an Apollo Connector for REST APIs that query data from the CurencyAPI public API endpoint.&nbsp; Apollo Connectors is currently in preview, for more information, check out the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/graphos/apollo-connectors">Apollo Connectors</a> website.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#call-to-action" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="call-to-action"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Call to action</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Curious how Apollo Connectors can streamline your GraphQL workflows? Sign up for a <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/connectors-demo">demo</a> or join our upcoming webinar on December 12th, 2024: <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/events/api-orchestration-in-30-minutes-a-stripe-checkout-workflow-with-apollo-connectors">API Orchestration in 30 Minutes: A Stripe Checkout Workflow with Apollo Connectors</a>.&nbsp; After attending this webinar, you will have a solid understanding of orchestrating API calls with Apollo Connectors in the context of real-world use cases.&nbsp; If you are reading this after the event date, the webinar will be available on-demand.</p>


Effortless Data Fetching: Introducing Apollo Connectors for REST APIs


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In the realm of software development, evolution is not just desirable; it&#8217;s inevitable. Technologies advance, methodologies shift, and systems need to adapt to meet changing demands. In this ever-evolving landscape, Apollo Federation 2.7 introduces a groundbreaking feature: progressive <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> ✨</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Rolling out any change to a production subgraph, including field migration, risks degrading the performance of your graph. Progressive <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> enables you to migrate any part of your graph to a new service and customize how traffic is gradually rolled over to the new service.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="Understanding-@override:-A-Primer"><a href="#understanding-override-a-primer" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="understanding-override-a-primer"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Understanding <code class="" data-line="">@override</code>: A Primer</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Before delving into the nuances of progressive <code class="" data-line="">@override</code>, let&#8217;s take a moment to revisit the concept of <code class="" data-line="">@override</code>. <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> provide a mechanism for migrating fields from one subgraph to another. By applying an <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> directive to a specific field, traffic for that field is rerouted to the designated service, facilitating the breakdown of monolithic architectures or the migration of fields between subgraphs.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line=""># Inventory subgraph
type Product @key(fields: &quot;id&quot;) {
  id: ID!
  inStock: Boolean! @override(from: &quot;Products&quot;)
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In the example above, we’re migrating the <code class="" data-line="">Product.inStock</code> field from the <code class="" data-line="">Products</code> subgraph to the <code class="" data-line="">Inventory</code> subgraph. Rerouting all traffic from one subgraph to another all at once could overload the overriding subgraph.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="Override-only-a-portion-of-traffic"><a href="#override-only-a-portion-of-traffic" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="override-only-a-portion-of-traffic"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Override only a portion of traffic</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Anything that ships to production, ideally, has a gradual rollout with a certain percentage of traffic. This gives us the ability to roll back any bad deployments with a smaller impact in case everything is just broken (we’ve all been there 😅).</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Progressive <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> makes this simple for our Apollo Router to handle. Simply label your <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> directive with the supported <code class="" data-line="">percent(x)</code> syntax.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line=""># Inventory subgraph
type Product @key(fields: &quot;id&quot;) {
  id: ID!
  inStock: Boolean! @override(from: &quot;Products&quot;, label: &quot;percent(1)&quot;)
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now our router will begin routing approximately 1% of all traffic to our new Inventory subgraph for the <code class="" data-line="">Product.inStock</code> field. When we want to ramp that up, we can simply update our schema and once we reach 100%, we can remove the <code class="" data-line="">inStock</code> field from the original <code class="" data-line="">Product</code> subgraph 🎉</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="Customize-progressive-@override-with-a-feature-flag-service"><a href="#customize-progressive-override-with-a-feature-flag-service" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="customize-progressive-override-with-a-feature-flag-service"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Customize progressive <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> with a feature flag service</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It’s great that we can define a given percentage of traffic, but maybe we want to enable some items to bypass this percentage. You may want your beta application to always route to the new faster service 🏃</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The router provides an interface for coprocessors and rhai scripts to resolve arbitrary labels. This means you can provide anything as the label and have the router interact with your external coprocessor to resolve the label. For an example implementation of a coprocessor that resolves labels using LaunchDarkly, see <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/tree/main/examples/coprocessor-override-launchdarkly/README.md">the example</a> in the router repo.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="Championing-the-Monolith-Breakup"><a href="#championing-the-monolith-breakup" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="championing-the-monolith-breakup"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Championing the Monolith Breakup</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A common use case we see with progressive <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> is breaking down a GraphQL monolith. Everyone starts their GraphQL adoption journey with a monolith and although that can take you far, there are challenges as the usage of the graph increases. Eventually there is a desire to break a service off of the monolith, whether it’s to address a performance issue or maybe to utilize a new 3rd party service.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The easiest way to evaluate breaking up the monolith is to start with a known view that has some meaningful value in the overall application. You’ll want to keep the shape of the operation the same for the client so that you can just use a new URL for that single view&#8217;s GraphQL query. Let’s take this screen as an example:</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="444" height="673" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screenshot-2024-04-08-at-10.08.19-AM-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-23637" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screenshot-2024-04-08-at-10.08.19-AM-1.png 444w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screenshot-2024-04-08-at-10.08.19-AM-1-198x300.png 198w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 444px) 100vw, 444px" /></figure>
</div>


<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line="">query ProductDetails {
  product(id: &quot;space-boots&quot;) {
      sku
      name
      details
      rating
      price # The field we want to migrate
    }
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We want to migrate the <code class="" data-line="">Product.price</code> field from our existing monolith to a new microservice. Ideally, this would require no changes to our client or monolith codebase. This is possible with progressive override and the architecture federation provides. Most commonly, teams will begin sending the traffic of the single client view to the hosted Apollo Router instance.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Apollo Router can handle bridging traffic between your monolith and the new GraphQL service. Some teams will even opt to switch all of a single clients traffic to the router as a step of their progressive rollout (ie. switching the URL in <code class="" data-line="">@apollo/client</code> to use the newly hosted router). Even though the router acts as a proxy for the rest of the clients traffic, it paves a golden path for adding new services that further break down the monolith.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="652" height="760" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Group-1-1-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-23626" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Group-1-1-1.png 652w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Group-1-1-1-257x300.png 257w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For our example, we need to create a new subgraph that resolves the <code class="" data-line="">Product.price</code> field. This will require us defining <code class="" data-line="">Product</code> as an <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/entities">entity</a> using the <code class="" data-line="">@key</code> directive and adding the <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> directive to <code class="" data-line="">Product.price</code>. This requires no changes to our existing monolith or it’s schema:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="" data-line=""># Existing Monolith
type Product { 
	sku: ID!
	name: String
	details: String
	rating: Float
	price: Float
}
type Query {
	products: [Product]
	product(id: ID!): Product
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>There are a lot of </em><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs"><em>supported servers</em></a><em> you can use to build your GraphQL subgraph in your language of choice like Java, C#, Python and more.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Once our router re-configures with the composed schema, it will have the metadata of the <code class="" data-line="">label</code> we added (<code class="" data-line="">percent(25)</code>). The Apollo Router will then use this information to change the generated query plan based on the percentage label 🎉</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="980" height="650" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Apr-08-2024-14-36-00-1.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-23628"/></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now the <code class="" data-line="">Product.price</code> field of our graph can resolve from a new microservice in our infrastructure and we can progressively rollout this change with simple updates to the schema. Once we’ve moved to 100%, we can eventually <em><strong>delete</strong></em> that code from our monolith 🔥</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="Wrapping-up"><a href="#wrapping-up" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="wrapping-up"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Wrapping up</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Progressive override brings a powerful new tool for better flexibility and control in service migration. Embracing incremental adoption in our migrations helps developers navigate the complexities of the organization&#8217;s constantly evolving stack. This also enables platform engineering efforts to tackle self-service migrations for APIs to production 🤯. What would you migrate if you could?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Progressive <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> is an <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/enterprise-features">Enterprise feature</a> of the Apollo Router and requires an organization with a <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/pricing/?referrer=docs-content">GraphOS Enterprise plan</a>. If your organization doesn&#8217;t have an Enterprise plan, you can test it out by signing up for a free <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/org/plans/#enterprise-trials">Enterprise trial</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"></p>


Safer migrations of fields using progressive rollouts


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Modern apps must support real-time use cases like flight changes, team collaboration, or live score updates for the big game. GraphQL subscriptions push events in a more efficient and performant way compared to traditional client-side polling of RESTful services that try to pull new events every few seconds. Instead of polling, clients can subscribe to the specific data they require, and the graph immediately delivers those events as they occur, reducing backend load and providing faster real-time updates.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Traditionally, GraphQL subscriptions have been implemented with WebSockets, an approach with many issues, including compression, debugging, scalability, and compatibility with firewalls, load-balancers, and other networking infrastructure.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We addressed the frontend portion of the WebSocket problem in June 2023, when we announced <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/federated-subscriptions-in-graphos-real-time-data-at-scale" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Federated subscriptions in GraphOS</a> with support for a new <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/react/data/subscriptions/#subscriptions-via-multipart-http" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HTTP multipart protocol</a> based on the underlying protocol for GraphQL @defer support in <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/executing-operations/defer-support/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apollo Router</a>. This makes hosting a real-time API in any cloud environment easier, with all the benefits of a standard HTTP connection.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">However, on the backend, Apollo Router supports legacy WebSocket protocols for compatibility with existing subgraph APIs, which is inefficient at scale. For example, if a subscription can’t be <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/executing-operations/subscription-support/#subscription-deduplication" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deduplicated</a>, 1 million client subscriptions would require 1 million backend WebSockets connections.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today, we are excited to announce the GA release of Apollo Router 1.37 with <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/executing-operations/subscription-callback-protocol/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HTTP callback support</a>, designed in partnership with the GraphQL community. HTTP callback support solves the backend WebSocket problem and dramatically reduces the number of open subgraph connections. This results in the same great performance but with more efficiency at scale and reduces real-time cloud spend for router and subgraph deployments.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1118" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-23275" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-300x131.jpg 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-1024x447.jpg 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-768x335.jpg 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-1536x671.jpg 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-2048x894.jpg 2048w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-1200x524.jpg 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Frame-11-1980x865.jpg 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Subscription callbacks offer new levels of flexibility and interoperability between the router and underlying services. By default, federated subscriptions use WebSockets, which requires two long-lived connections for every client: one between the client and the router and one between the router and the subgraph. Additionally, these long-lived connections aren’t well suited for serverless infrastructures.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With HTTP callbacks, on the other hand, the router no longer manages a WebSocket connection with subgraphs, and it’s flexible enough to be used with other Pub/Sub architectures that can support HTTP requests.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#http-callbacks-for-federated-subscriptions" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="http-callbacks-for-federated-subscriptions"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>HTTP Callbacks for Federated Subscriptions</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here’s what you’ll need to use federated subscriptions with self-hosted instances of Apollo Router:</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>An active Apollo GraphOS Enterprise plan</li>



<li>A federated GraphQL API with
<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>One or more HTTP callback-compatible GraphQL servers, such as <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/api/plugin/subscription-callback" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apollo Server</a> &gt;= 4.10.0 or <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation-jvm/tree/main/spring-subscription-callback#usage" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spring GraphQL</a> &gt;= 4.3.0</li>



<li><a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/releases/tag/v1.37.0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apollo Router v1.37</a> or greater</li>
</ol>
</li>



<li>The latest version of Apollo Client (Web, iOS, or Kotlin) with HTTP-based subscriptions support.</li>
</ol>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you don’t have a GraphOS Enterprise plan and you need to self-host the Apollo Router for an enterprise-scale deployment, try out <a href="https://studio.apollographql.com/signup?type=enterprise-trial&amp;referrer=blog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GraphOS Enterprise</a> for free for 28 days.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#migrating-from-the-preview-to-ga" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="migrating-from-the-preview-to-ga"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Migrating from the preview to GA</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If your application already uses the preview of subscription callbacks, there are a few things to change in your Router configuration to migrate to the GA:</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Change the name of the option from <code class="" data-line="">subscription.mode.preview_callback</code> to <code class="" data-line="">subscription.mode.callback</code>. Failure to use the updated option name when running the router will result in an error, and the router won&#8217;t start.</li>



<li>Update the <code class="" data-line="">public_url</code> field to include the full URL of your callback endpoint. Previously, in the preview, the public URL used by the router was the automatic concatenation of the <code class="" data-line="">public_url</code> and <code class="" data-line="">path</code> fields. In GA, the behavior has changed, and the router uses the value set in <code class="" data-line="">public_url</code>. This enables you to configure your public URL, for example, if you have a proxy in front of the router and want to configure redirection with the public URL.</li>



<li>Configure the new <code class="" data-line="">heartbeat_interval</code> field to set the period that a heartbeat must be sent to the callback endpoint for the subscription operation. The default heartbeat interval is 5 seconds. You can turn off heartbeats, for example, if you’re operating in a serverless architecture without long-lived processes, by setting <code class="" data-line="">heartbeat_interval: disabled</code>.</li>
</ol>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#try-it-today" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="try-it-today"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Try it today!</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’re excited for you to try <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/executing-operations/subscription-callback-protocol/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HTTP callbacks in GraphOS</a> and would love to hear your thoughts. If you have any questions or feedback for the team, feel free to reach out to us in our<a href="https://discord.com/invite/graphos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Discord</a>.</p>


Reduce real-time cloud spend with Federated Subscriptions support for HTTP Callbacks


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As platforms, teams, and products evolve, we sometimes need new or different ways to deploy our APIs. Strong Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) practices and recovery strategies are necessary components of any <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/mt/establishing-rpo-and-rto-targets-for-cloud-applications/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO)</a>. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The recommended GraphOS <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/tutorials/workshop-summit-graphos-basics/08-changes-process" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">continuous deployment</a> process uses <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/managed-federation/uplink/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apollo Uplink</a> to update the Router fleet in place with new supergraph schemas that pass checks in the GraphOS build pipeline along with automated testing in lower environments such as dev or test. However, some organizations have specific deployment needs that rely on an immutable schema for blue-green deploys or canary releases.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today, Apollo is excited to release enhanced GraphOS Platform APIs that streamline integration with immutable blue-green and canary deployments workflows beyond the in-place continuous GraphOS updates that most customers use today:</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://studio.apollographql.com/graph/apollo-platform/variant/main/schema/reference/objects/GraphMutation?_gl=1*1yu3yv*_ga*NDMzNzY1NzQ4LjE3MDI5MTM0MDk.*_ga_0BGG5V2W2K*MTcwNTEwMzIwNC4zMi4xLjE3MDUxMDM1NzEuMC4wLjA.#publishSubgraphs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PublishSubgraphsMutation</a> will publish all of the releases’ subgraphs as a single unit and return the associated launch and downstream Contract launches.</li>



<li><a href="https://studio.apollographql.com/graph/apollo-platform/variant/main/schema/reference/objects/Launch#status" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PollLaunchStatusQuery</a> will poll for the status of any individual launch by ID.</li>



<li><a href="https://studio.apollographql.com/graph/apollo-platform/variant/main/schema/reference/scalars/GraphQLDocument" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FetchSupergraphSDLQuery</a> will fetch the supergraph schema of the launch.</li>
</ol>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These GraphOS Platform API updates are versatile enough to support many deployment strategies.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/managed-federation/deployment/#example-blue-green-deployment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blue-green deployment</a> involves maintaining two identical production environments: the &#8220;Blue&#8221; and the &#8220;Green.&#8221; Only one of these environments is live at any given time. When it&#8217;s time to deploy an update to a supergraph, the team releases it to the inactive environment. For instance, the new version is deployed to “Green” if “Blue” is live. Once the new “Green” version is thoroughly tested and deemed stable, the team switches traffic from “Blue” to “Green.” With these updates to the GraphOS Platform API, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/metrics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">metrics and insights</a> for both stages, the “Blue” and the “Green,” are available in a consolidated place under a single Production variant, which has a single launch history to track schema changes over time.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/managed-federation/deployment/#example-canary-deployment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Canary deployment</a>, on the other hand, is a more gradual process. It involves first rolling out the new supergraph updates to a small subset of users rather than switching simultaneously. This subset, or &#8220;canary group,&#8221; receives the update and is closely monitored by the platform team for any issues. If the deployment is successful, the team rolls out the update to a more significant portion of the user base and eventually to all users.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While we recommend rolling forward to recover in most cases, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/managed-federation/deployment/#rolling-back-a-deployment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rollbacks</a> can be helpful in some scenarios. For example, consider a blue-green deployment where a team deploys the Router and all subgraphs as a single versioned release and houses <strong>immutable schemas</strong> within each Docker image. Then, if the need arises for a rollback, they can simply re-deploy the old Docker images, and the correct supergraph schema will be used. This helps ensure compatibility with existing blue-green workflows that assume an immutable infra mindset.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For platform teams looking to enhance their GraphQL platform stance, stay tuned for additional GraphOS Platform API updates and learn more about <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/managed-federation/deployment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deployment and rollback examples in the GraphOS documentation</a>.</p>


New GraphOS Platform APIs Enable Blue-Green and Canary Deployments


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Although many in the industry consider GraphQL a replacement for existing API technologies, it is at its most powerful when used as a central orchestration layer between apps and existing services. This layer, implemented as a federated graph (or <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/the-supergraph-a-new-way-to-think-about-graphql/">supergraph</a>, for short), acts as a self-service API platform that accelerates development velocity for both frontend and backend teams. However, speed of delivery can’t come at the expense of a strong authorization model that protects personal identifiable information, financial data, and other sensitive information.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/graphos">Apollo GraphOS</a> provides GraphQL-native workflows to implement access control declaratively across an entire supergraph. Rather than relying only on distributed enforcement or fragile custom gateway logic to secure the graph, teams using GraphOS can enforce policies at the type or field level in their router by decorating schemas with the <code class="" data-line="">@requiresScopes</code>, <code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code>, and new <code class="" data-line="">@policy</code> directives. These directives provide the freedom to integrate with any authorization system, including policy engines like <a href="https://casbin.org/">Casbin</a> or <a href="https://www.openpolicyagent.org/">Open Policy Agent</a> (OPA). By proactively enforcing policies as code, API platform teams can ensure compliance at all times without sacrificing developer velocity.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These directives are generally available for all GraphOS Enterprise customers starting today.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#durable-auditable-authorization-for-supergraphs" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="durable-auditable-authorization-for-supergraphs"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Durable, auditable authorization for supergraphs</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Supergraphs expose a unified, versionless GraphQL endpoint for all connected services. While this offers a host of benefits for frontend development, it makes it tricky to centralize authorization with traditional API gateways designed to enforce policies at the endpoint level. These gateways are unaware of the shape of the supergraph, so policies need to be mapped to individual types and fields with custom logic that must be kept in lockstep coordination with any schema changes.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">An authorization model that is instead integrated directly into a supergraph’s schema is far more durable and can still be centrally audited and enforced in the router. <code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code> and <code class="" data-line="">@requiresScopes</code>, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/build-centralized-graphql-authorization-with-apollo-graphos/">which we launched in preview</a> earlier this year, allow you to define access control policies for types and fields directly in the schema, restricting access to only authenticated requests or requests with certain scopes, respectively. Subgraph developers simply add the directives to the parts of the schema they want to enforce.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For example, let’s say you’re building a simple social media app. The app should allow unauthenticated users to view a post&#8217;s title, author, and content, but only authenticated users to see the number of views a post has received, and only certain users with required permissions to view email addresses. The relevant part of your schema may look something like this:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line="">type Query {
  me: User @authenticated 
  post(id: ID!): Post
}

type User {
  id: ID!
  username: String
  email: String @requiresScopes(scopes: [[&quot;read:email&quot;]])
  posts: [Post!]!
}

type Post {
  id: ID!
  author: User!
  title: String!
  content: String!
  views: Int @authenticated 
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">However, many organizations may require more complex policy evaluation and often leverage external tools like OPA or Casbin. For these more complex scenarios, GraphOS now supports a third authorization directive: <code class="" data-line="">@policy</code>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#offload-policy-definition-and-resolution-with-policy" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="offload-policy-definition-and-resolution-with-policy"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Offload policy definition and resolution with @policy</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The new <code class="" data-line="">@policy</code> directive allows you to integrate your predefined policies from policy engines like OPA and Casbin into your supergraph schema and enforce them in your router. For example, let’s say in your example social media app, you only want users to have access to their own personal information and credit card information. Validating this requires more than the scopes of an access token, so you can use <code class="" data-line="">@policy</code> to offload policy resolution for the relevant parts of your schema:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line="">type Query {
  me: User @authenticated @policy(policies: [[&quot;read_profile&quot;]])
  post(id: ID!): Post
}

type User {
  id: ID!
  username: String
  email: String @requiresScopes(scopes: [[&quot;read:email&quot;]])
  posts: [Post!]!
  credit_card: String @policy(policies: [[&quot;read_credit_card&quot;]])
}

type Post {
  id: ID!
  author: User!
  title: String!
  content: String!
  views: Int @authenticated
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The <code class="" data-line="">@policy</code> directive allows you to use your supergraph as a central enforcement point for any services you’ve connected to your graph without refactoring the authorization model that you’ve already defined.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="800" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/external-policy-diagram.png" alt="" class="wp-image-23033" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/external-policy-diagram.png 1600w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/external-policy-diagram-300x150.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/external-policy-diagram-1024x512.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/external-policy-diagram-768x384.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/external-policy-diagram-1536x768.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/external-policy-diagram-1200x600.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><code class="" data-line="">@policy</code> loosely couples policy enforcement in your GraphOS router and the policy definition in your existing policy engine, giving you the flexibility to evolve how your application resolves policies without altering your GraphQL schema or infrastructure. For example, if your application needs to perform complex authorization validation, such as inspecting specific values in headers, <code class="" data-line="">@policy</code> can be used to validate in a coprocessor or Rhai script.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#get-started" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="get-started"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Get started</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Schema-driven authorization with <code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code>, <code class="" data-line="">@requiresScopes</code>, and <code class="" data-line="">@policy</code> is generally available for all GraphOS Enterprise customers today. To start centralizing authorization enforcement with GraphOS, head over to the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/authorization">Authorization in the Apollo Router documentation</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you’re new to GraphOS, you can <a href="https://studio.apollographql.com/signup?type=enterprise-trial&amp;_gl=1*1czaoty*_ga*NjU4MjMwOTQ0LjE2MzIxNTUyNDc.*_ga_0BGG5V2W2K*MTcwMTk3NjAwMy4xMDU4LjEuMTcwMTk3NjEwNy4wLjAuMA..">try out GraphOS Enterprise</a> free for 28 days.</p>


Centrally enforce policy as code for GraphQL APIs


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation is an open specification for exposing API services as a single GraphQL access layer, known as a supergraph. In a supergraph, you connect and curate your services through smaller, modular graphs called subgraphs. There’s a vibrant ecosystem of community-led frameworks that let you write subgraphs in <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs">every common language</a>, bolstered by official Apollo Federation support libraries for JavaScript and Java. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today, we’re excited to announce a new <a href="https://www.nuget.org/packages/ApolloGraphQL.HotChocolate.Federation">official Apollo Federation support library for Hot Chocolate</a> — a popular .NET GraphQL framework — including full <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/announcing-federation-2/">Federation 2</a> support for field migrations, entity interfaces, and more flexible type ownership!</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="753" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dotnet-subgraphs-1024x753.png" alt="" class="wp-image-22807" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dotnet-subgraphs-1024x753.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dotnet-subgraphs-300x221.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dotnet-subgraphs-768x565.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dotnet-subgraphs-1536x1130.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dotnet-subgraphs-1200x883.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dotnet-subgraphs.png 1728w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#a-growing-ecosystem-of-frameworks" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="a-growing-ecosystem-of-frameworks"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>A growing ecosystem of frameworks</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With the help of Apollo&#8217;s official Federation support libraries, the community has added Federation support to over <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs">30+ GraphQL frameworks</a> that you can use to build subgraphs today.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Apollo-maintained <code class="" data-line="">subgraph-js</code> library <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs/#javascript--typescript">enables Federation in JavaScript/TypeScript subgraphs</a>:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Adds Federation support to Apollo Server, Express GraphQL, NestJS, Yoga, and more.</li>



<li>Builds on top of the core <code class="" data-line="">graphql-js</code> library, to enable the entire JavaScript ecosystem.</li>



<li>Apollo helps actively maintain <code class="" data-line="">graphql-js</code> as a key reference implementation across language ecosystems.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Apollo-maintained <code class="" data-line="">federation-jvm</code> library <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs/#java--kotlin">powers Federation in Java/Kotlin subgraphs</a>:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Adds Federation support to Spring GraphQL, Netflix’s DGS Framework, and more.</li>



<li>Builds on top of the core <code class="" data-line="">graphql-java</code> library to enable the whole Java ecosystem.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#expanding-official-support-to-net" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="expanding-official-support-to-net"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Expanding official support to .NET</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With momentum building in the .NET community, more and more subgraphs are being created using community support for Federation in popular GraphQL packages like GraphQL .NET and Hot Chocolate. To better support the growing number of .NET subgraphs, we&#8217;re excited to announce official Apollo support for .NET with a new v1.0 <a href="https://www.nuget.org/packages/ApolloGraphQL.HotChocolate.Federation">Apollo Federation support library for Hot Chocolate</a>. It’s an open source library that adds Federation support to the main Hot Chocolate GraphQL server and is based on the previous community-led implementation for backwards compatibility. We’ve fixed a few things, overhauled the docs, and added support for Federation 2!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Official <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs/#c--net">compatibility testing for C# / .NET</a> shows comprehensive Federation 2 support for Hot Chocolate:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="779" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/image-15-1024x779.png" alt="" class="wp-image-22809" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/image-15-1024x779.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/image-15-300x228.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/image-15-768x584.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/image-15-1200x913.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/image-15.png 1422w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#quick-start-template-for-hot-chocolate-subgraphs" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="quick-start-template-for-hot-chocolate-subgraphs"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Quick start template for Hot Chocolate subgraphs</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/rover/commands/template">Rover CLI</a> now supports .NET and a new <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/subgraph-csharp-hotchocolate-annotation">Hot Chocolate subgraph template</a> that includes:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Annotation-based Federation for clean idiomatic C# code.</li>



<li>GitHub actions configured for CI/CD using GraphOS schema checks and publishing.</li>



<li>Railway one click deploy template.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">To bootstrap a new Hot Chocolate subgraph project, run:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-bash" data-line="">rover template use --template subgraph-csharp-hotchocolate-annotation</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation 2 is configured into your Hot Chocolate subgraph in <code class="" data-line="">Program.cs</code></p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-csharp" data-line="">using ApolloGraphQL.HotChocolate.Federation;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services
    .AddGraphQLServer()
    .AddApolloFederationV2() 
    // register your types and services
    ;

var app = builder.Build();
app.MapGraphQL();
app.Run();</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Root query fields for your subgraph are defined in <code class="" data-line="">Query.cs</code>, which federate into your supergraph for apps to use:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-csharp" data-line="">public class Query
{
    public Thing? Thing([ID] string id, Data repository)
        =&gt; repository.Things.FirstOrDefault(t =&gt; t.Id.Equals(id));
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Entity classes like <code class="" data-line="">Thing.cs</code> define a <code class="" data-line="">Key</code> , <code class="" data-line="">ID</code>, and <code class="" data-line="">Reference Resolver</code> to enable joining data across subgraphs:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-csharp" data-line="">[Key(&quot;id&quot;)]
public class Thing
{
    [ID]
    public string Id { get; }

    public string? Name { get; }

    [ReferenceResolver]
    public static Thing? GetThingById(
        string id,
        Data repository)
        =&gt; repository.Things.FirstOrDefault(t =&gt; t.Id.Equals(id));
}</code></pre>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#upgrade-an-existing-hot-chocolate-subgraph-to-federation-2" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="upgrade-an-existing-hot-chocolate-subgraph-to-federation-2"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Upgrade an existing Hot Chocolate subgraph to Federation 2</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Update your <code class="" data-line="">.csproj</code> file:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-markup" data-line="">  &lt;ItemGroup&gt;
    &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;HotChocolate.AspNetCore&quot; Version=&quot;13.5.1&quot; /&gt;
    &lt;PackageReference Include=&quot;ApolloGraphQL.HotChocolate.Federation&quot; Version=&quot;1.0.0&quot; /&gt;
  &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Use the new official Apollo Federation support library and configure your subgraph to use Federation 2:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-csharp" data-line="">using ApolloGraphQL.HotChocolate.Federation;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services
    .AddGraphQLServer()
    .AddApolloFederationV2() 
    // ...
    ;

var app = builder.Build();
app.MapGraphQL();
app.Run();</code></pre>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#whats-next" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="whats-next"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>What&#8217;s next?</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Starting today, Apollo will continue to maintain official Federation subgraph support for Hot Chocolate. You can expect ongoing improvements and fixes, as well as full support for the latest Apollo Federation spec changes.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We also plan to work with the community to add <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs/#c--net">Federation 2 support for other popular .NET packages like GraphQL .NET</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#learn-more" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="learn-more"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Learn more</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Checkout the <a href="https://www.nuget.org/packages/ApolloGraphQL.HotChocolate.Federation">updated docs</a> to learn more!</li>



<li>If you have a specific question about the library or code, please start a discussion in the <a href="https://community.apollographql.com/">Apollo community forums</a> or start a conversation on our <a href="https://discord.gg/graphos">Discord server</a>.</li>



<li>If you have improvements you’d like to see please let us know by <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation-hotchocolate/issues/new">opening a GitHub issue</a>!</li>
</ul>


Announcing official Apollo Federation support for .NET with Hot Chocolate and Federation 2!


<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>December 2023 update: GraphOS authorization enforcement is <strong>now generally available</strong>, including the <code class="" data-line="">@requiresScopes</code>, <code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code>, and <strong>new</strong> <code class="" data-line="">@policy</code> directives. <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/centrally-enforce-policy-as-code-for-graphql-apis/">Read the GA announcement</a>.</em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Implementing a durable access control system for APIs is critical to prevent data breaches, monetary losses, and potential denial of services. GraphQL presents API owners with a unique challenge in this regard because it is designed for maximum flexibility.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In general, there are two choices for enforcing access control for GraphQL APIs, neither of which scale particularly well. You can write custom logic to centralize enforcement — which must be kept in lock-step coordination with changes to the graph — or you can distribute enforcement across multiple GraphQL endpoints — eliminating much of the flexibility GraphQL provides to app developers.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo GraphOS and <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/the-supergraph-a-new-way-to-think-about-graphql/">supergraph architecture</a> are eliminating this trade-off. Starting today, graph owners can enforce centralized authorization across any number of connected services in the graph.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/authorization/">Authz enforcement</a> is available<strong> in preview today</strong> for all customers on the GraphOS Enterprise plan running self-hosted instances of Apollo Router.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#durable-graph-native-authz" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="durable-graph-native-authz"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Durable, graph-native authz</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When you operate a supergraph with GraphOS, you can now use the <code class="" data-line="">@requiresScopes</code> and <code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code> <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/authorization/#authorization-directives">directives</a> to define the authorization model for individual types and fields in each of your services declaratively. Rather than relying on custom logic or per-service access control, GraphOS uses these directives to compose a single federated authorization model. It then enforces that model in your <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/">graph router</a> at the edge of the API stack to optimize query execution and improve defense-in-depth.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#limit-access-to-certain-scopes" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="limit-access-to-certain-scopes"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Limit access to certain scopes</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The <strong><code class="" data-line="">@requiresScopes</code> </strong>directive is useful in cases where certain data or experiences should be available to a subset of users, but not all. It allows you to define granular access control by specifying an array of scopes that are required to access the type or field. If GraphOS receives a request that is missing the required scopes for certain fields, it will automatically filter out those fields before executing the operation. [<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/authorization/#example-requiresscopes-use-case">Example use case</a>]&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#require-authentication" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="require-authentication"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Require authentication</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The <strong><code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code></strong> directive is useful when you need to limit access to unauthenticated users (or when you want to cut off unauthenticated access entirely). It provides binary access control, limiting marked types and fields to authenticated requests. When GraphOS receives an unauthenticated request, it filters out all fields marked with <code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code> before execution. [<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/authorization/#example-authenticated-use-case">Example use case</a>]</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#optimize-query-execution" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="optimize-query-execution"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Optimize query execution</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The best way to combat DoS attacks is to enforce access control well before traffic ever reaches your mission-critical services. With an access control model defined in your schema, the GraphOS runtime plane acts as a central control point that does just that. In the simplest case, GraphOS will immediately terminate requests lacking the proper authorization to access any fields, preventing them from ever reaching your services. However, GraphOS can also optimize the execution of partially authenticated requests and deduplicate requests to your services.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#eliminate-unauthorized-subqueries" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="eliminate-unauthorized-subqueries"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Eliminate unauthorized subqueries</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Let’s say we’re building the profile page for a social media app that shows profile information like a name and profile image to all users, but only shows the posts associated with the profile to authenticated users. We have one service in our federated graph that handles user information — the Users API — and another that handles post information — the Posts API. We can restrict access to data resolved by the Posts API to authenticated users with <code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now, when GraphOS receives the query used to populate the profile page, it will first check if the user has the proper claims to access fields resolved by the Posts API. Here’s the fun part – if the request doesn’t have the proper claims, GraphOS will eliminate the entire subquery to the Posts API, preventing that service from ever seeing the traffic.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="512" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GraphOS-Authorization-subquery-optimization-1-1024x512.png" alt="" class="wp-image-22526" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GraphOS-Authorization-subquery-optimization-1-1024x512.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GraphOS-Authorization-subquery-optimization-1-300x150.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GraphOS-Authorization-subquery-optimization-1-768x384.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GraphOS-Authorization-subquery-optimization-1-1536x768.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GraphOS-Authorization-subquery-optimization-1-1200x600.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GraphOS-Authorization-subquery-optimization-1.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#deduplicate-subqueries" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="deduplicate-subqueries"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Deduplicate subqueries</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">GraphOS also reduces load on your services by accounting for authorization when <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/traffic-shaping/#query-deduplication"><em>deduplicating</em> simultaneous subqueries</a>. If your router is simultaneously processing two or more requests that after authz enforcement require identical subqueries, GraphOS will fulfill both requests using a single subquery.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#getting-started" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="getting-started"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Getting started</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Implementing centralized GraphQL authorization with GraphOS eliminates the need for maintaining custom gateway code or bespoke authorization models for every one of your services. On top of that, it optimizes the performance of your services by eliminating unnecessary load from unauthorized requests.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Starting today, all customers on the GraphOS Enterprise plan can start using <code class="" data-line="">@requiresScopes</code> and <code class="" data-line="">@authenticated</code> to enforce declarative, graph-native authorization in the GraphOS runtime plane. To get started, head over to the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/authorization/">GraphOS documentation</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you aren&#8217;t a GraphOS Enterprise customer and you want to start building authz enforcement with GraphOS, you can <a href="https://studio.apollographql.com/signup?type=enterprise-trial" data-type="link" data-id="https://studio.apollographql.com/signup?type=enterprise-trial&amp;_gl=1*7g1bty*_ga*NjU4MjMwOTQ0LjE2MzIxNTUyNDc.*_ga_0BGG5V2W2K*MTY5MzkyOTcyOC45NjcuMS4xNjkzOTM1MTEzLjAuMC4w">try it out for free</a> for 28 days.</p>


Build centralized GraphQL authorization with Apollo GraphOS


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Last year, we announced the End-of-Life for Apollo Server 3, originally scheduled for October 22, 2023. Apollo Server has widespread adoption, and we&#8217;ve heard feedback that some in the community would appreciate more time for the migration process. In light of this, <strong>we&#8217;re extending the End-of-Life date for Apollo Server 3 to October 22, 2024</strong>. Apollo will continue to provide security patches and fixes for major regressions until October 2024, after which Apollo Server 3 will no longer be maintained by Apollo. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">To learn how to migrate to Apollo Server 4, see the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/migration/">migration guide</a>. Additionally, you can find more information about End-of-Life stages in the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/resources/product-launch-stages/#end-of-life">Apollo Launch Stages definitions</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">At Apollo, our priorities have always been driven by the community and businesses that rely on us. We value your input and encourage you to keep sharing it with us. If you haven&#8217;t already, join the official <a href="https://discord.gg/graphos">Apollo GraphQL Discord</a> to keep the conversation going.</p>


Apollo Server 3 end-of-life extension


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation unlocks superpowers for our queries, enabling us to split up business logic and improve performance with features like&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@defer</code>. However, these same powers can be abused if placed in the wrong hands, so it’s essential to limit who has access to them.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#the-threats" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="the-threats"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>The threats</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Many coordination features of a federated graph rely on an important assumption:&nbsp;<strong>clients always query your router—never individual subgraphs</strong>. If this assumption is violated and clients query your subgraphs directly, you might expose data and capabilities that you&nbsp;<em>shouldn’t</em>:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@inaccessible</code>&nbsp;directive enables subgraphs to define schema fields that&nbsp;<em>other</em>&nbsp;subgraphs might need, but that the router&nbsp;<em>shouldn’t&nbsp;</em>expose to clients. If clients can query a subgraph directly, those queries&nbsp;<em>can</em>&nbsp;include&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@inaccessible</code>&nbsp;fields. And even if you don’t have any sensitive&nbsp;&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@inaccessible</code>&nbsp;fields in your graph today, you might in the future!</li>



<li>The&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@requires</code>&nbsp;directive enables a subgraph to define schema fields that depend on entity fields from&nbsp;<em>other</em> subgraphs. Subgraphs rely on the router to resolve this dependency, ensuring that trusted data is provided. But if clients have direct access to subgraph entity resolvers, that data can&nbsp;<em>no longer</em>&nbsp;be trusted.</li>



<li>The&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@override</code>&nbsp;directive enables a subgraph to take responsibility for a schema field away from&nbsp;<em>another</em> subgraph. With direct subgraph access, clients can still query the&nbsp;<em>original</em>&nbsp;subgraph field, which can result in inconsistent and unexpected behavior.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This is just a small selection of the available features today, and more will be added over time. The key takeaway is that federation is a microservice architecture that expects a&nbsp;<em>single</em>&nbsp;entry point through a controlled router. If subgraphs can be accessed directly, it’s only a matter of time before something unexpected happens, and that unexpected event could be a security breach.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#protecting-your-subgraphs" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="protecting-your-subgraphs"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Protecting your subgraphs</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Exposing subgraphs publicly opens the door to several attacks. To mitigate them, we prevent anything but our routers from accessing our subgraphs. First, we can protect our subgraphs at the application level by adding an extra layer of authorization on top of whatever user auth may be in place. We can configure our routers to send a header containing a shared secret to each of our subgraphs:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">headers:
  subgraphs:
    orders:
      request:
        - insert:
          name: &quot;Router-Authorization&quot;
          value: &quot;${env.ORDERS_SUBGRAPH_SECRET}&quot;
    users:
      request:
        - insert:
          name: &quot;Router-Authorization&quot;
          value: &quot;${env.USERS_SUBGRAPH_SECRET}&quot;</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Notice that we use a unique secret per subgraph, following a security best practice called “the principle of least privilege”. If there’s no reason for the&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">orders</code>&nbsp;subgraph to have direct access to the&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">users</code>&nbsp;subgraph, then we should not give it the ability to do so (by sending it valid tokens for another subgraph).</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These values come from environment variables, so how you set them will depend on where you’re running your routers. Most secret managers have a way to inject values via an environment variable. For example, in GraphOS, you can&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/routing/cloud-configuration#managing-secrets" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">set secrets via the UI</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">How this looks on the subgraph side depends on your implementation. Here’s an example using FastAPI in Python:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-python" data-line="">@app.middleware(&quot;http&quot;)
async def check_router_security(
    request: Request, call_next: Callable[[Request], Awaitable[Response]]
) -&gt; Response:
    router_secret = environ.get(&quot;ROUTER_SECRET&quot;)
    if router_secret is None:
        return await call_next(request)
    if request.headers.get(&quot;Router-Authorization&quot;) != router_secret:
        return Response(status_code=HTTPStatus.UNAUTHORIZED)
    return await call_next(request)</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here, we’re setting up the expected token as an environment variable called&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">ROUTER_SECRET</code>&nbsp;in our subgraph. This value would be injected via the secret manager for your hosting platform. If the secret is not set (such as in local development), we turn off this enforcement; you may want to add a more sophisticated method of ensuring this is never turned off in production. If the secret&nbsp;<em>is</em>&nbsp;set, we ensure every request has a matching&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">Router-Authorization</code>&nbsp;header. Requests without a valid header will get a bare response with a&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">401 Unauthorized</code>&nbsp;code—we don’t send any additional information that clients don’t need, and unauthenticated requesters don’t even need to know that this is a GraphQL server.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We have examples for many languages and frameworks in our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/graphs/creating-a-subgraph#starting-from-a-template">subgraph templates</a>, so check them out for more inspiration!</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#extra-credit-network-protections" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="extra-credit-network-protections"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Extra credit: network protections</h4>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As an additional step, depending on your hosting environment, you may be able to use network-level protections to prevent any incoming connections to your subgraphs except your routers. This is typically done via firewall rules (such as access control lists). Not all platforms or architectures will have this option, but if you do, we recommend adding it as a “defense in depth”.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#ruling-out-alternatives" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="ruling-out-alternatives"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Ruling out alternatives</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There are a few other solutions to this problem that might&nbsp;<em>seem</em>&nbsp;viable but can cause issues. Let’s go over them!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">First, you might be tempted to apply router authorization checks only for federation-specific subgraph fields (<code class="" data-line="">_service</code> and&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">_entities</code>&nbsp;), but there are problems with this approach:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Newer versions of federation might add&nbsp;<em>more</em>&nbsp;subgraph fields in the future, which would introduce new vulnerabilities that special-case checks don’t handle.</li>



<li>This approach doesn’t solve the problem of reaching&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@inaccessible</code>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@requries</code>&nbsp;fields via a top-level&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">Query</code> field (a standard, non-federated query).</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Second, you might be tempted to enforce router authorization per field, maybe even automatically for any field that implements a federated directive. However, federation enables any single subgraph to influence the behavior of the entire supergraph. For example, if&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@inaccessible</code>&nbsp;is applied to a field in&nbsp;<em>any</em>&nbsp;subgraph, it’s expected to be enforced on&nbsp;<em>every</em>&nbsp;subgraph. This means that per-field, per-subgraph enforcement is fundamentally inconsistent and can lead to unexpected data leakage.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Finally, you might consider disabling introspection as a solution—if attackers can’t discover the hidden fields, they can’t use them, right? This is called “security by obscurity” and is widely considered not security at all. A sufficiently determined attacker&nbsp;<em>will</em>&nbsp;eventually guess the names of fields that you don’t want them to find.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The only consistent approach to preventing undesired access to subgraph capabilities is to disable access to subgraphs&nbsp;<em>entirely</em>&nbsp;to any client besides the router.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#get-secure" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="get-secure"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Get secure</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now that you know the dangers of exposing subgraphs publicly and the best approach to mitigating the threat, there’s nothing left to do but start implementing! Start securing your subgraphs immediately.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Have any questions, comments, or concerns about this post? I’d love to hear about it in our <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://discord.com/invite/graphos" target="_blank">Discord server</a>! That&#8217;s also where you&#8217;ll be notified of upcoming security-related live streams.</p>


Secure your GraphQL Microservices

Federated subscriptions in GraphOS: real-time data at scale


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A GraphQL API with the power to give app developers everything they need in a single query is excellent for delivery velocity, but it also could have the potential to enable improper access to data if not secured correctly.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With supergraph architecture, you can mitigate this risk by implementing the proper security controls in each subgraph, but Apollo GraphOS is helping platform teams add an additional layer of security in front of subgraphs by building controls into the graph router itself.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Router security is one of the key themes in our 2023 GraphOS roadmap, and today we’re excited to ship a preview of our newest router security feature for GraphOS Enterprise: operation size and complexity limiting.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#centralized-protection-from-misuse" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="centralized-protection-from-misuse"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Centralized protection from misuse</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For production graphs, preventing accidental or intentional misuse is a key requirement. If not protected properly, client apps can issue expensive queries that cause excessive load on the server potentially resulting in denial of service. Even in less extreme cases, poorly formed queries can still impact the performance of client apps and lead to a slower user experience.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There are a variety of packages designed to limit operation complexity and cost at the server level; however, as a federated graph grows, it can become increasingly difficult to set, standardize, and maintain these limits across many subgraphs owned by different teams. Luckily, supergraph architecture presents us with the unique opportunity to centralize control in a single point: the router.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Enforcing operation size and complexity limits in the graph router makes it far easier to standardize policies for a large graph and alleviates the burden of coordinating limits across every subgraph.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#limit-depth-height-root-fields-and-aliases" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="limit-depth-height-root-fields-and-aliases"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Limit depth, height, root fields, and aliases</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Just like it sounds! With GraphOS Enterprise, you can now configure your router to limit the depth, height, number of root fields, and number of aliased fields of any incoming GraphQL operation. If an operation exceeds any of the set limits, the router will reject it before attempting to resolve the request with a <code class="" data-line="">400 BAD_REQUEST</code> status code.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">All of these limits can be configured in the <code class="" data-line="">router.yaml</code> file for any router authenticated with your GraphOS Enterprise credentials:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">preview_operation_limits:
  max_depth: 100
  max_height: 200
  max_root_fields: 40
  max_aliases: 30</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Optionally, you can also configure the router to only log a warning message for operations that exceed the set limits rather than rejecting the operation outright:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">preview_operation_limits:
  # some limits
  warn_only: TRUE</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><code class="" data-line="">warn_only</code> defaults to <code class="" data-line="">FALSE</code>, but it can be useful to set it to <code class="" data-line="">TRUE</code> in development environments for testing purposes.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#getting-started" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="getting-started"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Getting started</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The feature preview for operation size and complexity limits is available now for all users with a GraphOS Enterprise plan. To get started, make sure that your router is authenticated with your GraphOS Enterprise credentials and is running the <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/releases" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">latest version of Apollo Router</a>. Then, head to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/operation-limits" target="_blank">the documentation</a> for detailed information about configuring limits in your <code class="" data-line="">router.yaml</code> file.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you&#8217;re not a GraphOS Enterprise customer yet, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/contact-sales">get in touch with us</a> to learn more and start a trial!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’re excited for you to start setting some limits and to hear what you think! If you encounter any problems or have feedback, feel free to <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/issues">open an issue</a>. That being said, this feature is still in preview, so there may be some final adjustments before we mark it as GA. To stay up to date, be sure to bookmark the <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/blob/dev/CHANGELOG.md">Apollo Router changelog</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Happy querying!</p>


Prevent graph misuse with operation size and complexity limits


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Just over a year ago, we introduced Apollo Router, the graph router that is now at the heart of Apollo GraphOS. Unlike its predecessor <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/using-federation/api/apollo-gateway/">Apollo Gateway</a>, Apollo Router was designed to&nbsp;maximize the performance benefits of GraphQL and <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/the-supergraph-a-new-way-to-think-about-graphql/">supergraph architecture</a>, while being secure by default. After switching to the router, one customer reported a <strong>93% reduction in gateway cloud spend</strong>, a <strong>30x reduction in Kubernetes Pod counts</strong>, and 70% less code to maintain – while delivering even faster response times, with <strong>a 70% reduction in request latencies</strong>!&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today, some of the world’s largest companies rely on GraphOS for their mission-critical graph API infrastructure. Routers have processed 100% of Black Friday traffic for top-100 retail companies, and major fintech organizations are trusting their routers to handle tax season.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>So what’s next?</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Many of Apollo Router’s initial users are running billions of operations each month with GraphOS. The features in this release focus on the challenges of operating a graph router at massive scale: <strong>defense in depth, maximizing performance, and extensibility</strong>. Today, we are excited to make three new features generally available to GraphOS Enterprise customers running a self-hosted router: JWT auth, distributed APQ caching, and support for external coprocessors.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#supergraph-defense-in-depth" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="supergraph-defense-in-depth"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Supergraph defense-in-depth</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Block malicious traffic at the edge of your graph with new JWT auth support in the router.</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Previously, the router could only forward user access tokens (JWT) generated by identity providers like Auth0 or Okta onto subgraphs and underlying REST APIs. Keeping your supergraph secure meant doing JWT checks in every subgraph or REST API which allows attackers deeper into your graph – and missing a single check often results in security holes.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now, with the router as a <a href="https://doyensec.com/resources/Doyensec_Apollo_Report_Q22022_v4_AfterRetest.pdf">security-hardened</a> entry point to your graph, you can reject malicious traffic early and shield your subgraphs and REST APIs from unwanted traffic. Router v1.12 adds support for <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/authn-jwt">JWT validation, claim extraction, and custom security policies in Rhai scripting</a> to reject bad traffic at the edge of the graph – for enhanced zero-trust and defense-in-depth. Extracting claims once in the router and securely forwarding them to subgraphs has several key benefits, including: </p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Reducing operational burden on backend API teams</strong> &#8211; no JWT keys to manage</li>



<li><strong>Reducing latency due to JWT processing</strong> &#8211; since the JWT is processed only once in the router</li>



<li><strong>Speeding up response times</strong> &#8211; by selectively forwarding JWT claims for increased <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/traffic-shaping/#query-deduplication">query deduplication</a></li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These performance benefits compound at scale, particularly if the router is simultaneously processing similar queries.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#maximize-performance-at-scale" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="maximize-performance-at-scale"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Maximize performance at scale</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Reduce p99 latency during peak traffic with Distributed APQ (automatic persisted query) caching with Redis.</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/performance/apq/">APQ</a> can drastically reduce response latency by allowing clients to send only a unique hash over the wire instead of a large query document, providing a fast path to query execution. You may already have in-memory APQ configured for your router, however when load balancing requests over a large fleet of router instances, the in-memory cache won’t be consistently hot. Unlucky users, especially during scaling events, will hit cold caches and experience slower response times as the APQ cache must be built individually in each router instance.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With Router v1.12 , you can now use <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/distributed-caching">distributed APQ caching</a> to improve p99 latencies during peak times. A shared Redis instance can now be used by the entire router fleet to build the APQ cache faster and share existing APQ cache with new router instances that are spun up during scaling events – when they need it most. This ensures the fast path to query execution is consistently available to all users even during peak load.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#extensibility-with-coprocessors" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="extensibility-with-coprocessors"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Extensibility with coprocessors</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Extend the router in your language of choice using new external coprocessor support.</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">To create common customizations for Apollo Gateway like header propagation and error handling, you have to code plugins and middleware directly into a custom gateway package. These monolithic gateway packages must be built and deployed as a single unit, often requiring coordination across teams. Since everything is run in a single process, errors in the custom code can crash the whole Gateway, and it’s not clear which team should be paged at 3 am to resolve the issue.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With Apollo Router, most common customizations are built directly into the stock binary and <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/overview">can be configured with YAML</a>. YAML config alone allowed one of our largest Enterprise customers to eliminate 70% of their custom Gateway code.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In cases where the YAML config isn’t enough, Router also supports Rhai scripting (similar to Lua in NGINX and Envoy) which can be used for in-memory manipulation of headers, cookies, and more with a well-defined <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/customizations/rhai-api">Rhai API reference</a>. Rhai scripts are great for lightweight customizations and provide a safe, sandboxed way to customize the Router’s request flow.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For more powerful customizations, the Router now supports <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/external">external coprocessors</a> written in the programming language of your choice. Coprocessors run with full isolation and a clean separation of concerns, that decouples delivery and provides fault isolation. Low overhead can be achieved by running coprocessors alongside the router on the same host or in the same Kubernetes Pod as a sidecar. Coprocessors can be used to speed Gateway migrations, support bespoke use cases, or integrate the router with existing network services for custom auth (JWT mapping, claim enrichment), service discovery integration, and more!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">However, our goal is to eliminate as much custom code as possible, so if you have a common use case that you think should be supported in the stock Apollo Router binary, be sure to <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/issues">open an issue</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#enabling-graphos-enterprise-features" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="enabling-graphos-enterprise-features"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Enabling GraphOS Enterprise features</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Upgrade to Router v1.12 and ensure they are connected to GraphOS with an Enterprise plan.</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">All Apollo GraphOS Enterprise customers can access these features today for self-hosted instances of Apollo Router. If your router is already connected to GraphOS Studio using your <code class="" data-line="">APOLLO_KEY</code> and <code class="" data-line="">APOLLO_GRAPH_REF</code>, and you’re running the latest version of Apollo Router, no further action is required! You can set up all of these features in your existing router config. See <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/enterprise-features">the documentation</a> for additional details.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These are just the first of many router features on the roadmap for GraphOS. We have exciting security and performance features coming up soon for GraphOS Enterprise as well as GraphOS Cloud, so stay tuned!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#optimize-apollo-router-with-tips-from-the-apollo-community" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="optimize-apollo-router-with-tips-from-the-apollo-community"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Optimize Apollo Router with tips from the Apollo community</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Apollo Router is a core part of the Apollo stack, and we want you to feel confident to trust it with your queries in production. The Apollo Champions community features many customers who have already made this switch and have insights that can help, including the team at Wayfair. They&nbsp;switched to Apollo Router from Gateway before Black Friday. The Wayfair team will discuss how they made the switch as well as the improvements they saw as a result. Be sure to tune in to the <a href="https://bit.ly/3liIeLY" data-type="URL" data-id="https://bit.ly/3liIeLY">Apollo Champion’s Corner on March 23rd</a> to learn more.</p>


New in Apollo Router v1.12: Improved router security, performance, and extensibility


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Apollo CLI <code class="" data-line="">service</code> commands are now officially deprecated and will reach their <strong>final end of life on April 28th, 2023.</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Note: </strong>Apollo will continue to provide support for the Apollo CLI <code class="" data-line="">client</code> commands.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Rover is the command line interface for managing and maintaining graphs through GraphOS with over 10 million all-time downloads and over 4 million command invocations per day. If you are still using Apollo CLI’s <code class="" data-line="">service</code> commands and would like to migrate to the Rover CLI, please refer to this migration <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/rover/migration/">guide</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For more information regarding Apollo’s software lifecycle policies and an up-to-date list of actively maintained software versions, please visit the Apollo launch stages <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/resources/product-launch-stages/">documentation</a>.</p>


Announcing the end-of-life schedule for Apollo CLI service commands


<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Update: The EOL timeline for Apollo Server 3 has been <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/apollo-server-3-end-of-life-extension" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/apollo-server-3-end-of-life-extension">extended to October 2024</a></p>
</blockquote>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Last week we officially launched Apollo Server 4! AS4 is lightweight and easier to use than any previous iteration of Apollo Server. We are sure that you’ll love it, and we are excited to help you <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/v4/getting-started">get started with it from scratch</a> or <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/migration/">migrate</a> from a previous version.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With Apollo Server 4 now generally available, <strong>Apollo Server versions 2 and 3 are now officially deprecated</strong> and will reach their <strong>final end of life on October 22, 2023</strong>. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Additionally, <strong>the subscriptions, uploads, and Playground features of Apollo Server 2 will have an earlier end-of-life on December 31, 2022</strong>.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo will continue to provide security patches and fixes for major regressions until October 2023, after which Apollo Server 2 and 3 will no longer be maintained by Apollo. <strong>Note:</strong> After December 31, 2022, Apollo will only continue to evaluate security issues and major regressions in Apollo Server 2 that persist with `{ subscriptions: false, playground: false, uploads: false }`.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you are currently using Apollo Server 2 or 3, you can find details about migrating to Apollo Server 4 in <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/migration">this guide</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For more information about Apollo’s software lifecycle policies and an up-to-date list of actively maintained software versions,&nbsp; please consult the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/resources/product-launch-stages/">documentation</a>.</p>


Announcing the end-of-life schedule for Apollo Server 2 & 3


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/">Apollo Router v1.x</a> being rapidly adopted as our next-generation <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/the-supergraph-a-new-way-to-think-about-graphql/">supergraph</a> runtime and Apollo Gateway v2.x and Federation 2 <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/apollo-federation-2-is-now-generally-available/">being GA for over 7 months</a>, Apollo Gateway v0.x is now officially <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/resources/product-launch-stages/#deprecated">deprecated</a> and will reach its <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/resources/product-launch-stages/#end-of-life">end-of-life</a> on <strong>September 22, 2023</strong>.<br><br>As of today, <strong>Apollo Gateway v0.x</strong> is no longer under active development. We will, however, continue to release security patches and fixes for major regressions until September 2023, after which Apollo Gateway v0.x will <strong>no longer be supported or maintained by Apollo</strong>.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We recommend <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/migrating-from-gateway/">migrating to Apollo Router</a> today for its significant performance gains and capabilities. <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/announcing-apollo-router-v1-0/"><strong>Apollo Router 1.x</strong></a> is the re-platforming of the Gateway offering <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/apollo-router-our-graphql-federation-runtime-in-rust/">10x better performance</a>, enhanced security, and many built-in capabilities like cors, logging, telemetry, and traffic shaping that can be <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/overview#yaml-config-file">configured declaratively with YAML</a> rather than with Javascript code. Optionally, the Router can be customized with Rhai scripts and native Rust plugins for advanced use cases. Our roadmap for the router includes new features like entity-based <code class="" data-line="">@defer</code> support (now in preview), <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/events/virtual-event/graphql-summit-october-2022/the-future-of-real-time-data-in-graphql/">live queries</a>, authorization, caching, demand control, and much more.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you are unable to migrate to the Router, <strong>Apollo Gateway 2.x </strong>is a drop-in upgrade from Gateway 0.x. Plugins and middleware written for 0.x will work unmodified in Gateway 2.x. Most future feature development will be focused on Apollo Router, so we would love to understand any obstacles you encounter migrating to it. Please <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/discussions">open a discussion on GitHub</a> if you need general help or <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/issues">open an issue</a> if you have any troubles!</p>


Announcing the end-of-life schedule for Apollo Gateway v0.x


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Server 4 is a lightweight, open-source, spec-compliant GraphQL server that’s compatible with any GraphQL client. It’s a great choice for building a production-ready, self-documenting GraphQL API that can use data from any source. You can use Apollo Server 4 as a subgraph in a federated Supergraph or as a stand-alone GraphQL server.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Server 4 introduces the <code class="" data-line="">@apollo/server</code> package which decouples plugins and frameworks from the core of Apollo Server. It offers a stable API for HTTP and serverless frameworks, enabling users to build Apollo Server integrations for their framework of choice. Apollo Server 4 also introduces a TypeScript-first development and documentation experience to help you build typesafe servers using a schema-first development process.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Server 4 is generally available! You can <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/v4/getting-started">get started from scratch</a> or <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/v4/migration">migrate from an older version</a> today!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#a-dedicated-api-for-http-and-serverless-framework-integrations" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="a-dedicated-api-for-http-and-serverless-framework-integrations"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>A dedicated API for HTTP and Serverless framework integrations</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A strength and a challenge of the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem is how many different options there are available to solve any problem. For example, there are dozens of popular web frameworks to choose between when setting up an HTTP server. There are also many serverless environments like AWS Lambda and Google Cloud Functions that each have their own APIs for handling HTTP requests. We want Apollo Server to work with as many of them as possible.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In previous versions of Apollo Server, there wasn’t a well-defined API layer between the “core” of Apollo Server and the individual framework integrations. Many features of Apollo Server were implemented as logic which had to be repeated in each integration, but often in slightly different, framework-specific ways. Improving any of these features often meant changing framework-specific code in 9 different packages.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For Apollo Server 4, we defined simple portable data structures for HTTP requests and responses, and we rewrote Apollo Server to act on these representations. Apollo Server now has a stable API for building framework integrations, which now usually consist of a dozen or so lines of code that convert between the request and response objects of the framework and Apollo Server. AS4 also has native support for serverless framework lifecycles, and serverless integrations now use a dedicated API during the server startup sequence to execute operations.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#using-and-contributing-to-integrations" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="using-and-contributing-to-integrations"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Using and contributing to integrations</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Apollo Server 4 core project ships with a core-maintained integration for the most popular Node web framework (Express) as well as a simple standalone web server for when you don’t need to configure much.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’ve <a href="https://github.com/apollo-server-integrations">set up infrastructure</a> to help our community build and maintain integrations, such as with <a href="https://github.com/apollo-server-integrations/apollo-server-integration-aws-lambda">AWS Lambda</a>, <a href="https://github.com/apollo-server-integrations/apollo-server-integration-fastify">Fastify</a>, and <a href="https://github.com/apollo-server-integrations/apollo-server-integration-koa">Koa</a>. Community members have also already built integrations with new environments such as <a href="https://github.com/apollo-server-integrations/apollo-server-integration-h3">H3</a> and <a href="https://github.com/apuyou/apollo-server-nextjs">Next.JS</a> that were never before supported by Apollo Server. Because building integrations require less domain-specific implementation, framework experts and integration authors can build integrations for their framework of choice and add those integrations to our <a href="https://github.com/apollo-server-integrations">Apollo Server integrations GitHub organization</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Additionally, because integrations are now maintained independently from Apollo Server, it will be much easier to update your framework to take advantage of new features in your web framework of choice. We are always looking to add new framework integrations, so if you don’t see <a href="https://github.com/apollo-server-integrations">an integration</a> you’d like to use, create an issue on <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/issues">GitHub</a>. If you specialize in any of <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/labels/integration-collaborators">these frameworks</a> and are interested in building or maintaining an AS4 integration, please reach out!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#simpler-package-structure-and-reduced-bundle-size" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="simpler-package-structure-and-reduced-bundle-size"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Simpler package structure and reduced bundle size</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Server 3 was structured as a large number of distinct packages for each framework integration. For example, Express users used the <code class="" data-line="">apollo-server-express</code> package while Fastify users used the <code class="" data-line="">apollo-server-fastify</code> package. Other functionality involved depending on one of a wide array of smaller packages, and it was challenging to ensure you used a consistent version across these packages. Apollo Server 4 simplifies this situation by combining all of the core code into a single new <code class="" data-line="">@apollo/server</code> package.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Unlike Apollo Server 3, the Apollo Server 4 package is also published in both CJS and ESM formats! The ECMAScript Module format improves upon the CommonJS (CJS) format pioneered by Node. Modern build tools can better optimize packages built as ESM, resulting in reduced bundle size. Smaller, optimized bundles allow serverless runtimes like AWS Lambda to start up faster.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Because AS4 is published in both formats, you get the improved efficiency of ESM if you use a newer build tool without losing compatibility with older build environments that only support CJS.To learn more about the difference between ESM and CJS and their interoperability, check out the <a href="https://nodejs.org/api/esm.html#differences-between-es-modules-and-commonjs">Node.js documentation</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#avoid-resolver-type-and-schema-mismatches" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="avoid-resolver-type-and-schema-mismatches"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Avoid resolver type and schema mismatches</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With the release of Apollo Server 4, we’ve updated all of <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/">our documentation</a> to show a TypeScript-first approach and recommend Typescript as the default way to build with Apollo Server.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When using Apollo Server 3, there was no way to specify the type of your context value when setting up your server. This led to typing inconsistencies because there was no compile-time check ensuring the type returned by your context function matched the value in your plugins and resolvers.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Server 4 enables you to write code that can statically check that your resolver types match their schema types, using a schema-first approach. To do this, Apollo Server documents the use of the <code class="" data-line="">graphql-code-generator</code> package with typescript-resolvers to ensure server implementations are type-safe. To get started or learn more about generating types from your schema, check out <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/workflow/generate-types">our documentation</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#getting-started-with-apollo-server-4" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="getting-started-with-apollo-server-4"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><strong>Getting started with Apollo Server 4</strong></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’re excited for you to start using Apollo Server 4 and all of its new features!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you’re starting from scratch, our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/v4/getting-started">getting started docs</a> will walk you through setting up Apollo Server for the first time, or if you’re already using Apollo Server 3, our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/v4/migration">migration guide</a> will help you upgrade. We would love your feedback on Apollo Server 4 and its framework integrations! You can do so by reaching out on <a href="https://community.apollographql.com">our community forum</a> or <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server">GitHub</a>.</p>


Apollo Server 4: a lightweight and easier-to-use Apollo Server

Announcing Apollo Router v1.0


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’ve had a busy month at Apollo. Over the last several weeks we’ve released some significant updates to the Apollo stack. Last month we shipped <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/apollo-federation-2-is-now-generally-available/">Federation 2</a>, a sophisticated and more flexible approach to GraphQL composition. And last week we made <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/platform/contracts-are-now-generally-available/">Contracts</a> generally available, a way to tailor your graph to specific use cases like mobile development or creating public GraphQL APIs.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today we’re launching updates to two more components of our stack: the <a href="https://apollographql.com/blog/apollo-router-is-now-generally-available">GA release of Apollo Router</a> – our new high-performance runtime for federated GraphQL APIs – and a <a href="https://apollographql.com/blog/schema-checks-and-launches-are-now-available-for-free-in-apollo-studio/">new cloud-hosted build pipeline</a> for delivering changes to a graph.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’ve been building these tools together to help teams implement a more advanced GraphQL architecture – one that delivers essential capabilities for operating mission-critical graphs in organizations with many teams, programming languages, and technologies. That architecture is now at the heart of API strategy at companies like Netflix, Walmart, Expedia, Zillow, RetailMeNot, Paypal, Major League Baseball, and many more.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We think it’s time to give this architecture a name, and after talking about it with the developers that have pioneered this approach in their companies, we’re calling it <strong>the supergraph</strong>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#the-principles-of-supergraph-architecture" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="the-principles-of-supergraph-architecture"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>The principles of supergraph architecture</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The essential ideas of the supergraph are going to be <a href="https://principledgraphql.com/">pretty familiar to those who’ve been following Apollo for a while</a>. It comes down to three core principles.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#1-a-unified-composition-layer" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="1-a-unified-composition-layer"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>1: a unified composition layer</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The supergraph is a new way to think about implementing GraphQL that goes far beyond the technical benefits of replacing data fetching and BFF code with schema and queries. It’s a unified network of a company’s data, microservices, and digital capabilities that serves as the “composition layer” for the whole organization.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The supergraph empowers everyone to create richer, more engaging experiences for their users and customers by bringing everything into a single point of collaboration.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#2-a-modular-architecture" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="2-a-modular-architecture"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>2: a modular architecture</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Supergraph architecture is declarative and modular. Just as React and Kubernetes leverage modularity to scale UI development and service deployment, the supergraph leverages modularity to scale the API layer as it grows beyond a single team.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation has always been about bringing modularity to the API layer – letting you scale a graph without bottlenecking developers on a single monolith or creating a single point of failure.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Of course, Apollo Federation offers a lot of additional advantages along the way: programmable configuration, standardized tooling, analyzable query plans, strict validation at build-time instead of run-time, great support for heterogeneous environments, a structured on-ramp for new developers, and many more.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#3-an-agile-approach" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="3-an-agile-approach"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>3: an agile approach</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The supergraph enables an agile bottom-up approach. Traditionally, APIs tend to be fairly static. Because it’s so hard to change an API, the tendency is to waterfall a design that anticipates future requirements. But products change constantly, driven by evolving user requirements and feedback.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The supergraph works harmoniously with rapidly changing products because it empowers developers to ship schema changes swiftly and safely to support their own initiatives, causing the schema to naturally evolve based on actual usage and the needs of the business.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#on-to-the-supergraph" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="on-to-the-supergraph"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>On to the supergraph</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’ve seen case after case of the supergraph architecture – a unified layer, made from modules, continuously evolving – emerging organically at companies we respect and admire. So we’re focused on this idea of the supergraph and our ambition is to help every team have one. Here’s how all that we’ve been building helps with that goal.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="800" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/supergraph-runtime-plane.png" alt="" class="wp-image-20799" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/supergraph-runtime-plane.png 1600w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/supergraph-runtime-plane-300x150.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/supergraph-runtime-plane-1024x512.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/supergraph-runtime-plane-768x384.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/supergraph-runtime-plane-1536x768.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/supergraph-runtime-plane-1200x600.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#apollo-federation-the-spec" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="apollo-federation-the-spec"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Apollo Federation: the spec</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation is our open specification for composing subgraphs – modular GraphQL services – together into a single supergraph. Each subgraph is a self-contained component with its own schema and server, so it can be developed, tested, and deployed independently.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Rather than relying on custom code to combine subgraphs, subgraphs reference and extend each other through a principled set of primitives. Thanks to our incredible developer community, Federation supports subgraphs written in over <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/other-servers">20 programming languages</a> and a growing number of GraphQL-native services and products.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/apollo-federation-2-is-now-generally-available/">Federation 2</a> builds on what we’ve learned from our community. It adds more complete support for the GraphQL spec including interfaces and new directives which can eliminate much of the boilerplate code that came with Federation 1.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation 2 also streamlines cross-team collaboration with a flexible shared ownership model that allows multiple subgraphs to implement overlapping, complementary parts of types and schemas. New governance directives like <code class="" data-line="">@inaccessible</code>, <code class="" data-line="">@shareable</code>, and <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> give teams fine-grained control over the composition process and resulting supergraph schema.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">TLDR; Apollo Federation is now more approachable and incrementally adoptable for anyone interested in building a supergraph, and it scales seamlessly all the way into enterprises with thousands of developers collaborating on the largest rapidly-evolving supergraphs. Check out <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/quickstart/setup/">the Federation quickstart</a> to learn more.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#apollo-router-the-runtime" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="apollo-router-the-runtime"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Apollo Router: the runtime</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So you’ve created a federated schema, but how do you run it? At a minimum, the runtime for a supergraph has to receive client requests, build an execution plan, route requests to the proper subgraphs, assemble the results back together, and return it back to the client. We launched Apollo Gateway — an add-on to Apollo Server — alongside Apollo Federation to serve this purpose, but we quickly realized that we needed to build a more elegant solution that was purpose-built for the task. We decided to call it a <strong>graph router</strong>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A graph router does far more than a traditional API gateway. Like a relational database, it requires a sophisticated implementation that shields users from unwanted details of execution while still providing a principled way to analyze and control the system when necessary. Critical infrastructure like this is better written in a lower-level systems language that offers a smaller operational footprint, so we opted for Rust instead of Node.js.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">At the end of 2021, we released the world’s first and only graph router: Apollo Router. The performance advantages are significant: Apollo Router processes requests with <strong>10x lower latency</strong>, <strong>10x higher throughput</strong>, and <strong>12x lower variance</strong> compared to Apollo Gateway, its JavaScript predecessor. Take a look at the benchmark below to get a sense of how much better it is.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="512" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1-1024x512.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13769" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1-1024x512.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1-300x150.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1-768x384.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1-1536x768.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1-1200x600.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Response latency vs request throughput for Gateway, Router, and direct-to-subgraph</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There are other benefits too, like an <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/customizations/rhai">extension facility</a> that lets you replace custom gateway code with configuration (this should sound familiar!) and comprehensive support for <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/tracing">OpenTelemetry</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As of today, <a href="https://apollographql.com/blog/apollo-router-is-now-generally-available">Apollo Router is generally available</a>, free for anyone to use. Check out the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/">Router docs</a> to learn more.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#graphos-studio-the-control-plane" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="graphos-studio-the-control-plane"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>GraphOS Studio: the control plane</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">GraphOS Studio is the final piece of the puzzle for building and operating a supergraph. Its delivery pipeline provides the validation, automation, and observability you need to deliver changes rapidly and safely, making it possible to constantly evolve the supergraph schema, particularly when teams leverage and extend each other’s contributions.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/studio/schema-checks">Schema Checks</a> and <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/studio/launches">Launches</a> prevent breaking changes before they happen by automatically validating your supergraph schema in development and giving visibility into past and in-progress changes to the supergraph.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Previously only available on our Enterprise plan, <a href="https://apollographql.com/blog/schema-checks-and-launches-are-now-available-for-free-in-apollo-studio/">today we are making Studio’s delivery pipeline available to everyone</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#whats-next-for-the-supergraph" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="whats-next-for-the-supergraph"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>What’s next for the supergraph</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’re excited to get the core components of the supergraph architecture in your hands. We can’t wait to build with you and we are eager to work together on what’s next.</p>


The supergraph: a new way to think about GraphQL


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Router, the next-generation runtime for our <a href="https://apollographql.com/blog/the-supergraph-a-new-way-to-think-about-graphql">supergraph stack</a>, is here, and it’s fully production-ready.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It’s been about six months since we first unveiled Apollo Router at GraphQL Summit. Since then, we’ve been improving it and testing it to ensure that it’s even more efficient, secure, reliable, and customizable. And today, we’re excited to make Apollo Router generally available.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#what-is-apollo-router" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="what-is-apollo-router"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>What is Apollo Router?</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Router is a supergraph runtime written in Rust that supports <a href="https://apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2">Apollo Federation</a> (v1 or v2) &#8211; a declarative GraphQL architecture that lets you build and collaborate on a unified GraphQL API (a supergraph) in a modular and declarative way. The router is what processes all of the incoming API requests from clients and <em>routes</em> them to the subgraphs that make up the overall supergraph.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="564" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-17-at-10.30.53-AM-1024x564.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13736" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-17-at-10.30.53-AM-1024x564.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-17-at-10.30.53-AM-300x165.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-17-at-10.30.53-AM-768x423.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-17-at-10.30.53-AM-1536x846.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-17-at-10.30.53-AM-1200x661.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-17-at-10.30.53-AM.png 1764w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You may be thinking, “doesn’t Apollo Gateway already do that?” It does! Apollo Gateway is our Node.js supergraph runtime, and we will continue to support it well into 2023 and likely beyond. But when it comes to routing API requests, speed is the name of the game, and Apollo Router is FAST ⚡️.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In our benchmarks Apollo Router processed requests <strong>10x faster</strong> than Apollo Gateway with<strong> 10x higher throughput</strong> and <strong>90% less variance in latency</strong>. And that’s just the start. We have more improvements coming up on the roadmap that will make it even more efficient.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="512" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1024x512.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13733" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1024x512.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-300x150.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-768x384.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1536x768.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3-1200x600.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Frame-3.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#the-apollo-router-operational-experience" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="the-apollo-router-operational-experience"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>The Apollo Router operational experience</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While speed was one of our main goals for Apollo Router, it wasn’t our only goal.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#easier-to-run" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="easier-to-run"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Easier to run</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Router is easier to manage. Unlike Apollo Gateway, Apollo Router ships as a standalone binary. To use it, you simply download and run it with any valid supergraph schema. This makes containerization and scaling a breeze! We even supply <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/containerization/overview">Docker images</a> for every release.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#more-native-functionality" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="more-native-functionality"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>More native functionality</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Router has a ton of built-in options like CORS controls, header propagation, telemetry, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/overview">and more</a> that can all be configured with a declarative YAML file! What’s possible with Router today is just the beginning. In future releases, we will be adding even more native functionality like:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><code class="" data-line="">@defer</code> support</li><li>real-time data</li><li>Studio operation trace reporting</li><li>1st-class caching</li><li>Authentication and authorization</li><li>Multi-language extensibility (write your own plugins in languages other than Rust)</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#tracing-and-monitoring" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="tracing-and-monitoring"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Tracing and monitoring</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Router comes with Studio Reporting, Open Telemetry and Prometheus metrics out of the box.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Alerting on errors or high latencies is now possible via:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Prometheus</li><li>OpenTelemetry Collector (metrics)</li></ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In addition, you can diagnose where there are latency issues in your request pipeline by connecting to existing tracing solutions such as:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>DataDog</li><li>Jaeger</li><li>OpenTelemetry Collector (tracing)</li><li>Zipkin</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#the-apollo-router-developer-experience" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="the-apollo-router-developer-experience"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>The Apollo Router developer experience</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Router has a rich extensibility model that enables you to add custom functionality when you need to.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#rust-plugins" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="rust-plugins"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Rust plugins</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">All of our configurable functionality in Apollo Router is written as plugins, and the very same plugin API is available to you.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Plugins that you write yourself are automatically integrated with the main YAML config giving you a seamless configuration experience.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With the plugin API you could add things like:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Custom authentication</li><li>Custom logging</li><li>Anything you want, as long as you can write the code!</li></ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Take a look at our <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/tree/main/examples">examples directory</a> to see how it’s done.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#rhai-scripting" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="rhai-scripting"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Rhai scripting</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/apollo-router-our-graphql-federation-runtime-in-rust#why-rust">We chose Rust</a> to build Apollo Router because of its memory-safety and performance potential, but we want everyone to be able to write custom plugins, not just Rust enthusiasts like us.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you need to make small changes to your request pipeline then the experimental Rhai script plugin may save you from needing to compile your own binary.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">What you can do:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Manipulate request/response HTTP headers</li><li>Manipulate request/response context</li><li>Perform checkpoint-style short-circuiting of requests</li><li>Modify the status codes of requests/responses</li><li>Modify the body of requests (excluding variables)</li><li>Modify the body of responses</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#getting-started-with-apollo-router" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="getting-started-with-apollo-router"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Getting started with Apollo Router</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We can’t wait for you to start using Apollo Router! Depending on where you are in your supergraph journey, here are some next steps you can take to get started:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><strong>If you’re already using Apollo Gateway</strong>, check out the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/migrating-from-gateway">migration guide</a>. The migration guide will walk you through how to check if your use case is currently fully supported by Apollo Router.<ul><li>If you find yourself unable to migrate from the Gateway for some reason, we&#8217;d love to understand the obstacles you&#8217;re encountering.&nbsp; Please <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/discussions">open a discussion on GitHub</a> if you need general help or <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/issues">open an issue</a> if you have any troubles with our instructions.</li><li>In future Router releases, we’ll be enhancing Router’s built-in Gateway migration support. Keep an eye on future <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router/releases">releases</a>.</li></ul></li><li><strong>If you’re starting fresh with the Router</strong>, see our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/quickstart">Quickstart docs</a>.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>If you don’t have a supergraph schema yet and want to learn more about Apollo Federation</strong>, head over to the <a href="https://apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2">Federation docs</a>.</li></ul>


Apollo Router is now generally available


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you’re running services in the cloud, what do you do when your cloud provider goes down? Even if you don’t follow the news, you know that this is something that happens a little too often. The way to protect your services is to make sure you are not reliant on only one cloud provider. You can work to make your own services multi-cloud, and you should, but of course you also need to make sure that the services you rely on are also multi-cloud. That’s why we are so happy to introduce multi-cloud support for Apollo Uplink.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Uplink is a free service that provides federated Apollo Gateways with a Supergraph Schema, which is just plain GraphQL. If you are using Apollo Managed Federation, then you publish your subgraph schemas into the Apollo Schema registry. Apollo Studio composes the subgraph schemas into a Supergraph schema and makes those schemas available via the Uplink service. Every Apollo Gateway polls Apollo Uplink to see when a new schema is available for download. Now, Apollo Uplink is more reliable because it is multi-cloud.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The diagram below, from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/managed-federation/uplink/">Apollo Studio documentation about Uplink</a>, illustrates how Uplink works.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-8.29.29-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13522" width="711" height="212" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-8.29.29-AM.png 948w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-8.29.29-AM-300x90.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-8.29.29-AM-768x229.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>How do you use multi-cloud Uplink?</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">To start using multi-cloud Uplink, all you need to do is upgrade the&nbsp;<code class="" data-line="">@apollo/gateway</code>&nbsp;package to the latest version, multi-cloud was introduced in v0.36.0. If you’re running Federation one, then you would do this with:</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><code class="" data-line="">npm install @apollo/gateway@latest-1</code></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And of if you’re running Federation 2 then you’ve been running with multi-cloud Uplink already since Gateway version v2.0.0-alpha.3. To upgrade to the latest Federation use the latest-2 tag like so:</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><code class="" data-line="">npm install @apollo/gateway@latest-2</code></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>How does multi-cloud Uplink work?</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Uplink is now implemented as two independent end-points, one running on Google Cloud (GCP) and one on Amazon Web Services (AWS). When you publish a schema to Apollo Studio, that schema will be made available on both cloud providers. When Apollo Gateway requests schemas from Apollo Uplink, it will alternate between those two providers. If a schema request fails, Apollo Gateway will try the other end-point. If both end-points are down, Gateway will fall back to the previously fetched schema. That means that your Apollo Gateway will not be impacted if one of our two cloud providers is down.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>You can customize Apollo Uplink, but you probably won’t need to</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Most users will be happy with Apollo Gateway’s default Apollo Uplink setup, but Uplink is configurable. You may want to configure the Apollo Gateway to use only one Apollo Uplink endpoint or maybe add your own Uplink end-point. Adding your own Uplink end-point is beyond the scope of this blog post.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>What’s next?</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Uplink was already a very reliable service providing 99.97% uptime and we&#8217;re excited to provide even more stability with our Multi-cloud support. If you’re using Uplink, your next step is to upgrade to the latest Gateway release and enjoy increased reliability just by taking the defaults! And if you’re not using Uplink, maybe you should be. It’s a free service you can rely on to deploy changes to your Apollo Gateways 🚀</p>


Introducing multi cloud support for Apollo Uplink

Introducing multi-cloud support for Apollo Uplink


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The momentum continues to build around Apollo Federation with over 1M weekly downloads and 18K+ projects now using Apollo Federation, up 50% in the last 5 months since <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/backend/announcing-federation-2/">Federation 2 was first announced</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’d like to extend a big thank you to our community! Because of your contributions, Federation developers can compose subgraphs written in <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/other-servers">over 18 languages and frameworks</a>!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Today, we’re excited to announce the general availability of Apollo Federation 2, with improvements across the entire Apollo platform including Gateway 2.0, the Rover CLI, and Apollo Studio.</strong>&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Keep reading to learn more about Federation and what you can expect from the new improvements in Federation 2 or head to our docs to <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/">get started today</a>! 🚀</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#whats-new-in-apollo-federation-2" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="whats-new-in-apollo-federation-2"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>What&#8217;s new in Apollo Federation 2</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation is a <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2">modular GraphQL architecture</a> that powers the world’s most important graphs, including <a href="https://netflixtechblog.com/how-netflix-scales-its-api-with-graphql-federation-part-2-bbe71aaec44a">Netflix</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/walmartglobaltech/federated-graphql-walmart-bfc85c2553de">Walmart</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/adobetech/graphql-making-sense-of-enterprise-microservices-for-the-ui-46fc8f5a5301">Adobe</a>, and <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/enterprise-guide/federation-case-studies/">more</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Designed in collaboration with the GraphQL community, Federation 2 is a clean-sheet implementation of the core composition and query-planning engine at the heart of Apollo Federation.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The new version builds on the success of the original with an improved shared ownership model, enhanced type merging, and cleaner syntax for a smoother developer experience. It’s backward compatible and designed for incremental adoption one subgraph at a time.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#build-with-a-smoother-developer-experience" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="build-with-a-smoother-developer-experience"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Build with a smoother developer experience</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation 2 adds first-class support for shared interfaces, enums, and other value types. Common tasks like extending a federated type are now possible without special directives and keywords, resulting in cleaner syntax.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1999" height="798" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13169" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image2.png 1999w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image2-300x120.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image2-1024x409.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image2-768x307.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image2-1536x613.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image2-1200x479.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image2-1980x790.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#deliver-smaller-increments-with-better-shared-types" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="deliver-smaller-increments-with-better-shared-types"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Deliver smaller increments with better shared types</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation’s shared ownership model lets you spread a federated type across subgraphs so that you can reuse common value types like interfaces and enums. Federation 2 improves upon the shared ownership model and makes shared types more flexible:</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Value type definitions are now merged into a single unified type</strong>. Value types don’t need to be identical across subgraphs, so smaller incremental changes, like adding a field, can often be rolled out one subgraph at a time by using the <code class="" data-line="">@inaccessible</code> directive to hide it from the client-facing schema.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>All types are shared equally across subgraphs</strong>. This means you don’t have to use the <code class="" data-line="">extend</code> keyword.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>All fields have a single source of truth by default. </strong>You can optionally mark a field or object with the <code class="" data-line="">@shareable</code> directive&nbsp; so other subgraphs can resolve them, which may increase performance.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1999" height="874" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13171" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image3.png 1999w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image3-300x131.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image3-1024x448.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image3-768x336.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image3-1536x672.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image3-1200x525.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image3-1980x866.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#migrate-fields-across-subgraphs-without-downtime-or-coordinated-delivery" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="migrate-fields-across-subgraphs-without-downtime-or-coordinated-delivery"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Migrate fields across subgraphs without downtime or coordinated delivery</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As the shape of your subgraphs change, sometimes fields need to be migrated from one subgraph to another. This previously required a coordinated release across subgraphs to avoid downtime. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With Federation 2, field migration is painless. Simply add the field to the destination subgraph, mark it with <code class="" data-line="">@override</code> to accept production traffic without downtime, and remove the migrated field from the old subgraph.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#catch-errors-sooner-with-improved-static-analysis" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="catch-errors-sooner-with-improved-static-analysis"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Catch errors sooner with improved static analysis</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation 2 has deeper static analysis, better error messages, and a new generalized composition model that helps you catch more errors at build-time instead of at runtime. The rewritten composition engine now validates all theoretically possible queries and provides more descriptive error messages when a query can’t be satisfied. New composition hints help you understand how schema definitions influence query planning and performance.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1999" height="945" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13173" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1.png 1999w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1-300x142.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1-1024x484.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1-768x363.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1-1536x726.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1-1200x567.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image1-1980x936.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While Federation 2 is backwards compatible, its enhanced validation might <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/federation-2/backward-compatibility#breaking-changes">catch a few things</a> that the original Federation didn’t. Things you’ll be happy to know about!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#getting-started" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="getting-started"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Getting started</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">⚠️ <strong>Note: The Apollo Contracts preview does not yet support Federation 2. If you are using Contracts in production you should not upgrade to Federation 2 yet. The generally available release of Contracts will include support for Federation 2.</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Moving to Federation 2 is a simple and incremental process:</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li><strong>Upgrade your Gateways to version 2.0.0 or later.</strong> Gateway 2 is backward compatible with Federation 1 and any existing customizations you have, so this won’t break anything.</li><li><strong>Turn on Federation 2 composition</strong> for the Rover CLI and Apollo Studio. Federation 2 composition will automatically convert Federation 1 subgraphs, so you can get some great benefits (like improved error messages) without upgrading any subgraphs! 🎉</li><li><strong>Upgrade individual subgraphs to Federation 2 syntax at your own pace</strong>. Because Federation 2 composition is backward compatible with Federation 1 subgraphs, you can add Federation 2 syntax to your subgraphs at your own pace.</li></ol>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">💡 You can find detailed instructions for the steps above in our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/federation-2/moving-to-federation-2"><strong>migration guide</strong></a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#whats-next" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="whats-next"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>What’s next</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you&#8217;re already using Apollo Federation 1.x, check out <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/federation-2/moving-to-federation-2">our migration guide docs</a> to start taking advantage of the benefits from Federation 2. If you&#8217;re interested in trying things out, check out our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/quickstart/setup">quickstart docs</a> or our full <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/supergraph-demo-fed2">supergraph demo for Federation 2</a> that includes a complete enterprise-grade example.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Check out our public <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation/blob/main/ROADMAP.md">Federation Roadmap</a> to learn about&nbsp; upcoming releases. We’d love to hear your thoughts! <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation/issues">Open a GitHub issue</a> to share your feedback.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#get-involved" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="get-involved"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Get involved!</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you’re interested in getting involved or becoming a contributor,&nbsp; checkout our GitHub repos and community forums:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation">GitHub</a></li><li><a href="https://community.apollographql.com/">Apollo Community Forum</a></li><li><a href="https://community.apollographql.com/t/apollo-federation-2-compatibility-showcasing-community-libraries/3272">Subgraph Library Maintainer Support</a></li></ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"></p>


Apollo Federation 2 is now generally available

Apollo Router: our GraphQL Federation runtime in Rust


<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>🚀 🎉  Heads up &#8211; Federation 2 and Gateway 2.x are now GA! Check out the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/apollo-federation-2-is-now-generally-available/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/apollo-federation-2-is-now-generally-available/">GA announcement blog</a> or head over to the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/">Federation docs</a> to get started.</em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It&#8217;s been amazing to see the momentum grow around Apollo Federation with over 1M weekly downloads and 12K+ projects using Apollo Federation. Thanks to community contributions, the thriving ecosystem around Apollo Federation means you can federate subgraphs written in <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/other-servers/">over 12 languages</a> and frameworks.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Originally <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/apollo-federation-f260cf525d21/">released in 2019</a>, Federation powers some of the largest graphs in the world, including <a href="https://netflixtechblog.com/how-netflix-scales-its-api-with-graphql-federation-part-2-bbe71aaec44a">Netflix</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/walmartglobaltech/federated-graphql-walmart-bfc85c2553de">Walmart</a>, <a href="https://engineering.ziffmedia.com/retailmenot-graphql-federation-3bb36dac5aaa">RetailMeNot</a>, and <a href="https://medium.com/paypal-tech/graphql-at-paypal-an-adoption-story-b7e01175f2b7">PayPal</a>. Developers are choosing Apollo Federation because it’s a proven approach for rapidly scaling a graph across multiple teams.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today, we’re excited to celebrate the next major milestone: Apollo Federation 2. The new version builds on the success of the original with an improved shared ownership model, enhanced type merging, and cleaner syntax for a smoother developer experience. It’s backwards compatible, requiring no major changes to your subgraphs. <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/quickstart/">Try the alpha today!</a> 🚀</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#apollo-federation-2" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="apollo-federation-2"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Apollo Federation 2</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation is an architecture for declaratively composing subgraphs into a unified graph. Each team can own their slice of the graph independently, empowering them to deliver autonomously and incrementally.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Designed in collaboration with the GraphQL community, Federation 2 is a clean-sheet implementation of the core composition and query-planning engine at the heart of Apollo Federation. We’ve improved the developer experience by adding deeper static analysis, cleaner error messages, and new composition hints that help you catch errors sooner and understand how your schema impacts performance. With the new version, we’ve streamlined common tasks like extending a type and simplified advanced workflows like migrating a field across subgraphs with no downtime.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Following in the footsteps of modern infrastructure projects like Elasticsearch and MongoDB, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/moving-apollo-federation-2-to-the-elastic-license-v2">we’re moving Federation 2 to the Elastic License v2</a> &#8212; an open and&nbsp;permissive license with few restrictions. This change shouldn’t affect the vast majority of our community, and the new code is still free to use and modify. Subgraph packages will remain MIT, as well as the 0.x Federation packages, so there are no changes to what you’re doing today.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#build-with-any-natural-graphql-schema" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="build-with-any-natural-graphql-schema"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Build with any natural GraphQL schema</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation 2 adds first-class support for shared interfaces, enums, and other value types. Common tasks like extending a federated type or denormalizing a field for better performance are now possible without special directives and keywords.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="405" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-21-natural-graphql-1024x405.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10646" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-21-natural-graphql-1024x405.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-21-natural-graphql-300x119.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-21-natural-graphql-768x304.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-21-natural-graphql-1536x607.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-21-natural-graphql-2048x810.png 2048w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-21-natural-graphql-1200x474.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-21-natural-graphql-1980x783.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#deliver-smaller-increments-with-better-shared-types" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="deliver-smaller-increments-with-better-shared-types"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Deliver smaller increments with better shared types</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation already supports a shared ownership model that lets you spread a federated type across subgraphs to distribute its implementation. You can reuse common value types like interfaces and enums. However, there are restrictions on how shared types can be defined and evolved. As a result, teams may find themselves stuck when making changes to shared types until all subgraphs are able to deliver a coordinated change in lockstep.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation 2 removes these restrictions with an improved shared ownership model and enhanced type merging that enables teams to deliver smaller incremental changes with a cleaner separation of concerns.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Flexible value type merging </strong>is now supported, so value types don’t need to be identical across subgraphs. Value type definitions are now merged into a single unified type, much like type merging support for federated types today. Smaller incremental changes, like adding a field, can often be rolled out one subgraph at a time.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Federated types have improved shared ownership,</strong> which means fields can now exist in multiple subgraphs simultaneously. This paves the way for natively supported field migrations with an asynchronous transfer of ownership from one subgraph to another with no downtime or tight release coordination.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#catch-errors-sooner-with-improved-static-analysis" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="catch-errors-sooner-with-improved-static-analysis"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Catch errors sooner with improved static analysis</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation 2 has deeper static analysis, better error messages and a new generalized composition model that helps you catch more errors at build-time instead of at runtime. The rewritten composition engine now validates all theoretically possible queries and provides more descriptive error messages when a query can’t be satisfied.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="484" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-19-deeper-validation-1024x484.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10612" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-19-deeper-validation-1024x484.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-19-deeper-validation-300x142.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-19-deeper-validation-768x363.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-19-deeper-validation-1536x726.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-19-deeper-validation-2048x968.png 2048w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-19-deeper-validation-1200x567.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/image-19-deeper-validation-1980x936.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">New composition hints help you understand how schema definitions influence query planning and performance. We’ve integrated them into the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/tooling/powerful-new-graphql-tools-for-apollo-federation/">powerful tools for Apollo Federation</a>:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=apollographql.apollo-workbench">Apollo Workbench</a> shows composition hints in the problems tray with new hover tips.&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/rover/">Rover</a> includes composition hints in both standard and structured JSON output so you can integrate them with other tools in your pipeline.</li><li><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/studio/">Apollo Studio</a> uses composition hints to help you ensure design guidelines and best practices.</li></ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While Federation 2 is<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/federation-2/backward-compatibility/"> backwards compatible</a>, its enhanced validation might catch a few things that the original Federation didn&#8217;t. Things you&#8217;ll be happy to know about!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#quick-tour-of-federation-2" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="quick-tour-of-federation-2"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Quick tour of Federation 2</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’ve prepared this video to highlight some key improvements in Federation 2, including Apollo Workbench support for composition hints. You’ll also learn how to compose and run a graph with Federation 2 using the v2 gateway and Apollo Studio.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Apollo Federation 2: Preview Demo with Apollo Studio and Workbench" width="580" height="326" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WcHYa39bUk8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#getting-started" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="getting-started"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Getting started</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’d love your early feedback on the initial alpha release!</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2">Read the docs</a></li><li><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/v2/quickstart/">Try it out</a></li><li><a href="https://community.apollographql.com/t/announcing-apollo-federation-2/1821">Let us know what you think!</a></li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#whats-next" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="whats-next"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>What’s next?</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There’s a lot we’re adding in the coming months:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>New directives that support a stronger source of truth, field migration across subgraphs, and type merging that can be relaxed even further.</li><li>Expanded use of <a href="https://specs.apollo.dev/core/v0.2">core schemas</a> to compose your own directives in subgraphs and process supergraph schemas with a new <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/core-schema-js">core-schema-js</a> library.</li><li>Harmonizing shared value types across subgraphs to steward core common types to a desired state.</li><li>Importing shared types into subgraph schemas, to keep things more DRY.</li><li>Advanced caching, auth, demand control, rate limiting, governance, and more!</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#learn-more-at-graphql-summit" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="learn-more-at-graphql-summit"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Learn more at GraphQL Summit</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">See Federation 2 in action at GraphQL Summit on November 10th and 11th, 2021.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://summit.graphql.com/#register">Register for free</a> and join us for the keynote and a deep dive session on “The Future of Apollo Federation.” We’ll discuss and demo Federation 2, designed in collaboration with Netflix, to make it even easier to build, use and scale your graph!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#get-involved" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="get-involved"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Get involved!</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation">GitHub</a></li><li><a href="https://community.apollographql.com/">Apollo Community Forum</a></li><li><a href="https://community.apollographql.com/t/apollo-federation-subgraph-library-maintainer-support/1112">Subgraph Library Maintainer Support</a></li></ul>


Announcing Apollo Federation 2


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">How do you debug or optimize a request as it travels through all the layers of your stack: from the client, through the Apollo Gateway, through your subgraph services, all the way to your databases?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">First, you need visibility into what your code is doing during that request, regardless of how that work is distributed across machines. Fortunately, this is easier than ever with a Cloud-Native Computing Foundation project called <a href="https://opentelemetry.io/">OpenTelemetry</a>!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As of version 0.31.1, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/api/apollo-gateway">@apollo/gateway</a> natively supports OpenTelemetry as part of a complete picture of the performance and reliability of a federated GraphQL request. You can find <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/opentelemetry/">the documentation here</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this article, I’ll cover some OpenTelemetry basics, talk about the new support for OpenTelemetry in Apollo Gateway, and explain how Apollo Studio and OpenTelemetry work together to give you a complete picture of your graph.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#what-is-opentelemetry" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="what-is-opentelemetry"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>What is OpenTelemetry?</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">OpenTelemetry (or OTel) is “an observability framework for cloud-native software”. It is a collection of libraries, systems, and applications for instrumenting, collecting, and exporting information about workloads that span multiple applications.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A unit of work in OTel is a “span”. You can wrap a function call in a span, recording its duration and other metadata. You can also install instrumentation that automatically hooks into modules and functions, like the <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/@opentelemetry/instrumentation-http">HTTP instrumentation</a> for Node.js.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A collection of related spans is called a “trace”. In a single system, a trace is very similar to a stack trace. But what makes OpenTelemetry (and its predecessors, OpenTracing and OpenCensus) powerful is the ability to correlate spans across systems. It does this by propagating trace identifiers in remote calls. When making HTTP requests, for example, OTel instrumentation adds trace IDs as HTTP headers.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Once you have a trace, you can aggregate them in a “collector” and efficiently send them to your observability tools with an “exporter”.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="605" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/OpenTelemetryApolloFederation-1024x605.png" alt="" class="wp-image-8203" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/OpenTelemetryApolloFederation-1024x605.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/OpenTelemetryApolloFederation-300x177.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/OpenTelemetryApolloFederation-768x454.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/OpenTelemetryApolloFederation.png 1144w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>A diagram of a request flowing through a federated GraphQL architecture with OpenTelemetry and Apollo traces published to an OTel collector and Apollo Studio, respectively.</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There’s obviously a lot more to OpenTelemetry (<a href="https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/what-is-opentelemetry/">see the docs!</a>), but that covers it in the context of Apollo Federation.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#opentelemetry-in-apollo-server-and-apollo-gateway" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="opentelemetry-in-apollo-server-and-apollo-gateway"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>OpenTelemetry in Apollo Server and Apollo Gateway</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Server has always supported OpenTelemetry via the <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/@opentelemetry/instrumentation-graphql">@opentelemetry/instrumentation-graphql</a> library, which instruments the underlying <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/graphql">graphql.js</a> library.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">However, Apollo Gateway doesn’t use graphql.js to execute a GraphQL request; instead, it executes a “query plan”, coordinating smaller requests to your subgraph services and assembling them into a single response. The Gateway executor has a few phases:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Validation</li><li>Planning</li><li>Execution</li><li>Fetching</li><li>Postprocessing</li></ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Gateway now instruments these phases as spans in an OTel trace. Combined with HTTP instrumentation, which propagates the trace ID as headers in requests to subgraphs, we can now connect the gateway query planning and execution to the actual GraphQL field resolution work in your subgraph services.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Check out our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/opentelemetry/#1-install-required-libraries">documentation on setting up OpenTelemetry</a> in your Apollo Gateway and Apollo Server apps.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Even if you’re using GraphQL framework other than Apollo Server or a language other than JavaScript, you can still use OTel to instrument your application. There are OTel instrumentation libraries for many other languages and frameworks, and <a href="https://opentelemetry.io/registry/?s=graphql&amp;component=&amp;language=">GraphQL-specific OTel support</a> is small but growing.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#opentelemetry-in-your-infrastructure" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="opentelemetry-in-your-infrastructure"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>OpenTelemetry in your Infrastructure</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Instrumenting a request is cool, but it’s not very useful on its own. You can export traces into many different systems to view, inspect, or search traces.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The open-source projects Zipkin and Prometheus both support OpenTelemetry. Here’s an example of a federated GraphQL request in Zipkin.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="567" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-23-at-9.55.49-AM-1024x567.png" alt="" class="wp-image-8205" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-23-at-9.55.49-AM-1024x567.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-23-at-9.55.49-AM-300x166.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-23-at-9.55.49-AM-768x425.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-23-at-9.55.49-AM-1536x850.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-23-at-9.55.49-AM-2048x1134.png 2048w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-23-at-9.55.49-AM-1200x664.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-23-at-9.55.49-AM-1980x1096.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>A screenshot of a trace in the Zipkin web UI, showing spans for the gateway and multiple subgraphs.</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The OpenTelemetry project has a number of exporters for various Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools, including SaaS products like Datadog and Honeycomb, or cloud provider solutions like AWS X-Ray. You can find a complete list in the <a href="https://opentelemetry.io/registry/?s=&amp;component=exporter&amp;language=">OpenTelemetry Registry</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#opentelemetry-doesnt-replace-apollo-tracing" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="opentelemetry-doesnt-replace-apollo-tracing"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>OpenTelemetry doesn’t replace Apollo Tracing</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">OpenTelemetry is great at recording what happened, but it doesn’t tell you much about what <em>could</em> happen. Apollo Studio uses the declarative nature of GraphQL to help you catch potential errors before they happen. Consider this GraphQL operation:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line="">query ProductsPage($categoryId: ID!) {
  products(category: $categoryId) {
    nodes {
      sku
      price
      reviews { # could return null
        nodes {
          id
          body
          rating
          author {
            name
            photoUrl 
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If the <code class="" data-line="">Product.reviews</code> field returns null, then the GraphQL executor won’t run resolvers for any of the fields nested inside that selection like <code class="" data-line="">Review.id</code>, <code class="" data-line="">Review.body</code>, or <code class="" data-line="">Author.name</code>. OTel instrumentation won’t record any spans, so you’ll have no data about those fields.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">However, if you remove or change the <code class="" data-line="">Author.name</code> field, you could break all the clients that include that field in their operations.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We designed <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/metrics/">Apollo Federated Tracing</a> to collect field usage regardless of what actually happens (or doesn’t happen!) in your services. Our tracing data powers the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/studio/schema-checks/">Schema Checks</a> feature, alerting you of potentially breaking changes and giving you confidence as you evolve your API.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="638" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.53.37-AM-1024x638.png" alt="" class="wp-image-8207" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.53.37-AM-1024x638.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.53.37-AM-300x187.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.53.37-AM-768x478.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.53.37-AM-1536x957.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.53.37-AM-2048x1276.png 2048w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.53.37-AM-1200x748.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.53.37-AM-1980x1233.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>A screenshot of a failed check in Apollo Studio.</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Studio also knows schema-related information like the <code class="" data-line="">@deprecated</code> directive, so we can help you understand how clients are using deprecated fields.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.50.03-AM-1024x210.png" alt="" class="wp-image-8209" width="610" height="125" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.50.03-AM-1024x210.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.50.03-AM-300x62.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.50.03-AM-768x158.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.50.03-AM-1536x316.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.50.03-AM-1200x247.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.50.03-AM.png 1732w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px" /><figcaption>A screenshot of deprecation information in Apollo Studio.</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It’s possible to cross-reference OTel traces and Apollo Studio traces by customizing the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/api/plugin/usage-reporting/">Usage Reporting plugin</a> in Apollo Server. By passing header values in trace sent to Studio that align with attributes on your OTel spans, you can jump between Studio and your OTel observability tooling to get a complete picture of a request.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="572" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.52.54-AM-1024x572.png" alt="" class="wp-image-8211" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.52.54-AM-1024x572.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.52.54-AM-300x168.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.52.54-AM-768x429.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.52.54-AM-1536x858.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.52.54-AM-2048x1144.png 2048w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.52.54-AM-1200x670.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-22-at-10.52.54-AM-1980x1106.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>A screenshot of a trace in Apollo Studio with metadata you can use to associate this request with an OpenTelemetry trace.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#wrapping-up" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="wrapping-up"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Wrapping Up</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">OpenTelemetry is a fantastic open-source project and we’re excited to participate in the growing ecosystem. Combined with Apollo Studio, OpenTelemetry gives you a clear picture of your running systems, helping you debug, optimize, and evolve your federated graphs.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Check out the <a href="https://opentelemetry.io/docs/">OpenTelemetry documentation</a> and our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/opentelemetry/">documentation on instrumenting federated graphs</a>.</p>


Introducing Open Telemetry for Apollo Federation


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When we released Apollo Server 2 in 2018, our goal was to make it the best-in-class GraphQL server by integrating many of the most useful GraphQL libraries available at the time. However, for backward compatibility reasons, this meant that Apollo Server 2 continued to include the 2018 versions of these libraries three years later. Apollo Server 3.0.0 changes that with a modernized codebase designed to serve as a scalable foundation for Apollo Server users well into the future.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#a-more-modern-more-flexible-apollo-server" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="a-more-modern-more-flexible-apollo-server"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>A more modern, more flexible Apollo Server</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The many hardcoded dependencies in Apollo Server 2 made it increasingly difficult over time to build the new features that our users needed most. Because of that, our main focus when designing the initial release of Apollo Server 3 was to make it more flexible by removing as many hardcoded dependencies as possible. At the same time, we also prioritized increasing extensibility so that any capabilities lost in removing dependencies could easily be added back in and, unlike in v2, be easily upgraded over time.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Because of the approach we took, you may notice that most of the changes in 3.0.0 are under-the-hood improvements rather than new features which build upon recent 2.x versions. But, while it’s not packed with new features quite yet, what 3.0.0 does provide is a new foundation that will allow us to vastly improve our feature delivery velocity in the coming months. Here’s a quick look at some of the new things you may notice in 3.0.0 and a little sneak peek of what’s coming to Apollo Server 3 in the near future:</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#new-in-3-0-0" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="new-in-3-0-0"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>New in 3.0.0</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">One of the main things you’ll notice in 3.0.0 is that <a href="http://studio.apollographql.com/sandbox">Apollo Sandbox</a> is now suggested as the main tool for querying your server. Apollo Server 2 shipped with GraphQL Playground, but that project was <a href="https://github.com/graphql/graphql-playground/issues/1143">retired last year</a>. Instead of only supporting a single frontend, Apollo Server 3 has a “landing page” API. You can keep using the retired GraphQL Playground by adding a single line of code to your app, but the default landing page helps you and your users use the actively maintained Apollo Sandbox tool. Sandbox provides a number of UX improvements over GraphQL Playground like one-click query building, intelligent field and path search, and even more, which you can read about in our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcement/platform/apollo-sandbox-an-open-graphql-ide-for-local-development/">Sandbox announcement blog</a>.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3698" height="2016" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1.png" alt="image.png" class="wp-image-7989" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1.png 3698w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-300x164.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-1024x558.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-768x419.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-1536x837.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-2048x1116.png 2048w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-1200x654.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-1-1980x1079.png 1980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 3698px) 100vw, 3698px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">3.0.0 also includes a number of less visible changes which improve the UX and extensibility of Apollo Server:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Apollo Server 3 now supports the latest version of Fastify (v3) and Hapi. We’ve made it easier to understand what web framework versions are supported by using peer dependencies more consistently.</li><li>Apollo Server’s AWS Lambda and Google Cloud Functions integrations are now built on top of our Express integration rather than reimplementing a subset of its logic from scratch. This means we support new Lambda integrations such as Application Load Balancers, and it will be much easier for new Apollo Server functionality to work in Lambda and Cloud Functions without having to write the same code three times. Additionally, because it now uses Express internally, you can extend your Lambda or Cloud Functions server’s HTTP functionality via standard Express middleware by using the new <code class="" data-line="">expressAppFromMiddleware</code> option to <code class="" data-line="">createHandler.</code></li><li>Bad request errors are handled in a more consistent manner across integrations and consistently return HTTP responses with a 4xx status</li><li>We’ve dropped support for Node 8 and 10 (which are no longer in LTS), which lets the TypeScript compiler output more efficient code that takes advantage of newer Node features.</li><li>Apollo Server 2 supported releases of graphql-js dating back to 2017’s 0.12.0. Apollo Server 3 requires the more modern 15.3.0 release of graphql-js, allowing us to rely on the last four years of added functionality.</li><li>We’ve refreshed all of our documentation. For example, check out our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/integrations/middleware/">new page which directly compares the different “flavors” of Apollo Server and helps you decide which one to use</a>.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#whats-coming-next" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="whats-coming-next"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>What’s coming next?</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now that we’ve modernized the Apollo Server codebase, we’re in a great position to start making big improvements. Here’s some of what we’re working on next.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Response-shape-based usage reporting</strong>. Currently, getting insights into your Apollo Server’s usage and performance in Apollo Studio requires creating a detailed execution trace of every operation. While this gives you a very complete and detailed understanding of what’s going on in your graph, it can have a performance impact. Additionally, not every language’s GraphQL library has all the hooks required to make these traces, so if your federated subgraph doesn’t use one of the supported libraries you won’t get as much clarity in Studio. In a future release of Apollo Server 3, we plan to implement “response-shape-based reporting”, which enables most of Studio’s features without detailed per-field execution traces. This will improve your graph’s performance and let you use any GraphQL server for your subgraph without loss of Studio functionality.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Additional directive support to improve response latency</strong>. One of the disadvantages of the GraphQL response/request model is that the response is not returned to the clients until the entire request has finished processing. We are excited to get started on adding support for additional directives such as <code class="" data-line="">@defer</code> which allow responses to return in multiple payloads, prioritizing the most important data first.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#getting-started-with-apollo-server-3" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="getting-started-with-apollo-server-3"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Getting started with Apollo Server 3</h3>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’re excited to get Apollo Server 3 in the hands of our community, and we would love to hear what you think as you start to use it! If you’re starting from scratch, our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/getting-started/">getting started docs</a> will walk you through setting up Apollo Server for the first time, or, if you’re already using Apollo Server 2, our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/migration/">migration guide</a> will help you upgrade. If you’d like to leave us any feedback on Apollo Server 3, we encourage you to do so by reaching out on <a href="https://community.apollographql.com/">https://community.apollographql.com</a> or <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server">GitHub</a>.</p>


It’s here! Introducing Apollo Server 3


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Building software for the internet in 2021 is hard. It’s no longer just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We now have to deliver our products beyond just websites to mobile, voice, in-store, chat, TV, and more—while integrating data from many services and delivering on time. One of the biggest things that slow down developers is waiting to align work with other teams. It is common to get blocked while waiting to coordinate or waiting for their backlog to free up.<br><br></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We launched Apollo because we believe GraphQL transforms how product engineering teams build new experiences by unblocking teams and allowing them to work in parallel. Front-end teams can build new experiences faster by directly querying the graph and not waiting for new REST endpoints to be built. As each new capability is added to the graph, it&#8217;s available for all other teams to take advantage of it.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As we worked with early GraphQL adopters, we realized they needed a solution that could serve the needs of engineering organizations that were running at scale. They wanted the power of a single endpoint coupled with the flexibility of distributed ownership. So in 2019, we launched <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/apollo-federation-f260cf525d21/">Apollo Federation</a> and Apollo Gateway, a Federation-compatible graph router, to help teams use GraphQL in distributed architectures. With Federation, each service or domain team can own their part of the graph schema, known as the subgraph, while building a unified common graph for their developers.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><br><br>Next, we launched Apollo’s <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcing-managed-federation-265c9f0bc88e/)">Managed Federation,</a> a hosted solution for scaling changes to your federated graph pipelines across many teams. Managed federation helps you reliably deploy schema changes to your Apollo Gateway, including checks for composition integrity. It prevents shipping breaking change by using your live traffic as an automated test suite. We’re thrilled by the growth and acceptance of Managed Federation by hundreds of the world’s most innovative companies. Apollo customers now run more than 2 billion queries a day through Apollo federated data graphs, representing a 400% annual growth.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><br><br>Equally validating is the industry adoption of the Federation Specification. In addition to Apollo’s Server, there are now more than a dozen <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/other-servers/" target="_blank">GraphQL servers</a> that support federation. Netflix open-sourced their <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://netflix.github.io/dgs/" target="_blank">DGS</a> GraphQL Server that was built for SpringBoot and they are<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.infoq.com/presentations/netflix-api-graphql-federation/" target="_blank"> betting their entire graph strategy</a> on Federation. Companies including <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://medium.com/adobetech/graphql-making-sense-of-enterprise-microservices-for-the-ui-46fc8f5a5301" target="_blank">Adobe</a>, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://medium.com/walmartglobaltech/federated-graphql-walmart-bfc85c2553de" target="_blank">Walmart</a>, and <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/9-lessons-from-a-year-of-apollo-federation/" target="_blank">StockX</a> are all choosing Federation. Database vendors are also adopting Apollo Federation as a graph integration strategy. The latest to join is DataStax whose engineers are adding Apollo Federation to the open-source data gateway <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://stargate.io/" target="_blank">Stargate</a>, delivering Federation-ready GraphQL APIs to access Apache Cassandra™ stored data.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><br><br>The most important signal that Federation is solving real-world problems are the stories we’re hearing from our customers:</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#fast-moving-startups-powering-their-product-development-with-federation" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="fast-moving-startups-powering-their-product-development-with-federation"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><strong>Fast-moving startups powering their product development with Federation</strong></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="http://modernhealth.com">Modern Health</a>, a startup founded in 2017, chose Apollo Federation to help power their service-oriented architecture strategy and fulfill their mission of democratizing access to mental health.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><br><br><em>&#8220;We chose Apollo so we can continue to focus on our company mission &#8211; destigmatizing and making mental health more accessible for employees across the world. Apollo’s Federation empowers our engineering teams to work independently while collaborating on a rapidly growing graph that is becoming central to how we deliver industry-leading products and features to our growing global customer base.&#8221;</em>&#8211; Nick DiRienzo, Software Engineer, Modern Health</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#looking-to-the-future" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="looking-to-the-future"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><br><strong>Looking to the future</strong></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We’re excited that Federation has become the industry-standard choice for distributed GraphQL and today our teams are announcing several new integrated Federation tools including composition validation and webhooks in Apollo Studio as well as:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><strong><a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-workbench-vscode">Workbench</a></strong> is a VS Code plugin that helps developers collaborate on schema design in a federated graph</li><li><strong><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/rover/">Rover CLI</a></strong> is a new tool to access all the power of Federation from the command-line and integrates well in all languages and CI environments.</li></ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You can learn more about these tools <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/powerful-new-graphql-tools-for-apollo-federation">here</a> and at <a href="https://summit.graphql.com/">GraphQL Summit Worldwide</a> on April 7th where we will be talking about some of the new enhancements to our platform, and <a href="https://summit.graphql.com/webinars/graphql-summit-scale-presented-by-apollo/">GraphQL Summit Scale </a>on April 8th where we will talk about the technical, cultural and organizational best practices for scaling GraphQL.<br></p>


Announcement

Effortless Data Fetching: Introducing Apollo Connectors for REST APIs

Safer migrations of fields using progressive rollouts

Reduce real-time cloud spend with Federated Subscriptions support for HTTP Callbacks

New GraphOS Platform APIs Enable Blue-Green and Canary Deployments

Centrally enforce policy as code for GraphQL APIs

Announcing official Apollo Federation support for .NET with Hot Chocolate and Federation 2!

Build centralized GraphQL authorization with Apollo GraphOS

Past posts

Apollo Server 3 end-of-life extension

Secure your GraphQL Microservices

Federated subscriptions in GraphOS: real-time data at scale

Prevent graph misuse with operation size and complexity limits

New in Apollo Router v1.12: Improved router security, performance, and extensibility

Announcing the end-of-life schedule for Apollo CLI service commands

Announcement

Effortless Data Fetching: Introducing Apollo Connectors for REST APIs

Safer migrations of fields using progressive rollouts

Reduce real-time cloud spend with Federated Subscriptions support for HTTP Callbacks

New GraphOS Platform APIs Enable Blue-Green and Canary Deployments

Centrally enforce policy as code for GraphQL APIs

Announcing official Apollo Federation support for .NET with Hot Chocolate and Federation 2!

Build centralized GraphQL authorization with Apollo GraphOS

Past posts

Apollo Server 3 end-of-life extension

Secure your GraphQL Microservices

Federated subscriptions in GraphOS: real-time data at scale

Prevent graph misuse with operation size and complexity limits

New in Apollo Router v1.12: Improved router security, performance, and extensibility

Announcing the end-of-life schedule for Apollo CLI service commands

Stay in our orbit