Enhance customer experiences with Apollo GraphOS


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">GraphQL is in Gartner’s Trough of Disillusionment in the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/resources/gartner-hype-cycle-for-apis-2026">2026 Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for APIs</a>. Good.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The trough is what happens when expectations set during the hype phase meet the reality of actual production requirements. People stop hyping and start asking the key questions: Does this thing work? Does it solve a problem we actually have? Can we operate it in production without making everyone miserable?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Those are the right questions, and any proposed platform tech has to answer them.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#graphql-adoption-vs-graphql-readiness" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="graphql-adoption-vs-graphql-readiness"><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>GraphQL adoption vs. GraphQL “readiness”</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With GraphQL in the trough, Gartner notes this observation:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Despite the potential, GraphQL adoption for AI and agentic workflows have not translated to increased adoption due to its limited penetration in key agentic use cases.”</p>
</blockquote>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That strikes us as basically right. MCP and other agent-oriented protocols arrived with an obvious, legible connection to AI. GraphQL, like other mature technologies, is adapting. Most companies adopted it years earlier to solve the problems of the day: frontend development, service integration, data aggregation, and the general difficulty of getting a large organization’s systems to behave as if they belong to the same company.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But we think the sequencing matters. Are agents causing companies to adopt GraphQL? There’s some early signal that they are. But a more immediately interesting question is whether companies that already adopted GraphQL are better prepared to put agents into production. The answer is an unequivocal “yes.” There is another interesting signal in the Gartner report. GraphQL is in the trough, but Gartner forecasts that it will reach the Plateau of Productivity in less than two years.  That’s sooner than MCP, gRPC, and AI Agent Communication Protocols. In our read, that tells us something about maturity. GraphQL is no longer new enough to receive credit for its potential. It has to earn credit for being useful. That is a healthier place for infrastructure technology to be.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It helps that GraphQL is not a speculative protocol waiting for its first serious workload. It is a <a href="https://spec.graphql.org/">Linux Foundation-backed open standard</a> that has been used at enterprise scale for years. This matters when you are choosing infrastructure that could outlive several executive teams, architecture strategies, and AI hype cycles. Proprietary protocols can disappear when their owner’s priorities change. Open standards have a chance to compound.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In our view, Gartner’s own description of GraphQL makes this case more plainly. The report describes its capacity to serve as:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“A unified enterprise data model, decoupled from the underlying service implementations. This shared schema fosters a common understanding of business data across teams, streamlines integration efforts, and accelerates the delivery of new features and digital products. As GraphQL adoption grows, it also supports advanced use cases, such as enterprisewide orchestration and AI integration, further amplifying its business value.”</p>
</blockquote>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You could remove “AI integration” from that paragraph and it would still describe why many organizations adopted GraphQL in the first place. Put it back in, though, and the connection becomes pretty obvious. Agents need to find data, understand how it relates, retrieve what they are allowed to retrieve, and take actions across systems. A governed graph does not solve the entire agent problem—nothing does—but it gives agents a coherent surface over systems that were not designed with agents in mind.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#what-built-the-graph-first-looks-like-in-production" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="what-built-the-graph-first-looks-like-in-production"><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 &#8220;built the graph first&#8221; looks like in production</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">American Airlines is a useful example because its story does not begin with an LLM, but it ends with one.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Its core system of record is SABRE, which dates to the 1960s. Years before every software roadmap acquired an “agentic” section, the company built a federated graph spanning customer, loyalty, reservations, and check-in experiences across web, mobile, and kiosks. When its CEO later asked the organization to put AI agents into production on a 90-day delivery cycle, the company did not also have to invent a context layer from scratch. It had already done the foundational architecture work.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As Senior Principal Architect Pragadeesh Prakasam recently explained at the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/events/the-api-layer-is-the-agent-layer-whats-standing-between-your-ai-agents-and-produc">2026 AI Agent Conference</a>, the team placed <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/apollo-mcp-server">Apollo’s MCP Server</a> on top of the graph it already operated. <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/platform/security/persisted-queries">Persisted queries</a> became the agents’ tool surface. Existing field-level security scopes applied to agent interactions. Authentication, governance, and observability were not exciting new items on an AI infrastructure backlog; they were capabilities the company already had.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“We could just focus on the experience,” Prakasam said. “Not on rebuilding the plumbing.”</p>
</blockquote>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This is the part we think gets lost when people compare adoption curves. GraphQL did not need to arrive wearing an AI costume to be useful for AI. American Airlines built a graph to solve one generation of software problems and discovered that the same investment helped with the next one. <a href="http://booking.com">Booking.com</a>, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/customers/how-indeed-built-an-ai-hiring-assistant-in-9-months-with-apollo">Indeed</a>, and <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/newsroom/press-releases/apollo-expands-platform-to-power-the-agentic-future-at-graphql-summit-2025">Yahoo!</a> have followed a similar pattern: build a mature, governed graph, then give agents access to that foundation.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So yes, Gartner is right that GraphQL has not spread through agent use cases with the speed or visibility of MCP. But that is a claim about adoption speed, not about value. GraphQL can still be valuable infrastructure for agents even if agents are not yet driving much new adoption of it. In practice, some of the companies best positioned to ship agents today are the ones that built the graph first. We do not think that is a coincidence.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#where-ai-gateways-fit-and-where-they-fall-short" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="where-ai-gateways-fit-and-where-they-fall-short"><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>Where AI gateways fit and where they fall short</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The report’s treatment of AI gateways makes the connection even more interesting. Gartner defines an AI gateway as:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“A tool that acts as an intermediary between applications and various artificial intelligence services or models. Its purpose is to simplify and manage connectivity between AI applications, agents, LLMs and enterprise applications by providing a central point to enable security, governance and observability of AI workloads.”</p>
</blockquote>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Most AI gateways today focus on traffic management: model routing, rate limits, token controls, and defenses against attacks such as prompt injection. We at Apollo believe that all of that is necessary. It is also insufficient.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A gateway can control where a request goes without understanding what the underlying data means. It can know that an agent is allowed to call an API without knowing whether the agent should see a particular customer field returned by that API. Without a semantic model underneath it, an AI gateway risks becoming a very sophisticated traffic cop. That’s useful, but lacking the semantics to answer many of the authorization and governance questions that make managing enterprise agents difficult.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Our bet is that the category will move toward combining both layers: gateway controls for AI traffic and a governed model of enterprise data and capabilities. Agents need routing and rate limits, but they also need context. They need to know what systems contain, how concepts relate, what actions are available, and what a particular user or agent is authorized to see.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In our view, Apollo GraphOS can play that role when it is implemented as a <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/context-graph">context layer</a> for agents. It provides a centralized way to control, observe, and govern what agents do across tools and APIs, using the same federated graph that companies such as American Airlines, Indeed, and Yahoo! already operate in production. The field-level access controls, authentication, and governance are not decorations added after the agent demo gets executive attention. They are part of the graph. The ceiling is much higher with these capabilities in hand.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">MCP and GraphQL solve different and complementary problems, and American Airlines’ architecture is interesting precisely because it uses both. The hard part of enterprise agents is providing the model useful context while preserving the security, governance, and observability the organization already requires. Companies with a mature graph have a head start because they have already spent years doing that work.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Call it the trough if you want. We call it a head start.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you are sorting through what GraphQL, MCP, AI gateways, and the growing pile of agent protocols mean for your architecture, Apollo is offering a complimentary copy of the full <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/resources/gartner-hype-cycle-for-apis-2026">2026 Gartner Hype Cycle for APIs</a> research. If you want to talk through how GraphQL fits into your API strategy, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/contact-sales">get in touch.</a></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Gartner, Hype Cycle for APIs, 2026, By Shameen Pillai, Mark O&#8217;Neill, 22 May 2026.&nbsp;</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Gartner and Hype Cycle are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.&nbsp;</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.</em></p>


What We Think the 2026 Gartner Hype Cycle Gets Right About GraphQL


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Recent security research has reinforced important considerations around Federated subgraph exposure. This work is increasingly critical as AI-powered tools make it easier than ever to discover and exploit publicly accessible services that were never intended to be exposed.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Apollo Federation subgraphs are intended to remain internal services, accessible only through the router.</strong> This architectural requirement for isolation is fundamental to Federation&#8217;s security model. It also reflects a broader API strategy principle: centralized governance and observability through a unified access layer are essential to avoid API sprawl. This is not a vulnerability in Federation itself, but a deployment and trust-boundary issue that arises when internal services are exposed outside their intended architecture.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="340" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image-2-1024x340.png" alt="Origin services should be protected behind a router; this depicts a federated diagram" class="wp-image-25022" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image-2-1024x340.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image-2-300x100.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image-2-768x255.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image-2-1536x511.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image-2-1200x399.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image-2.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The router is designed to be the centralized security enforcement point, providing critical protections like access control, demand control, and operation safelisting. When subgraphs are inadvertently made public, they can bypass these protections, exposing internal coordination mechanisms that are intended only for router-to-subgraph communication.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We will continue to make these security patterns prominent in our documentation and welcome ongoing collaboration with security researchers to help the Federation community build more secure GraphQL architectures.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#understanding-federation-architecture" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="understanding-federation-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><strong>Understanding Federation Architecture</strong></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation uses internal coordination fields to enable distributed graph functionality, allowing the router to query schemas and fetch entities across subgraph boundaries. GraphQL libraries serving Federated subgraphs automatically expose these coordination fields to maintain Federation compatibility, even when standard introspection is disabled for clients. These mechanisms exist by design as internal protocols that require a critical trust boundary: <strong>only the router should communicate with subgraphs</strong>.&nbsp; For this reason, subgraphs should operate behind the router with protections like network isolation and authentication preventing direct subgraph access. This further centralizes governance and security into the router.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When subgraphs are directly accessible, you bypass the router&#8217;s security enforcement entirely and internal coordination mechanisms become information disclosure vectors equivalent to leaving introspection enabled.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#recommended-security-practices" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="recommended-security-practices"><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>Recommended Security Practices</strong></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you&#8217;re running Apollo Federation, follow these practices to ensure proper security:&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>API Discoverability</strong></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Keep subgraphs internal </strong>&#8211;<strong> </strong>Subgraphs should only be accessible from your router, never directly from the public internet, enabling you to leverage its centralized governance and security enforcement. </li>



<li><strong>Turn off introspection in production</strong> &#8211; <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/why-you-should-disable-graphql-introspection-in-production#turning-off-introspection-in-production">GraphQL&#8217;s built-in introspection query</a> reveals your entire schema to bad actors, but note this does not replace the need to keep subgraphs internal.</li>



<li><strong>Obfuscate error details</strong> &#8211; <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/data/errors#omitting-or-including-stacktrace">Remove verbose error information</a> like stack traces from your production server </li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Defend Against Malicious Operations</strong></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Validate and sanitize data</strong> &#8211; Apply standard input validation; use enums, custom scalars, and directives to codify validation in your schema</li>



<li><strong>Paginate fields</strong> &#8211; Set maximum limits on how many items can be requested at once</li>



<li><strong>Implement authentication/authorization in the router</strong> &#8211; Enforce auth at the entry point to drop invalid requests before they reach downstream services</li>



<li><strong>Set operation limits</strong> &#8211; Configure max depth, max root fields, and other request limits to prevent resource exhaustion</li>



<li><strong>Use operation cost analysis</strong> &#8211; Calculate operation costs and configure demand control for rate limiting based on query complexity</li>



<li><strong>Safelist with persisted queries</strong> &#8211; <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/secure-your-graphql-platform-by-safelisting-known-queries">Register trusted operations</a> in a <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/kotlin/advanced/persisted-queries">persisted query list</a> (PQL); router rejects unregistered operations</li>



<li><strong>Control batched requests</strong> &#8211; Limit query breadth and use cost analysis to prevent enumeration attacks through batching</li>



<li><strong>Set timeouts</strong> &#8211; Apply timeouts at HTTP server, router-to-subgraph, and individual operation levels</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Additional Best Practices</strong></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Client identification</strong> &#8211; Require clients to identify themselves so you can monitor schema usage. These are <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/routing/observability/router-telemetry-otel/enabling-telemetry/usage-guides/client-id-enforcement">configurable headers</a> in the Apollo Router. </li>



<li><strong>Monitor with observability</strong> &#8211; Use tracing, alerts, and OpenTelemetry integration to track performance and errors</li>



<li><strong>Restrict write access</strong> &#8211; Use graph API keys, personal API keys, SSO, member roles, and protected variants to control who can modify schemas</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For comprehensive implementation guidance, see our<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/platform/security/overview"> GraphOS Security documentation</a>, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/secure-your-graphql-microservices">microservices security best practices</a>, and the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/resources/saf/security">Security section of the Supergraph Architecture Framework</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#conclusion" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="conclusion"><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>Conclusion</strong></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation&#8217;s security model is built on a fundamental principle: subgraphs are internal services that must only be accessed through the router. This isn&#8217;t a limitation – it&#8217;s the foundation that enables the router to enforce access control, demand control, and operation safelisting across your entire graph. As AI-powered tools make automated discovery and exploitation easier, maintaining this architectural boundary and implementing centralized governance through Apollo GraphOS isn&#8217;t just a best practice – it&#8217;s essential to protecting your API infrastructure.</p>


Securing Apollo Federation Subgraphs: Context and Best Practices

Getting Started with Error Diagnostics in GraphOS Studio


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo’s GraphOS API orchestration platform now offers a forever-free plan.&nbsp; Whether you’re already using GraphQL or are just getting started, this free plan is designed for anyone learning, exploring, or prototyping with Apollo GraphQL. You can begin immediately without needing a credit card. In this article, you’ll learn:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>What the GraphOS API orchestration platform is<br></li>



<li>What is included in the free plan (and its limitations)<br></li>



<li>How to get started with your first GraphQL query using the free plan</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#what-is-the-graphos-api-orchestration-platform" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="what-is-the-graphos-api-orchestration-platform"><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 the GraphOS API orchestration platform?</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The GraphOS API orchestration platform from Apollo GraphQL is a collection of services and tools that help you build, manage, and orchestrate APIs at any scale. Apollo Studio is the UI for the control plane and includes:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>GraphOS Explorer IDE</strong> for interactive query development<br></li>



<li><strong>GraphOS Registry</strong> for schema management and versioning<br></li>



<li><strong>GraphOS Insights</strong> for performance monitoring and analytics&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1440" height="570" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXdETHv3MQt_PCbPvKtBYu-lPseiJQyOba2QU1EYGvXAm3fDM0tPosyj-k7OigfvlandjZ4WXsA3W_zJYRpsLI9wHhS3oVaYR4qO_ss6QSE8ILKJc7jrM-GnX8kT6pafbeg76j6VyQ.png" alt="" class="wp-image-24256" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXdETHv3MQt_PCbPvKtBYu-lPseiJQyOba2QU1EYGvXAm3fDM0tPosyj-k7OigfvlandjZ4WXsA3W_zJYRpsLI9wHhS3oVaYR4qO_ss6QSE8ILKJc7jrM-GnX8kT6pafbeg76j6VyQ.png 1440w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXdETHv3MQt_PCbPvKtBYu-lPseiJQyOba2QU1EYGvXAm3fDM0tPosyj-k7OigfvlandjZ4WXsA3W_zJYRpsLI9wHhS3oVaYR4qO_ss6QSE8ILKJc7jrM-GnX8kT6pafbeg76j6VyQ-300x119.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXdETHv3MQt_PCbPvKtBYu-lPseiJQyOba2QU1EYGvXAm3fDM0tPosyj-k7OigfvlandjZ4WXsA3W_zJYRpsLI9wHhS3oVaYR4qO_ss6QSE8ILKJc7jrM-GnX8kT6pafbeg76j6VyQ-1024x405.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXdETHv3MQt_PCbPvKtBYu-lPseiJQyOba2QU1EYGvXAm3fDM0tPosyj-k7OigfvlandjZ4WXsA3W_zJYRpsLI9wHhS3oVaYR4qO_ss6QSE8ILKJc7jrM-GnX8kT6pafbeg76j6VyQ-768x304.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXdETHv3MQt_PCbPvKtBYu-lPseiJQyOba2QU1EYGvXAm3fDM0tPosyj-k7OigfvlandjZ4WXsA3W_zJYRpsLI9wHhS3oVaYR4qO_ss6QSE8ILKJc7jrM-GnX8kT6pafbeg76j6VyQ-1200x475.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">&nbsp;Figure 1: GraphOS control and runtime planes</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The runtime plane contains the GraphOS Router (Router) and Apollo Server.&nbsp; These components fulfill GraphQL query requests for both single-server graphs and federated supergraph deployments.&nbsp; For example, in a federated use case, clients send queries to the Router, which intelligently determines which back-end subgraphs contain the necessary data, orchestrates the data exchange, and returns precisely what the client requested.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">GraphOS is a complete API orchestration solution that enables you to:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Filter and transform data&nbsp;<br></li>



<li>Execute operations synchronously and in parallel<br></li>



<li>Manage authentication and authorization<br></li>



<li>Integrate diverse data sources seamlessly</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#what-is-the-apollo-graphos-free-plan" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="what-is-the-apollo-graphos-free-plan"><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 the Apollo GraphOS free plan?</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The free plan replaced the enterprise trial plan that was limited to 90 days. This free plan has no time restrictions, making it easy to get started with GraphQL and prototype your next project.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It also offers access to Apollo Connectors, which integrates REST API data into a graph without writing complex procedural code. The free plan includes the same functionalities as the enterprise plan, with the following limitations:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Self-hosted routers are rate-limited to 60 requests per minute<br></li>



<li>Organizations are limited to 3 team members<br></li>



<li>Insights, checks, and traces for graphs of all types (not just those using GraphOS Router), with data retention limited to one day</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Support is available through the <a href="https://community.apollographql.com/">Apollo Community</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The free plan is ideal for personal projects and exploring GraphOS, providing all the essentials to learn, experiment, and create at no cost. When your API orchestration needs expand, Apollo’s paid plans immediately remove the free plan&#8217;s rate limits, allowing you to scale your workload to any level of request volume.&nbsp; Depending on your paid plan, you may also use features such as:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Single Sign-On (SSO)</strong> support<br></li>



<li><strong>GraphOS Router extensibility</strong>, such as external coprocessors<br></li>



<li><strong>Advanced collaboration tools</strong>, such as schema proposals or configurable linting<br></li>



<li>Comprehensive <strong>Audit History</strong></li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#get-started-with-your-free-plan" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="get-started-with-your-free-plan"><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 with your free plan</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Anyone can create an organization on the free plan by:</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Signing up for <a href="https://studio.apollographql.com/signup?utm_campaign=Unlock%20the%20Power%20of%20API%20Orchestration&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_source=website">GraphOS</a>, or</li>



<li>Logging into Apollo Studio with your existing account and creating a new organization.</li>
</ol>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="949" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXeTzXGT4_GJJY58eM78S03CiVrcXwlLRntcNPBTYEgTjX_oDHZ9oo8MhYJuLjYlFW2S7tbr2ztEq2pzD9y087BO9hVcxJWX9xE0LpWyVA23A0lGwKSj1-Xs86wfzMhqjw-t4oXigw.png" alt="" class="wp-image-24258" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXeTzXGT4_GJJY58eM78S03CiVrcXwlLRntcNPBTYEgTjX_oDHZ9oo8MhYJuLjYlFW2S7tbr2ztEq2pzD9y087BO9hVcxJWX9xE0LpWyVA23A0lGwKSj1-Xs86wfzMhqjw-t4oXigw.png 1600w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXeTzXGT4_GJJY58eM78S03CiVrcXwlLRntcNPBTYEgTjX_oDHZ9oo8MhYJuLjYlFW2S7tbr2ztEq2pzD9y087BO9hVcxJWX9xE0LpWyVA23A0lGwKSj1-Xs86wfzMhqjw-t4oXigw-300x178.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXeTzXGT4_GJJY58eM78S03CiVrcXwlLRntcNPBTYEgTjX_oDHZ9oo8MhYJuLjYlFW2S7tbr2ztEq2pzD9y087BO9hVcxJWX9xE0LpWyVA23A0lGwKSj1-Xs86wfzMhqjw-t4oXigw-1024x607.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXeTzXGT4_GJJY58eM78S03CiVrcXwlLRntcNPBTYEgTjX_oDHZ9oo8MhYJuLjYlFW2S7tbr2ztEq2pzD9y087BO9hVcxJWX9xE0LpWyVA23A0lGwKSj1-Xs86wfzMhqjw-t4oXigw-768x456.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXeTzXGT4_GJJY58eM78S03CiVrcXwlLRntcNPBTYEgTjX_oDHZ9oo8MhYJuLjYlFW2S7tbr2ztEq2pzD9y087BO9hVcxJWX9xE0LpWyVA23A0lGwKSj1-Xs86wfzMhqjw-t4oXigw-1536x911.png 1536w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AD_4nXeTzXGT4_GJJY58eM78S03CiVrcXwlLRntcNPBTYEgTjX_oDHZ9oo8MhYJuLjYlFW2S7tbr2ztEq2pzD9y087BO9hVcxJWX9xE0LpWyVA23A0lGwKSj1-Xs86wfzMhqjw-t4oXigw-1200x712.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Figure 2: Apollo Studio showing free plan organization&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Self-hosted routers can be hosted on the cloud provider of your choice.&nbsp; The Free plan limits requests to 60 per minute. Exceeding this limit will return an HTTP 503 (Service Unavailable) error, and you’ll receive upgrade instructions via email if this occurs.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Important Note</strong>: If you have an existing enterprise trial, you’ll need to create a new organization to migrate to the free plan, then <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/platform/graph-management/transfers">transfer</a> your existing GraphQL APIs and schemas to that new organization.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For more information, check out the <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/pricing">https://www.apollographql.com/pricing</a> page and <a href="https://support.apollographql.com/space/ETKB/1297809476/Free+plan+FAQs">Apollo GraphOS Free plan FAQs</a>.</p>



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


Apollo GraphOS Free Plan: Unlock the Power of API Orchestration

Our Journey to Apollo Connectors


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We&#8217;re announcing an important update: starting with the 1.60 release of <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/graphos-router">Apollo GraphOS Router</a> and Apollo Router Core coming in the next few weeks, <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/federation">Apollo Federation</a> 1.0 supergraphs will no longer be supported. This update accompanies the introduction of a <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/routing/query-planning/native-query-planner">new native query planner</a> in these Apollo Router versions, marking a significant advancement in our technology. <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/reference/migration/to-federation-version-2">Upgrading to Apollo Federation 2.0</a> is essential to leverage these improvements fully, and as Federation and Apollo Router are mission-critical infrastructure for your API workloads, we are here to guide you through every step of this transition to confidently operating your GraphQL platform.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Understanding the importance of upgrading</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The next Apollo Router versions, 1.60 and beyond, include a new native query planner with significant performance enhancements. Our extensive testing of over 620 million operations showed a median 10x improvement in query planning time, a 2.9x reduction in CPU utilization, and a 2.2x reduction in memory consumption. Designed specifically for Federation 2.0 supergraphs, this new query planner simplifies maintenance and enhances security by eliminating dependencies, including the need for a JavaScript execution engine within the Apollo Router process.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Timeline and planning</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation 1.0 supergraphs have been marked as deprecated in our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/graphos/studio">GraphOS Studio</a> UI and users have not been able to create them since Q3 2023. With the upcoming new Apollo Router versions, support for Federation 1.0 supergraphs will end across all Apollo products, including Apollo Gateway. We strongly recommend you upgrade to Apollo Router and Federation 2.0 to ensure continued compatibility with our latest innovations.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you are still operating your GraphQL deployment without having yet migrated to Federation 2.0, upgrading to the new query planner in Apollo Router 1.60 and beyond will introduce a breaking change.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Migration to Federation 2.0 is simple and focuses on the composition layer, without requiring changes to existing subgraphs in most cases. You only need to compose a supergraph with Federation 2.0 and typically your subgraphs can continue using Federation 1.0 until they need 2.0 features. Our<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/reference/migration/to-federation-version-2"> migration guide</a> details how you can update just your Federation composition step to compile a compatible supergraph.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Available resources and ongoing support</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We recognize that transitioning from Federation 1.0 to Federation 2.0 is a significant step for some of our users. This decision reflects our commitment to eliminating the complexities of outdated technology and ensuring our offerings meet the evolving needs of modern API infrastructures. We are dedicated to transparent communication and improving our deprecation processes to help maintain the robustness, efficiency, and security of your systems.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo values your partnership and trust as we continue to innovate. We are here to support you through this transition to keep your API infrastructure powerful and future-proof. For additional support, please visit our <a href="https://community.apollographql.com/t/migrate-apollo-federation-1-0-supergraphs-to-apollo-federation-2-0/8125">Apollo Community</a> or, for GraphOS users, contact our Technical Support team at <a href="mailto:support@apollographql.com">support@apollographql.com</a>. </p>



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


Migrate Apollo Federation 1.0 Supergraphs to Apollo Federation 2.0


<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"><em>Caching, Native Cost Calculation and Limiting, and Telemetry Capabilities Revolutionize API Management and Streamline Building Cross-Platform Digital Application Experiences</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today at PlatformCon, <a href="https://apollographql.com">Apollo GraphQL</a>, the creator of GraphQL federation, announced new features in <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/graphos/">Apollo GraphOS</a> are now generally available to better leverage GraphQL’s developer productivity and performance benefits at any scale. This release provides API platform teams with visibility, usability, and performance benefits for GraphQL federation, enabling the engineering teams they serve to maximize the value of their APIs across their business.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As the leading GraphQL federation platform, GraphOS provides an abstraction layer for API complexity, enabling product engineering teams to rapidly build and iterate features based on customer demand. <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/resources/gartner-when-to-use-graphql-to-accelerate-api-delivery">Gartner® predicts that </a>30% of enterprises using GraphQL will utilize GraphQL federation by 2027, up from less than 5% in 2024.<sup>1 </sup>Apollo believes this trend suggests the number of enterprises using GraphQL federation as their API access layer will increase by 12x. GraphOS provides everything enterprise teams need to deliver GraphQL federation at any scale.&nbsp;</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“GraphQL federation removes the friction between the frontend and backend that we see in distributed architectures,” said Matt DeBergalis, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder at Apollo GraphQL. “This latest GraphOS release enables API platform teams to operationalize GraphQL federation’s benefits faster, so they can focus less on building custom tooling and more on their customers’ needs.”</p>
</blockquote>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This latest GraphOS release includes significant improvements around observability, usability, and performance, enabling API platform teams to operate GraphQL federation more easily than ever before.&nbsp; “At enterprise-scale, every millisecond of latency in your consumer’s digital experiences impacts the bottom line,” said Rob Brazier, VP of Product at Apollo GraphQL. “With this release of Apollo GraphOS, we’ve made it even easier for API platform teams to observe and optimize the performance of federated graphs.”&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Apollo’s latest release provides operational excellence for GraphQL federation</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">GraphQL federation is becoming a de facto architecture for platform engineering teams to simplify API governance across distributed architectures. Client teams can fetch all the data they need from a single endpoint, and this paradigm enables API platform teams to enforce better governance, provide better visibility into service usage, as well as use standardized tools for performance. GraphOS provides a complete solution for delivering GraphQL federation at any scale:</p>



<div class="wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-4fc3f8e1 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex">
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Better application performance</strong> – Apollo introduces an improved and simplified form of API caching built for GraphQL federation. GraphOS’s caching layer spans any number of APIs and now, in public preview, supports entity caching. Entities are object types that are composed from multiple GraphQL APIs and are the business objects or “nouns of every business.” API platform teams can store entities such as their inventory, products, or user records in a Redis data store. API platform teams can set how long these entities are cached in the data store, enabling API platform teams to significantly improve performance across an entire fleet of applications. &#8220;We&#8217;ve rolled out entity caching in production and are observing a decrease in median response time,&#8221; said Nimit Barochia, Senior Principal Software Engineer at Dow Jones. &#8220;The major improvement is how much less traffic we send to our subgraphs. Like a 8-10x decrease in some cases.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Cost control </strong>– API platform teams need a means to ensure that costly GraphQL operations don’t slow performance or create a denial of service. Platform teams need a means to limit cost of GraphQL operations processed by the GraphOS Router. Apollo is adding in public preview native cost calculation and limiting to GraphOS to make it easy for platform teams to centrally implement this, rather than relying on underlying services.</li>



<li><strong>Stronger support and improved performance</strong> – Micro-frontends provide a frontend architecture that refines performance and composability across mobile and web applications. To improve performance, micro-frontend UIs typically batch multiple client operations, issued close together, into a single API request. GraphOS is adding better support for these use cases, enabling GraphOS to handle batched requests from clients to a supergraph. It also further augments performance by ensuring that batches are kept intact when processed and passed on to the required subgraphs.</li>



<li><strong>Enhanced telemetry</strong> – API platform teams need both standardized and custom metrics to better optimize federated graphs for performance and business objectives. GraphOS now provides unparalleled visibility to debug and optimize federated graphs, enabling these teams to import these metrics into their Application Performance Monitoring tool of choice for better decision-making.&nbsp;</li>



<li><strong>Significant improvements to the GraphOS management plane</strong> – In Apollo Studio, schema checks and insights enable API teams to build, test, and ship changes to their federated graph with confidence. This release features significant UX improvements and better insights, enabling API teams to ship changes faster without introducing breaking changes to downstream clients.</li>
</ul>
</div>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Apollo customers to focus on innovation instead of API aggregation or orchestration</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI is driving rapid innovation across industries, making the API layer critical for delivering competitive, personalized applications. Apollo aims to help API platform teams leverage GraphQL federation’s benefits across engineering organizations, empowering their teams to lead their organizations into the AI era.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Learn more with Apollo&nbsp;</strong></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/events/apollo-graphos-summer-update-operational-excellence-for-graphql-federation?utm_campaign=2024-06-12_Webinar_Apollo-GraphOS-Summer-Update-Operational-Excellence&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=sales">Attend a webinar</a> on June 12 to learn more about what’s new in GraphOS and see new features demoed.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Join Apollo <a href="https://lu.ma/platformcon-watch-party-apollo">live on June 13 </a>in NYC as it celebrates the largest conference for platform engineering, PlatformCon, and hear from customers COX Automotive, The New York Times, and Wayfair on how they’re finding success with Apollo’s federated GraphQL technology.</li>



<li>And the largest gathering of GraphQL enthusiasts and API platform teams is coming. Join Apollo at <a href="https://summit.graphql.com/">GraphQL Summit</a>, October 8-10, where engineering teams can learn from industry leaders spearheading successful GraphQL deployments at scale.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><sup>1</sup>Gartner, When to Use GraphQL to Accelerate API Delivery, By Shameen Pillai, et al, March 7, 2024. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#about-apollo-graphql" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="about-apollo-graphql"><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>About Apollo GraphQL</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://apollographql.com">Apollo GraphQL </a>helps developers help the world by providing a better API platform across teams. Apollo’s open-source software is downloaded 25M times per month and its commercial GraphQL technologies power the most innovative brands today. Teams at Netflix, Snap, and the New York Times ship personalized, omnichannel experiences faster with a supergraph – a self-service GraphQL platform that spans any number of backend services. Serving over 5T requests in 2023, the Apollo GraphOS<sup>TM</sup> platform simplifies API development with workflows and infrastructure to build, test, and ship supergraphs at any scale. Based in San Francisco, Apollo is backed by Insight Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Matrix Partners, and Trinity Ventures. Learn more at: <a href="https://www.apollographql.com">https://www.apollographql.com</a>.</p>


Apollo GraphQL Announces Major GraphOS Update, Enhancing Observability and Performance for Enterprise-Scale GraphQL Federation

Federated Subscriptions with HTTP Callback Protocol

Federated Subscriptions with Router’s HTTP Callback Protocol


<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#industry-leaders-to-showcase-tangible-business-impact-of-graphql-federation" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="industry-leaders-to-showcase-tangible-business-impact-of-graphql-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><em>Industry Leaders to Showcase Tangible Business Impact of GraphQL Federation</em></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In the wake of a recent report by Gartner<sup>®</sup>, <a href="https://apollographql.com">Apollo GraphQL</a>, the creator of GraphQL federation, is announcing the 7th annual GraphQL Summit, scheduled for October 8–10, 2024, in New York City. This premier three-day event gathers the largest assembly of GraphQL enthusiasts and API platform teams. Engineering teams can learn from industry leaders spearheading successful GraphQL deployments at scale and hear from Apollo GraphQL on its product roadmap and vision for the future of GraphQL and GraphQL federation.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">According to the Gartner report, GraphQL&#8217;s adoption is on the rise, since “By 2027, more than 60% of enterprises will use GraphQL in production, up from less than 30% in 2024.” The report also predicts that “By 2027, 30% of enterprises using GraphQL will utilize GraphQL federation, up from less than 5% in 2024.”1<sup data-fn="5626a7a6-afc4-465e-84b4-2219decdae0e" class="fn"><a href="#5626a7a6-afc4-465e-84b4-2219decdae0e" id="5626a7a6-afc4-465e-84b4-2219decdae0e-link">1</a></sup> As GraphQL federation marks its<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/celebrating-five-years-of-apollo-federation"> 5th anniversary,</a> Apollo GraphQL remains at the forefront of this transformative technology.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Previous GraphQL Summits have featured internet giants like Netflix, Intuit, and Wayfair, sharing invaluable insights into deploying GraphQL at scale to support distributed architectures. Rather than a sprawl of backends-for-frontends or experience APIs, these teams implemented GraphQL federation, an architecture that combines APIs and enables any number of client teams to query them from a single endpoint. Engineering leaders and API platform teams can learn how to use this architecture to drive developer velocity, enhance the customer experience across any number of applications, or handle the technical side of mergers and acquisitions, where IT is saddled with many disparate siloed systems that were never designed to talk to each other.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This year’s GraphQL Summit aims to support this burgeoning adoption with sessions led by industry luminaries across various sectors, including retail, automotive, and banking.&nbsp; Featured speakers include Stephanie Saunders, Engineering Manager at Coinbase; Mike Cohen, Technical Fellow at Indeed; and Marc-Andre Giroux, Senior Software Developer at Netflix, as well as the co-founders of Apollo GraphQL, Geoff Schmidt and Matt DeBergalis, who will share their insights and expertise on the future of GraphQL and GraphQL federation. Attendees can expect tracks and workshops covering best practices on security, governance, and API platform engineering; real-world use cases and the latest advancements in GraphQL technology; along with a new focus on leveraging GraphQL federation to support artificial intelligence.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>Geoff Schmidt, CEO and co-founder of Apollo GraphQL, remarks: “As enterprise technology evolves, the rise of GraphQL represents a pivotal shift towards more efficient, scalable, and interconnected systems. The latest insights from Gartner reaffirm what we at Apollo GraphQL have long believed: GraphQL federation is not just a trend, but a fundamental technology shaping the future of digital experiences. Apollo GraphQL is committed to fostering an environment where developers and enterprises can learn, grow, and succeed with GraphQL. The upcoming GraphQL Summit is a reflection of this commitment, featuring talks from industry leaders like Coinbase and Netflix, and promises to be an invaluable opportunity for API platform engineers and leaders to discover how GraphQL federation revolutionizes API architectures for seamless, innovative systems that are driving the future of digital experiences.”</p></blockquote></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">All GraphQL enthusiasts are invited to join the conversation by submitting to speak at the Summit. Whether an industry veteran or a newcomer, this is a chance to share insights, experiences, and innovations with the GraphQL community.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For more information about the GraphQL Summit or to submit your proposal to speak, please visit our website: <a href="http://www.graphqlsummit.com">www.graphqlsummit.com</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#resources" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="resources"><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>Resources</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Read the<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/resources/gartner-when-to-use-graphql-to-accelerate-api-delivery"> latest Gartner report</a>, When to Use GraphQL to Accelerate API Delivery</li>



<li>Learn more about <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/celebrating-five-years-of-apollo-federation">Apollo Federation</a>, Apollo’s implementation of GraphQL Federation&nbsp;</li>



<li>Stay up to date on the <a href="http://www.graphqlsummit.com">GraphQL Summit </a>agenda and learn more about it <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcing-graphql-summit-2024-in-new-york-city">here</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/graphos/">Build </a>a GraphQL API platform today</li>



<li><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/tutorials/certifications/apollo-graph-professional/learning-path/">Become certified </a>as an Apollo GraphQL developer</li>



<li><a href="https://discord.com/invite/yFZJH2QYrK">Join</a> the Apollo GraphQL Community on Discord</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#about-apollo-graphql" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="about-apollo-graphql"><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>About Apollo GraphQL</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://apollographql.com">Apollo GraphQL </a>helps developers help the world by providing a better API platform across teams. Apollo’s open-source software is downloaded 25M times per month and its commercial GraphQL technologies power the most innovative brands today. Teams at Netflix, Snap, and the New York Times ship personalized, omnichannel experiences faster with a supergraph – a self-service GraphQL platform that spans any number of backend services. Serving over 5T requests in 2023, the Apollo GraphOS<sup>TM</sup> platform simplifies API development with workflows and infrastructure to build, test, and ship supergraphs at any scale. Based in San Francisco, Apollo is backed by Insight Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Matrix Partners, and Trinity Ventures. Learn more at: <a href="https://www.apollographql.com">https://www.apollographql.com</a>.</p>


<ol class="wp-block-footnotes"><li id="5626a7a6-afc4-465e-84b4-2219decdae0e">Gartner, When to Use GraphQL to Accelerate API Delivery, By Shameen Pillai, et al, March 7, 2024. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. <a href="#5626a7a6-afc4-465e-84b4-2219decdae0e-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 1">↩︎</a></li></ol>

Image portays GraphQL Summit by Apollo logo and includes text that reads the conference for API platform engineering builders and leaders. October 8-10, 2024. Convene 225 Liberty New York City.

Apollo GraphQL Announces the Next GraphQL Summit Amid Rapid GraphQL Enterprise Adoption 


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">GraphQL federation has emerged as the industry consensus for composing APIs at scale. Organizations such as Netflix, Expedia, and Wayfair quickly adopted this architecture to abstract API complexity and further adoption is on the rise.<a href="https://www.apollographql.com/resources/gartner-when-to-use-graphql-to-accelerate-api-delivery"> Gartner predicts</a> that “By 2027, 30% of enterprises using GraphQL will use GraphQL federation, up from less than 5% in 2024.”<sup data-fn="29ebcf61-2dba-471e-a128-d8d3f07a6d34" class="fn"><a href="#29ebcf61-2dba-471e-a128-d8d3f07a6d34" id="29ebcf61-2dba-471e-a128-d8d3f07a6d34-link">1</a></sup> This pattern didn’t emerge by accident; it was created and refined here at Apollo GraphQL. The first lines of <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/">Federation</a> code were published five years ago, so it’s the right moment to take a step back and examine the past, present, and future of this transformative technology.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#graphql-federation-enables-a-platform-strategy" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="graphql-federation-enables-a-platform-strategy"><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>GraphQL federation enables a platform strategy</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Data storage and retrieval needs exploded decades ago, so SQL emerged. Container usage exploded years ago, so Kubernetes emerged. API development is exploding, so GraphQL federation has arrived. It’s declarative, composable, and self-service. Federation isn’t just an idea anymore: it’s a solution that has been proven, at scale, time and again. And according to Gartner, “Federation enables centralized governance, team autonomy (teams can own their own subgraphs), composability, and adaptability to evolving requirements at different speeds.”<sup>1</sup>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We at Apollo GraphQL believe GraphQL federation is now synonymous with GraphQL at enterprise scale. Companies such as Zillow, Square, Priceline.com, and Booking.com rely on Apollo Federation to power their API platforms. Read more about <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/mlbs-api-strategy-hitting-a-home-run-transformation-with-graphql-midfield">how Federation powers Major League Baseball’s API strategy</a> and <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/how-intuit-handled-their-busiest-time-of-year-with-apollo-router">how Intuit handled their busiest time of year with Apollo Router</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These brands chose GraphQL to serve their product and platform goals, allowing them to ship better user experiences faster and without the overhead that legacy API architectures incentivize. Federation is:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Unified.</strong> Federation preserves the GraphQL experience client teams love by making this data accessible via a single endpoint.</li>



<li><strong>Modular.</strong> Federation makes it easier to break up a monolithic architecture. This enables teams to contribute to the graph independently at scale.</li>



<li><strong>Iterative.</strong> Teams can evolve their graph with confidence, surfacing backwards compatibility concerns early in the process thanks to robust composition rules.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Whether you have one service or one thousand, they can all be composed into a single entry point without compromising their existing service boundaries. GraphQL is declarative, flexible, and supported by an open specification. Even if you have a small number of services (as few as one!), Federation can enrich your systems with new features out of the box. This piece isn’t a primer on how to use Apollo Federation, though &#8211; we highly recommend our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/tutorials/">course catalog in Odyssey</a> for that.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id=""><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><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/pagAz5iafYg9GqprnGVOzqsuCB4zbY83Bqh88ohnNXtv_iqW0o4xpAk9-8K1H5LRaybG7AbFjLTq41heJwJeuxob7qNlAQSdTx5frbfy-vkQ-U9o3YOjm-Y6lbWseBPLMMGBp6j3HXPxTMlvhJwUtLU" alt="Image portrays three visuals. The first visual is on GraphQL architecture and includes text that reads build a unified but modular graph of your data and services. The second visual showcases GraphQL infrastructure and includes text that reads Secure, scale, and govern the graph across any number of applications. The third visual showcases GraphQL workflows and includes text that reads enable teams to contribute to and consume the graph in a self-service way." width="&quot;624&quot;&quot;" height="253"></h2>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#how-we-got-here" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="how-we-got-here"><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>How we got here</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Federation wasn’t built overnight. Here’s a timeline of milestones we reached along the way:</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#2019" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="2019"><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>2019</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Initial Apollo Federation commits published</strong>. After years of design and months of implementation and building on the vision Martijn Walraven <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFT9bSv3aYAa">spoke about</a> at GraphQL Summit 2018, our first lines of Federation <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/pull/2742">code</a> became complete enough to publish. Shortly afterwards we <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/apollo-federation-f260cf525d21">released</a> Apollo Federation and Apollo Gateway, creating the GraphQL federation category. At GraphQL Summit 2019, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQKn1oFXJU">Jeff Hampton</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDqw-sGVq3k&amp;t=1047s">Matt DeBergalis</a> dove deep into the use case for GraphQL federation, how it works, and what solutions it offers</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#2020" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="2020"><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>2020</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>More expressive graphs</strong>. As developers embraced Federation and our tooling matured, we converged on a more elegant and complete set of <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/federated-types/federated-directives">directives</a> for creating federated graphs. Concepts like entities, owners, and required input data were fully fleshed out with feedback from our enterprise design partners and refined over time.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#2021" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="2021"><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>2021</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Apollo Federation 2.0 </strong><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/announcing-federation-2"><strong>released</strong></a>. This version of Federation was created in close collaboration with the excellent engineers at Netflix. Apollo Federation 2 helps organizations operate even better across teams, leveraging shared types and the ability to migrate parts of a federated schema from one owner to another.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#2022" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="2022"><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>2022</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Apollo Router became </strong><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/apollo-router-is-now-generally-available"><strong>generally available</strong></a>. Apollo Router has since become the standard-bearer for enterprise GraphQL at scale and is an indispensable part of the stack for a growing number of organizations.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#2023" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="2023"><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>2023</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Federated subscriptions </strong><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/blog/federated-subscriptions-in-graphos-real-time-data-at-scale"><strong>shipped</strong></a>. This enabled realtime data from anywhere in your infrastructure to all your clients, all made possible by protocol innovations and made available with a polished full-stack developer experience.</p>



<h1 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</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo is proud to be a founding member of the <a href="https://graphql.org/foundation/">GraphQL Foundation</a> and to be represented on the GraphQL Specification’s Technical Steering Committee and GraphQL Working Group. Since the composition and execution behaviors in Apollo Federation are becoming increasingly adopted by a wide array of users and toolmakers, there is a clear benefit for developing a common standard focused specifically on this domain.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Contributors from Apollo are working with others in the community to <a href="https://github.com/graphql/composite-schemas-spec">collaborate on a proposal</a> for a common specification within the GraphQL Working Group. We are beyond excited at the innovation that this effort will unlock, and thrilled that the community is moving towards a common understanding of the importance of this technology category.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#a-universe-of-possibilities" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="a-universe-of-possibilities"><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 universe of possibilities</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo is the leading GraphQL platform in the industry, serving the highest-volume, most demanding production workloads of today while developing the software that will power tomorrow’s use cases. In a rapidly changing world, enterprise organizations can count on the creators of Apollo Federation to continue to invest in solutions that meet and exceed the needs of the world’s largest platforms, all while empowering a robust and open GraphQL community.</p>


<ol class="wp-block-footnotes"><li id="29ebcf61-2dba-471e-a128-d8d3f07a6d34">Gartner, When to Use GraphQL to Accelerate API Delivery, By Shameen Pillai, et al, March 7, 2024. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. <a href="#29ebcf61-2dba-471e-a128-d8d3f07a6d34-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 1">↩︎</a></li></ol>

Five Years of Apollo Federation: the Standard for Enterprise API Platforms


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In today&#8217;s world of modern application development, monitoring and analyzing the performance of your services is crucial. Whether you have a single application or a platform that you’re trying to support, you are going to need to customize events and reporting to properly understand what is going on.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">By choosing an architecture with a graph router exposing multiple GraphQL APIs, you can have a clear understanding of everything by instrumenting your graph router instance. The Apollo Router offers a powerful toolkit for collecting and reporting data from your application&#8217;s request lifecycle. In this tutorial, we&#8217;ll explore how to use telemetry events and instruments together to gain valuable insights into your application&#8217;s behavior.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="Prerequisites"><a href="#prerequisites" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="prerequisites"><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>Prerequisites</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Before we get started, make sure you have the following in place:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>A working knowledge of Apollo Router.</li>



<li>Access to your application&#8217;s router.yaml configuration file.</li>



<li>Basic understanding of telemetry concepts.</li>
</ul>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="Telemetry-Events"><a href="#telemetry-events" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="telemetry-events"><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>Telemetry Events</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Telemetry events are used to signal significant occurrences in the Apollo Router&#8217;s request lifecycle. These events are logged and traced, providing visibility into what happens during the processing of a request. You can configure both standard and custom events to capture specific moments of interest.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="Configuring-Telemetry-Events"><a href="#configuring-telemetry-events" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="configuring-telemetry-events"><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>Configuring Telemetry Events</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">To configure telemetry events in your router’s config file, locate or add the telemetry section, and under instrumentation, add an events section:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">telemetry:
  instrumentation:
    events:
      router:
        request: info
        response: info
        error: error</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this example, we&#8217;ve configured standard events (<code class="" data-line="">request</code>, <code class="" data-line="">response</code>, and <code class="" data-line="">error</code>) with different logging levels. You can adjust these levels based on your monitoring requirements.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You can also define custom events tailored to your application&#8217;s specific needs. Here&#8217;s an example of how to configure a custom event:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">telemetry:
  instrumentation:
    events:
      router:
        custom.event:
          message: &quot;Custom event occurred&quot;
          level: info
          on: request
          attributes:
            http.response.status_code: true
            &quot;my_attribute&quot;:
              response_header: &quot;x-my-header&quot;</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this case, we&#8217;ve defined a custom event called <code class="" data-line="">custom.event</code> that will be triggered on request. We&#8217;ve also specified attributes to include in the event, providing additional context for analysis. You can see a more details example of attributes in our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/telemetry/instrumentation/spans#span-configuration-example">docs</a> and <a href="https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/">view</a> OpenTelemetry conventions for attributes available.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="Telemetry-Instruments"><a href="#telemetry-instruments" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="telemetry-instruments"><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>Telemetry Instruments</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Telemetry events are great for reporting an event based on some conditions, but what about reporting metrics to a backend? Telemetry instruments allow you to collect data from every request to report measurements to where you are exporting metrics to. Apollo Router supports standard and custom instruments, giving you flexibility in monitoring various aspects of your application.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">To configure telemetry instruments in your router’s config file, add an&nbsp; <code class="" data-line="">instruments</code> section under <code class="" data-line="">instrumentation</code> if it doesn&#8217;t already exist.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">telemetry:
  instrumentation:
    instruments:
      router:
        http.server.active_requests: true
        http.server.request.body.size: true
        http.server.request.duration: true
        http.server.response.body.size: true</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here, we&#8217;ve configured standard instruments that track metrics such as active requests, request body size, request duration, and response body size. You can enable or disable these instruments as needed.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For more tailored monitoring, you can define <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/telemetry/instrumentation/instruments/#custom-instruments">custom instruments</a>. These instruments allow you to collect specific metrics relevant to your application. Here&#8217;s an example of configuring a custom instrument:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">telemetry:
  instrumentation:
    instruments:
      router:
        acme.request.duration:
          value: duration
          type: counter
          unit: s
          description: &quot;Custom request duration metric&quot;
          attributes:
            http.response.status_code: true
            &quot;my_attribute&quot;:
              response_header: &quot;x-my-header&quot;</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this example, we&#8217;ve defined a custom instrument called&nbsp; <code class="" data-line="">acme.request.duration</code>. It collects the duration of requests, specifying its type as a counter. We&#8217;ve also included attributes and a description for better context.</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="Combining-Events-and-Instruments"><a href="#combining-events-and-instruments" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="combining-events-and-instruments"><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>Combining Events and Instruments</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now that we&#8217;ve configured telemetry events and instruments, let&#8217;s see how to use them together effectively.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Event Triggering</strong>: Use telemetry events to signal significant moments in your request lifecycle. For example, trigger a custom event when a specific condition is met, such as a failed request with a status code of 500.</li>



<li><strong>Instrument Data Collection</strong>: Configure telemetry instruments to collect data related to the events you trigger. In our example, the custom event <code class="" data-line="">custom.event</code> triggered on request can be associated with a custom instrument like <code class="" data-line="">acme.request.duration</code>. This instrument collects and reports the request duration along with relevant attributes.</li>



<li><strong>Analyze and Monitor</strong>: With telemetry events and instruments working together, you can now monitor and analyze your application&#8217;s performance. Use your preferred metrics backend to visualize and gain insights into request durations, response sizes, error rates, and more.</li>
</ul>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="Conclusion"><a href="#conclusion" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="conclusion"><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>Conclusion</h1>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In this tutorial, we&#8217;ve explored how to leverage telemetry events and <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/router/configuration/telemetry/instrumentation/">instruments</a> in the Apollo Router to efficiently collect and report data from your application&#8217;s request lifecycle. By combining these powerful tools, you can gain valuable insights into your application&#8217;s behavior, troubleshoot issues, and optimize performance.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Monitoring your application is crucial for delivering a reliable and high-performing service to your users. With Apollo Router&#8217;s telemetry capabilities, you&#8217;re well-equipped to achieve just that.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Happy monitoring and optimizing your Apollo Router-powered platform!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://apollographql.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DevRel/pages/edit-embed/428114017"></a></p>


Efficient Data Collection and Reporting with Apollo Router's Telemetry Events and Instruments

Efficient Data Collection and Reporting with Apollo Router’s Telemetry Events and Instruments


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The traditional approach to microservices in Kubernetes requires duplicating application logic into YAML config files. This leads to information fragmentation, inconsistencies, and ultimately bugs. With GraphQL and Apollo Federation, you can reduce the amount of required config, prevent duplication, and have a better experience maintaining your API. In particular, Apollo Federation can:</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Prevent conflicting API routes, and give better visibility into the entire API.</li>



<li>Ensure that routing rules always match the application code.</li>



<li>Make microservice dependencies declarative, and avoid custom networking rules between services.</li>
</ol>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#catch-conflicting-routes" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="catch-conflicting-routes"><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 conflicting routes</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The new Kubernetes Gateway API provides a lot of ergonomic improvements over the older Ingress, and puts more power in the hands of application developers to define their routes. While this is likely a good choice for a REST API, it can also lead to unexpected behavior.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Consider a backend team at a retail company who are implementing a new feature: allowing users to subscribe to a product they purchase on a regular basis. They might introduce an <code class="" data-line="">HTTPRoute</code> rule that looks like this:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">rules:
 - matches:
     - path:
         type: RegularExpression
         value: /user/[^/]+/subscription</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Unfortunately, they don’t know that the accounts team has already registered the <em>same</em> route to fetch a user’s membership (formerly called “subscription”)! When they roll out these changes, one of a few things could happen:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The rule isn’t applied because the older membership route takes precedence. This is likely the preferred outcome: it doesn’t break <em>existing</em> features (and it’s what <a href="https://gateway-api.sigs.k8s.io/reference/spec/#gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1.HTTPRouteRule">the docs</a> suggest should happen), but it can lead to head-scratching on the developers’ part. Ultimately, they’ll call in the platform team to figure out what’s going on.</li>



<li>Or, the rule <em>is</em> applied because, as is the case with the popular gateway I was testing, the alphabetical order of namespaces is used to resolve conflicts <em>without</em> considering the age of the config. This is risky business: the new feature appears to be working fine, and could pass QA despite having introduced a production issue. From here, it’s only a matter of time before the error reveals itself and someone gets paged to diagnose it.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Neither outcome is great. Wouldn’t it be better if the products team were informed of the problem before ever deploying anything? With Apollo Federation, that’s exactly what happens.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">First off, the developers can delete their entire <code class="" data-line="">HTTPRoute</code>; with Federation, the same code which defines the GraphQL API of a microservice determines how routing can work. Whether locally or in CI for their pull request, the product team encounters an error when they try to build (aka “compose”) their new <code class="" data-line="">subscription</code> field:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="" data-line="">INVALID_FIELD_SHARING: Non-shareable field &quot;User.subscription&quot; is resolved
 from multiple subgraphs: it is resolved from subgraphs 
 &quot;products&quot; and &quot;users&quot; and defined as non-shareable in all of them</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Not only does CI fail on the conflict and prevent them from deploying something that could potentially break production, but it also tells them which other service they’re conflicting with. These early show-stopping errors carve a much faster path to diagnosis: informing the developer what happened, and where they can go to fix it.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#preventing-incorrect-path-rules" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="preventing-incorrect-path-rules"><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>Preventing incorrect path rules</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A lesson we learn time and time again is that there should be a single source of truth for data, and configuration is no different. With a traditional REST microservices setup, there are at least two sources of truth for routing.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">First, the developer needs to define the route in their web framework of choice. For example, they might have this FastAPI route in a Python service:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-python" data-line="">@app.get(&quot;/items/{item_id}&quot;)
async def read_item(item_id: int) -&gt; Item:
  return Item.load(item_id)</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Second, they need to redefine the route in Kubernetes config. They’ll probably end up with something closely resembling the application code:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">rules:
 - matches:
     - path:
         type: RegularExpression
         value: /items/\d+/</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This works fine—that is, until the application updates to use opaque string IDs (like UUIDs). If the developer forgets to check on the Kubernetes config, the route will stop working. You could leave it to your QA team or some careful code review to catch this, or you could remove the possibility of this error entirely.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With GraphQL and Apollo Federation, the routing information all flows from a single source in the code, so it can never be out of sync! When a developer updates their microservice, the standard CI/CD process propagates that change automatically to the router, with no manual checks required. Better yet, if that change would break downstream clients, tools like <a href="https://bit.ly/3TcpBaP">Apollo GraphOS</a> catch and stop the release in its tracks before it even rolls out to the QA environment. That means less back-and-forth, and more shipping!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#clean-up-inter-service-networking-rules" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="clean-up-inter-service-networking-rules"><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>Clean up inter-service networking rules</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Most of the time, the only pods that should communicate with a microservice are the API Gateway’s pods. Security best practices tell us to lock down networking to only those interactions that are required. As a result, we’ll usually start each new microservice with a <code class="" data-line="">NetworkPolicy</code> that looks something like this:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
 name: microservice-network-policy
spec:
 podSelector: {}
 policyTypes:
   - Ingress
 ingress:
   - from:
       - namespaceSelector:
           matchLabels:
             name: infra
         podSelector:
           matchLabels:
             app: gateway</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here we’re denying all ingress traffic for all pods unless it comes from the API Gateway.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sometimes, though, one microservice needs data from another. Achieving this typically involves a request to the platform, infrastructure, and/or security teams to add a new rule for communication between those services. Worse, that rule will probably have to be broad enough in scope that <em>any</em> traffic is now allowed between those services,<em> loosening security</em> more than required. This direct communication also <em>tightens the coupling</em> between the microservices, making them harder to change and more likely to break.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">With Apollo Federation, services can set up their dependencies declaratively and let the router take care of the rest. In this example, the <code class="" data-line="">totalCost</code> field requires a <em>different</em> service’s <code class="" data-line="">products</code> field (specifically, the <code class="" data-line="">price</code> and <code class="" data-line="">shipping</code> subfields).</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-graphql" data-line="">type Order @key(fields: &quot;id&quot;) {
   id: ID!
   products: [Product] @external
   totalCost: Int @requires(fields: &quot;products { price shipping }&quot;)
}</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Not only does this microservice not need to directly communicate with another microservice, it doesn’t care <em>which</em> service provides the data it needs. This decouples the services, freeing up teams to evolve their projects independently. This process also explicitly documents dependencies, so CI can prevent changes that would cause issues for other services.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Only the data that is necessary for particular request will flow between microservices, and <em>everything</em> comes through the router. This means there’s a central place to monitor and manage traffic, and networking rules can be simplified and standardized. Because adding a new dependency is a simple code change, developers can submit fewer tickets to the platform and security teams and greatly reduce the risk of shipping broken code.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#simplify-your-kubernetes-config-today" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="simplify-your-kubernetes-config-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>Simplify your Kubernetes config today</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Using GraphQL with Apollo Federation can save time for your platform, infrastructure, and backend development teams while improving the reliability and maintainability of your microservices. It does this by removing application logic from your Kubernetes config, enabling each team to focus on what matters. If you’re interested in learning more about Apollo Federation, <a href="https://discord.gg/amVehrwMpJ">join our Discord server</a> and chat with us in the <code class="" data-line="">#apollo-federation</code> channel. If you have any ideas for improving a microservice platform that we should check out next, we’d love to hear about that too!</p>


Remove Application Logic from Kubernetes Config


<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!


<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#introduction" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="introduction"><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>Introduction</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Many organizations own a Monolith (GraphQL or Non-GraphQL) and migrating away always seems an impossible task, most organizations fall into a seemingly endless amount of effort with very little progress to show for it.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">At Apollo we have seen many different patterns of migrating away from a monolith. In this blog we will discuss the pattern which we&#8217;ve seen have the greatest success, and one which iteratively provides actual progress to the business investing in this change, all made possible by the careful application of Federation to the problem.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#the-digital-transformation" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="the-digital-transformation"><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 digital transformation</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Our wide reaching experiences has led us to recommend the <a href="https://martinfowler.com/bliki/StranglerFigApplication.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Strangler fig</a> pattern, which basically means placing a facade in front of your monolith (with every call to that monolith now passing through the facade), allowing you to start to dice up and remove/replace the monolith &#8211; critically &#8211; without affecting your consumers.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Using this pattern allows you to move away from the Monolith whilst critically showing incremental progress to the business, regarding removing the tech debt which currently burdens them.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The first thing to ask &#8211; often the hardest to answer &#8211; is how do you split the monolith up? Most companies choose to split up the monolith by domain.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Lets start with an example scenario of a typical e-commerce application and some of its possible domains.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Product</li>



<li>Inventory</li>



<li>Cart</li>



<li>Order</li>



<li>Payment</li>



<li>Customer account</li>



<li>Marketing</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Using the domains discussed above we can see how we could view a monolith in segments relating to specific domains &#8211; in figure below</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1.the-monolith.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-22285" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1.the-monolith.jpg 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1.the-monolith-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1.the-monolith-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 1. Your Monolith</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If we look at figure 2 of a simplified and typical monolith setup, you can see how clients fetch data and how tightly bound clients are to the system. To move past this, we use Federation as the critical enabler.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2.Typical-monolith-setup.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-22287" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2.Typical-monolith-setup.jpg 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2.Typical-monolith-setup-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2.Typical-monolith-setup-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 2. Bound to the Monolith</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The key technical aspect to manage here is bringing about productive change as fast as possible, wasting as little time and money during the digital transformation.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The approach is to decouple the existing clients from the monolith and onto an established Interface which is afforded by the Federation layer. We are now actively removing risk of back end change from the client, thus allowing the organization to go ahead with the transformation.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/3.-First-steps.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-22289" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/3.-First-steps.jpg 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/3.-First-steps-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/3.-First-steps-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 3. First successful subgraph migration</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The API Gateway here will now allow us to fetch a data response (previously monolith) from the newly Federation architecture. Make sure to record lessons here and apply them going forward to the next subgraph.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Do note, that some client work <em>may</em> be required here to bind newly created or improved client operations/queries.&nbsp;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now that you have gained the experience of implementing one subgraph, you are ready to transfer this knowledge to implement the second subgraph. You will find it gets easier and easier, because every new subgraph implementation will build on the learning of the last.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It is important to note that this pattern keeps the monolith in play purely as a data source, because you are 100% certain the data is correct. Changing everything at once forcefully cascades change across (and activating) nearly every team, which will become impossible to manage. The creation of a contract (GraphQL Schema) de-risks the migration hugely because the org can be 100% certain they can serve the original data response structures reliably.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/4.-Additional-subgraphs.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-22291" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/4.-Additional-subgraphs.jpg 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/4.-Additional-subgraphs-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/4.-Additional-subgraphs-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 4. Learning from the first and implementing second subgraph</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Note however, it is not necessary to connect to the monolith <strong>if</strong> you already have the new replacement backing microservices already available. If this is the case, you can bypass the monolith immediately and connect to that microservice.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/5.-Penultamate-state.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-22293" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/5.-Penultamate-state.jpg 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/5.-Penultamate-state-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/5.-Penultamate-state-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 5. Strangler Fig fully applied to Monolith</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Using the Strangler pattern, we will arrive at a point where all traffic for each client is actually being facaded by the supergraph itself.We are now officially in a <em>decoupled state</em>, whereby the client has no idea where the data is coming from, freeing the org to start the decommissioning phase of this pattern; shutting down the monolith section by section.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/6.-Shutting-down-monolith-sections.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-22295" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/6.-Shutting-down-monolith-sections.jpg 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/6.-Shutting-down-monolith-sections-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/6.-Shutting-down-monolith-sections-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 6. Strangler Fig worked. New modern services implemented.</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Figure 2 above demonstrates two domains which were previously served by the monolith, now being served by the new modern microservices. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It is critical to note, this pattern actively hides deep architectural implementational details away from the client, yet <em>still</em> fulfils the historically agreed data response, enabled entirely by contract (Schema) of our new Supergraph.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/7.-Monolith-removed.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-22297" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/7.-Monolith-removed.jpg 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/7.-Monolith-removed-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/7.-Monolith-removed-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 7. The migration is complete. The Monolith has been successfully removed.</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The end state of the transformation is achieved once all the domains in the monolith have been migrated, thus allowing the org to successfully rid themselves of the monolith.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#conclusion" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="conclusion"><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>Conclusion</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Although moving away from a deeply entrenched monolith can seem like an impossible task, using the steps as described in this pattern and also compartmentalizing away any un-required complexity &#8211; what seems an impossible task, can be achieved in a manageable fashion.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Leverage the supergraph contract to decouple your system, allowing you to <strong>safely and predictably</strong> migrate away from the monolith, without impacting your clients.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Using Federation as a tool will greatly increase your ability to deliver this digital transformation on time and on budget; as it provides the missing link to decouple the change process of systems modernisation, between your clients and internal architecture. Head over to our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/#break-up-monolithic-code">documentation</a> to learn more of how you can break up your monolith and incrementally adopt Federation 🙌</p>


From Monolith to Federation


<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


<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

Apollo Federation and GraphOS add support for entity interfaces to streamline collaboration


<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/">Apollo Federation</a> is supported by over <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs">20 different subgraph libraries across 12 different programming languages</a>. Have you ever wondered how we capture those compatibility results?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In order to ensure those libraries are compatible with the specification, we have a <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility">testing repository</a> that verifies compatibility against their reference implementations. While it is great to have a testing suite verifying compatibility with the spec, up until recently, compatibility results were only available at the end of the library development lifecycle. Developers first had to implement the spec, release the library, create a reference subgraph implementation in the testing repo and then once the tests are run, they would finally get the compatibility results. We heard your pain and decided to streamline this process.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We are happy to announce that you can now easily run subgraph compatibility tests on your local machine and within your Github CI/CD pipelines! Compatibility test suite is now distributed as an executable <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/@apollo/federation-subgraph-compatibility">NPM script</a> and a corresponding <a href="https://github.com/marketplace/actions/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility">Github Action</a>!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Read below to see how you can now streamline your subgraph development process.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#implementation-under-test" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="implementation-under-test"><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>Implementation Under Test</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We first need to create a subgraph that will be used for testing. In order to be able to consistently verify federation features, all subgraphs have to implement the same <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility/blob/main/COMPATIBILITY.md">reference schema</a>. Compatibility tests will be run against a supergraph which consists of your subgraph implementation, two additional reference subgraphs and <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/router">Apollo Router</a>.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="534" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image-1024x534.png" alt="" class="wp-image-19311" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image-1024x534.png 1024w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image-300x156.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image-768x400.png 768w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image-1200x625.png 1200w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image.png 1230w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Compatibility Test Supergraph</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Based on the test results, we will be able to generate a compatibility report.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="506" height="508" src="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-11-at-4.20.16-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-19295" srcset="https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-11-at-4.20.16-PM.png 506w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-11-at-4.20.16-PM-300x300.png 300w, https://wp.apollographql.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-11-at-4.20.16-PM-150x150.png 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Federation Compatibility Results</figcaption></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For additional details about the reference schema and the executed tests, please refer to our <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility/blob/main/COMPATIBILITY.md">documentation</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#using-npx-to-run-compatibility-tests-locally" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="using-npx-to-run-compatibility-tests-locally"><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 NPX to run compatibility tests locally</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation subgraph compatibility test script is published as an executable <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/@apollo/federation-subgraph-compatibility">NPM package</a> and you can easily execute it by using <a href="https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v7/commands/npx">NPX</a>.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-shell-session" data-line="">npx @apollo/federation-subgraph-compatibility --help</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When running the script, you have two options in how you can run and manage your test processes&nbsp; &#8211; you can either use <a href="https://pm2.keymetrics.io/">PM2</a> or <a href="https://docs.docker.com/compose/">Docker Compose</a>. If your subgraph is already running, you just need to specify the target endpoint:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-shell-session" data-line="">npx @apollo/federation-subgraph-compatibility pm2 --endpoint http://localhost:8080/graphql</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Otherwise, you can provide a PM2 ecosystem file or Docker Compose file that specifies how to start your application.<br>See our <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/@apollo/federation-subgraph-compatibility">script documentation</a> for additional usage information.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#integrating-github-action-to-your-ci-cd-pipeline" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="integrating-github-action-to-your-ci-cd-pipeline"><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>Integrating Github Action to your CI/CD pipeline</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For your convenience, compatibility tests are also packaged as a <a href="https://github.com/features/actions">Github Action</a>! <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation-subgraph-compatibility">apollographql/federation-subgraph-compatibility</a> action uses Docker Compose to run your compatibility tests. Simply add the following step to your workflow file:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml" data-line="">- uses: apollographql/federation-subgraph-compatibility@v1
  with:
    # [Required] Docker Compose file to start up the subgraph
    compose: &#039;path/to/docker-compose.yaml&#039;
    # [Required] Path to the GraphQL schema file
    schema: &#039;path/to/schema.graphql&#039;
    # GraphQL endpoint path, defaults to &#039;&#039; (empty)
    path: &#039;&#039;
    # GraphQL endpoint HTTP port, defaults to 4001
    port: 4001
    # Turn on debug mode with extra log info
    debug: false
    # Github Token / PAT for submitting PR comments
    token: &#039;&#039;
    # Boolean flag to indicate whether any failing test should fail the script
    failOnWarning: false
    # Boolean flag to indicate whether any failing required functionality test should fail the script
    failOnRequired: false</code></pre>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">By default, action will post compatibility results to your job summary and also upload them as a workflow artifact. If you configure action with a Github Token that has PR write permissions, compatibility test action will also be able to post results as comments on your PRs. You can see an example integration in <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation-jvm">apollographql/federation-jvm</a> repository (<a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation-jvm/pull/285#issuecomment-1374047449">example comment</a>).</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Please refer to our <a href="https://github.com/marketplace/actions/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility">Github Action documentation</a> for additional details.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#updating-subgraph-compatibility-results" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="updating-subgraph-compatibility-results"><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>Updating Subgraph Compatibility Results</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility">@apollographql/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility</a> is the source of truth for all the subgraph compatibility results that are displayed on our <a href="https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/building-supergraphs/supported-subgraphs">supported subgraphs</a> documentation page. Since we need to be able to reproduce and verify the results, we can only report on the subgraph implementations that are included in the repository.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Once you are happy with the compatibility results, please open up a PR with the same example implementation against our testing repository. Make sure to check out our <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility/blob/main/SUBGRAPH_GUIDE.md">subgraph contributor guide</a> for additional details. After your PR gets merged, your compatibility results will be displayed on our website.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#conclusion" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="conclusion"><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>Conclusion</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation Subgraph Compatibility tests allow us to consistently verify Federation support in a target implementation. With the introduction of an executable NPM script and a Github Action we hope to simplify and streamline the development process for all subgraph authors.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Apollo Federation is also constantly evolving! By introducing versioned artifacts, we can now more easily update or introduce new tests to verify new features. Make sure to follow our compatibility testing repository Github releases for latest test updates to the test harness!</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We are also open for feedback so please <a href="https://community.apollographql.com/">start a discussion</a>, join our <a href="https://discord.com/invite/graphos">Discord server</a> or raise an issue (<a href="https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-federation-subgraph-compatibility/issues">NPM script</a>, <a href="https://github.com/apollographql/federation-subgraph-compatibility/issues">GH action</a>) for any new features you would like to see!</p>


Apollo Federation