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



<p>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>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>“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>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><strong>Apollo’s latest release provides operational excellence for GraphQL federation</strong></p>



<p>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-1 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><strong>Apollo customers to focus on innovation instead of API aggregation or orchestration</strong></p>



<p>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><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><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><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>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>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>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>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>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>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><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>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>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>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>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>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>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><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=Uan_ARAxt6w">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><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><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><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><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>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>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>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>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>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>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>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>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">telemetry:
  instrumentation:
    events:
      router:
        request: info
        response: info
        error: error</code></pre>



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



<p>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">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>In this case, we&#8217;ve defined a custom event called <code>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>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>To configure telemetry instruments in your router’s config file, add an&nbsp; <code>instruments</code> section under <code>instrumentation</code> if it doesn&#8217;t already exist.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-yaml">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>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>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">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>In this example, we&#8217;ve defined a custom instrument called&nbsp; <code>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>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>custom.event</code> triggered on request can be associated with a custom instrument like <code>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>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>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>Happy monitoring and optimizing your Apollo Router-powered platform!</p>



<p><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>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>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>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>HTTPRoute</code> rule that looks like this:</p>



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



<p>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>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>First off, the developers can delete their entire <code>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>subscription</code> field:</p>



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



<p>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">rules:
 - matches:
     - path:
         type: RegularExpression
         value: /items/\d+/</code></pre>



<p>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>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>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>NetworkPolicy</code> that looks something like this:</p>



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



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



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



<p>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>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>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>#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>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>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="(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>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>The Apollo-maintained <code>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>graphql-js</code> library, to enable the entire JavaScript ecosystem.</li>



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



<p>The Apollo-maintained <code>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>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>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>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="(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>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>To bootstrap a new Hot Chocolate subgraph project, run:</p>



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



<p>Federation 2 is configured into your Hot Chocolate subgraph in <code>Program.cs</code></p>



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



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



<p>Entity classes like <code>Thing.cs</code> define a <code>Key</code> , <code>ID</code>, and <code>Reference Resolver</code> to enable joining data across subgraphs:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-csharp">[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>Update your <code>.csproj</code> file:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-prismatic-blocks"><code class="language-markup">  &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>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">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>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>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>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>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>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>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>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>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>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="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 1. Your Monolith</figcaption></figure>



<p>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="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 2. Bound to the Monolith</figcaption></figure>



<p>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>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="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 3. First successful subgraph migration</figcaption></figure>



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



<p>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>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="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 4. Learning from the first and implementing second subgraph</figcaption></figure>



<p>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="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 5. Strangler Fig fully applied to Monolith</figcaption></figure>



<p>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="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">figure 6. Strangler Fig worked. New modern services implemented.</figcaption></figure>



<p>Figure 2 above demonstrates two domains which were previously served by the monolith, now being served by the new modern microservices. </p>



<p>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="(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>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>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>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>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>Federation unlocks superpowers for our queries, enabling us to split up business logic and improve performance with features like&nbsp;<code>@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>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>@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>@inaccessible</code>&nbsp;fields. And even if you don’t have any sensitive&nbsp;&nbsp;<code>@inaccessible</code>&nbsp;fields in your graph today, you might in the future!</li>



<li>The&nbsp;<code>@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>@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>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>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">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>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>orders</code>&nbsp;subgraph to have direct access to the&nbsp;<code>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>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>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">@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>Here, we’re setting up the expected token as an environment variable called&nbsp;<code>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>Router-Authorization</code>&nbsp;header. Requests without a valid header will get a bare response with a&nbsp;<code>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>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>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>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>First, you might be tempted to apply router authorization checks only for federation-specific subgraph fields (<code>_service</code> and&nbsp;<code>_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>@inaccessible</code>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<code>@requries</code>&nbsp;fields via a top-level&nbsp;<code>Query</code> field (a standard, non-federated query).</li>
</ul>



<p>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>@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>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>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>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>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>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>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><em>So what’s next?</em></p>



<p>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><strong>Block malicious traffic at the edge of your graph with new JWT auth support in the router.</strong></p>



<p>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>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>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><strong>Reduce p99 latency during peak traffic with Distributed APQ (automatic persisted query) caching with Redis.</strong></p>



<p><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>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><strong>Extend the router in your language of choice using new external coprocessor support.</strong></p>



<p>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>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>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>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>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><strong>Upgrade to Router v1.12 and ensure they are connected to GraphOS with an Enterprise plan.</strong></p>



<p>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>APOLLO_KEY</code> and <code>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>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>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><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>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>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>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>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="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Compatibility Test Supergraph</figcaption></figure>



<p>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="(max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Federation Compatibility Results</figcaption></figure>



<p>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>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">npx @apollo/federation-subgraph-compatibility --help</code></pre>



<p>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">npx @apollo/federation-subgraph-compatibility pm2 --endpoint http://localhost:8080/graphql</code></pre>



<p>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>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">- 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>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>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><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>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>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>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>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

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

Federated Subscriptions with Router’s HTTP Callback Protocol

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

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

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

Remove Application Logic from Kubernetes Config

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

Past posts

From Monolith to Federation

Secure your GraphQL Microservices

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

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

New Apollo Federation spec compliance tools for GraphQL Server maintainers

Apollo Federation

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

Federated Subscriptions with Router’s HTTP Callback Protocol

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

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

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

Remove Application Logic from Kubernetes Config

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

Past posts

From Monolith to Federation

Secure your GraphQL Microservices

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

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

New Apollo Federation spec compliance tools for GraphQL Server maintainers

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