As applications grow more complex, so do their APIs. Teams often split large monolithic GraphQL schemas into modular, independent services. But how do you stitch them back together into a single, seamless API for your clients?
This is where GraphQL Federation comes in.
What is GraphQL Federation?
GraphQL Federation is an architectural pattern that allows multiple GraphQL services (also called subgraphs) to work together as a single unified GraphQL API.
Instead of managing one giant schema in a monolithic server, you can split your API into independently owned, deployable services, while still giving clients a single, cohesive endpoint to query.
Why use Federation?
Building large-scale GraphQL APIs brings common challenges like monolithic schemas becoming hard to manage and deploy, tight coupling between teams slows down development and much more.
Federation solves these by enabling decentralised development, each team owns and deploys its schema. Unified experience: clients still query a single endpoint. Scalability: independently scaling subgraphs based on demand.
How GraphQL Federation works
In GraphQL federation, subgraphs are individual services that define parts of the overall schema, including extending and owning types. These are composed into a supergraph, a unified executable schema that clients interact with. A gateway (like Grafbase) exposes the supergraph, determines which subgraphs can resolve specific parts of a query, and plans how to fetch the required data. Federation directives help connect the different subgraphs within the graph.
Federation with Grafbase
Setting up federation traditionally required running your own gateway, managing routing, and manually deploying multiple services. Grafbase simplifies all of this.
With Grafbase Federation, Subgraphs can be deployed instantly. Composition is handled automatically. You get a single endpoint, without maintaining infrastructure: built-in caching, authentication, and performance optimisations. Deploying a federated supergraph with Grafbase often takes just a few minutes, making it ideal for modern teams moving fast.
To learn more about Federation and Grafbase, check out this article.
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