Type Merging Terminology Hierarchy

Glossary

Type Merging

The process of combining multiple GraphQL schemas (graphs) into a single GraphQL schema (graph).

Schema Stitching

The process of creating a single gateway from multiple underlying GraphQL services (Subschema), that orchestrates and delegates requests to the corresponding GraphQL services using The Guild’s graphql-tools/stitching libraries. Stitching supports all methods of type merging (Subschema Directive-based Type Merging or Programmatic/Config Gateway-based Type Merging) and thus also supports Apollo Federation.

Apollo Federation

An implementation of Subschema Directive-based Type Merging that is defined by the Apollo Federation Specification. GraphQL schemas (Apollo Federation Subgraphs) are composed of a single GraphQL schema (Apollo Federated Graph) on a Gateway level (Apollo Federation Gateway).

“The Graph”

Branding used by Apollo for describing all their libraries and products.

[...] the graph is a unified representation of all your data, services, and digital capabilities. The graph enables app developers to delete thousands of lines of boilerplate code, move fast without waiting on backend teams, and keep features consistent across web and mobile platforms

Source: https://www.apollographql.com/ (2022/02/24)

Apollo Graph Platform

Branding used by Apollo for describing their open-source products.

The Apollo Graph Platform The leading open-source GraphQL implementation with 17M downloads per month and the only end-to-end cloud management solution for GraphQL.

Source: https://www.apollographql.com/ (2022/02/24)

Apollo Federated Graph

An implementation of Type Merging. The result of combining multiple Apollo federation Subgraphs is an Apollo Federated Graph. The Apollo Federated Graph is usually exposed via an Apollo Federation Gateway or Apollo Federation compatible gateway (e.g. graphql-mesh).

Apollo Federation Subgraph (Link)

A service that exposes a GraphQL schema that is consumed by a gateway in order to create a federated graph. The services schema uses directive annotations on types and fields as a hint for a gateway on how it should combine the services schema with the schema of the other Apollo federation subgraphs. A Apollo Federation Subgraph is a GraphQL schema with Apollo Federation schema directives. Also See Subschema.