Apollo Federation Subgraph Compatibility Testing Strategy

The purpose of this repository is to provide a centralized strategy focused on understanding a given subgraph's compatibility against the Apollo Federation Specification.

The following open-source GraphQL server libraries and hosted subgraphs provide support for Apollo Federation and are included in our test suite. If you want to see additional implementations added to this list, feel free to open an Issue or check out our Apollo Federation Library Maintainers Implementation Guide to find information on how to submit a PR for your implementation!

• C# / .NET
• Elixir
• Go
• Java / Kotlin
• JavaScript / TypeScript
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby
• Rust
• Scala
• Hosted Subgraphs

Table Legend

Icon	Description
🟩	Functionality is supported
🟥	Critical functionality is not supported
🔲	Additional Federation functionality is not supported

C# / .NET

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
GraphQL for .NET	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🔲 @key (composite) 🔲 @requires 🔲 @provides 🔲 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲
Hot Chocolate	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲

Elixir

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
Absinthe.Federation	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 repeatable @key 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩

Go

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
gqlgen	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩

Java / Kotlin

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
dgs-framework	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 repeatable @key 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩
Federation JVM	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 repeatable @key 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩
GraphQL Java Kickstart (Spring Boot)	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟥 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩
GraphQL Kotlin	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 repeatable @key 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩

JavaScript / TypeScript

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
Apollo Server	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 repeatable @key 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩
express-graphql	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩
GraphQL Yoga	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩
Mercurius	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲
NestJS	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩
Pothos GraphQL	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 repeatable @key 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩

PHP

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
Lighthouse (Laravel)	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲
Apollo Federation PHP	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲

Python

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
Ariadne	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲
Graphene	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🔲 @requires 🟩 @provides 🔲 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲
Strawberry	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 repeatable @key 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩

Ruby

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
GraphQL Ruby	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲

Rust

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
Async-graphql	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 repeatable @key 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟥 @shareable 🔲 @tag 🔲 @override 🔲 @inaccessible 🔲

Scala

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
Caliban	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🟩	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩

Hosted Subgraphs

Library	Federation 1 Support	Federation 2 Support
AWS AppSync	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🟩 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩
StepZen	_service 🟩 @key (single) 🟩 @key (multi) 🟩 @key (composite) 🔲 repeatable @key 🔲 @requires 🟩 @provides 🟩 @ftv1 🔲	@link 🟩 @shareable 🟩 @tag 🟩 @override 🟩 @inaccessible 🟩

Testing Suite

This repository contains a structured testing suite based on a federated schema that covers the Apollo Federation Specification. The federated schema is constructued of 3 subgraphs (users, inventory and products) that will be started and used to test various libraries that support Apollo Federation. The users and inventory subgraphs are provided by this repository in addition to the graph router instance. Library implementors will each implement the products schema and provide a docker file that can be used with docker compose. Templates for these files are provided along with examples.

Subgraph Schemas

Users

type User @key(fields: "email") {
  email: ID!
  name: String
  totalProductsCreated: Int
  yearsOfEmployment: Int!
}

Inventory

extend type Product @key(fields: "id") {
  id: ID! @external
  dimensions: ProductDimension @external
  delivery(zip: String): DeliveryEstimates
    @requires(fields: "dimensions { size weight }")
}

type ProductDimension @shareable {
  size: String
  weight: Float
}

type DeliveryEstimates {
  estimatedDelivery: String
  fastestDelivery: String
}

Products (schema to be implemented by library maintainers)

extend schema
  @link(
    url: "https://specs.apollo.dev/federation/v2.0",
    import: [
      "@extends",
      "@external",
      "@key",
      "@inaccessible",
      "@override",
      "@provides",
      "@requires",
      "@shareable",
      "@tag"
    ]
  )

type Product
  @key(fields: "id")
  @key(fields: "sku package")
  @key(fields: "sku variation { id }") {
    id: ID!
    sku: String
    package: String
    variation: ProductVariation
    dimensions: ProductDimension
    createdBy: User @provides(fields: "totalProductsCreated")
    notes: String @tag(name: "internal")
    research: [ProductResearch!]!
}

type DeprecatedProduct @key(fields: "sku package") {
  sku: String!
  package: String!
  reason: String
  createdBy: User
}

type ProductVariation {
  id: ID!
}

type ProductResearch @key(fields: "study { caseNumber }") {
  study: CaseStudy!
  outcome: String
}

type CaseStudy {
  caseNumber: ID!
  description: String
}

type ProductDimension @shareable {
  size: String
  weight: Float
  unit: String @inaccessible
}

extend type Query {
  product(id: ID!): Product
  deprecatedProduct(sku: String!, package: String!): DeprecatedProduct @deprecated(reason: "Use product query instead")
}

extend type User @key(fields: "email") {
  averageProductsCreatedPerYear: Int @requires(fields: "totalProductsCreated yearsOfEmployment")
  email: ID! @external
  name: String @override(from: "users")
  totalProductsCreated: Int @external
  yearsOfEmployment: Int! @external
}

Testing Spec Compliance

Following tests are run to verify Federation Spec compliance.

Minimum functionality to support Apollo Federation

This is a minimum set of functionality to allow for API-side joins and use of entities in other subgraphs.

• _service - support a rover subgraph introspect command (this is the Apollo Federation equivalent of Introspection for subgraphs)
  • executes query { _service { sdl } } and verifies the contents of the SDL
• @key and _entities - support defining a single @key
  • Below is an example of the single @key query that is sent from the graph router to the implementing products subgraph:

query {
    _entities(representations: [{ "__typename": "User", "email": "[email protected]" }]) {
        ...on User { email name }
      }
    }
}

• @link (required for Federation v2)
  • Must be seen as a valid schema directive in the SDL returned by the subgraph. Is verified by checking for its inclusion in the query { _service { sdl } } result.

Additional functionality to fully support Apollo Federation

• @key and _entities - multiple @key definitions, multiple-fields @key and a composite object fields @key
  • Below is an example of a multiple fields @key query that is sent from the graph router to the implementing products subgraph:

query {
  _entities(representations: [{ "__typename": "DeprecatedProduct", "sku": "apollo-federation-v1", "package": "@apollo/federation-v1" }]) {
    ...on DeprecatedProduct { sku package reason }
  }
}

• Below is an example of a composite object fields @key query that is sent from the graph router to the implementing products subgraph:

query {
  _entities(representations: [{ "__typename": "ProductResearch", "study": { "caseNumber": "1234" } }]) {
    ...on ProductResearch { study { caseNumber description } }
  }
}

• Below is an example of a multiple @key query that is sent from the graph router to the implementing products subgraph:

query {
  _entities(representations: [
     { "__typename": "Product", "id: "apollo-federation" },
     { "__typename": "Product", "sku": "federation", "package": "@apollo/federation" },
     { "__typename": "Product", "sku": "studio", "variation": { "id": "platform" } }
  ]) {
    ...on Product { id sku }
  }
}

• @requires - directive used to provide additional non-key information from one subgraph to the computed fields in another subgraph, should support defining complex fields
• • This will be covered by the subgraph implementors at Product.createdBy where they will be expected to provide the User.averageProductsCreatedPerYear using yearsOfEmployment value provided by the user graph and the totalProductsCreated value from the implementing products subgraph. Example query that will be sent directly to products subgraph.

query ($id: ID!) {
  product(id: $id) {
    createdBy {
      averageProductsCreatedPerYear
      email
    }
  }
}

• @provides - directive used for path denormalization
  • This will be covered by the subgraph implementors at Product.createdBy where they will be expected to provide the User.totalProductsCreated to be anything other than 4

query ($id: ID!) {
  product(id: $id) {
    createdBy {
      email
      totalProductsCreated
    }
  }
}

• @external - directive used to mark fields as external (defined in other subgraph). This is covered in the tests above.
• extends or @extends - ability to extend the type that is defined in other subgraph
  • This is covered in the products subgraph extension of the User
• ftv1 (Federated Traces version 1)
  • A query with the apollo-federated-include-trace:ftv1 header will be sent to the products subgraph which should return a value for the extensions.ftv1 in the result.
  • NOTE: In the initial release of this testing strategy, we will not be validating ftv1 to ensure it's in the proper format
• @tag - directive used to add arbitrary metadata information to the schema elements. Used by Apollo Contracts to expose different variants of the schema.
  • Cannot be @federation__ namespaced - this directive has to be named consistently as @tag across all the subgraphs
  • Must be seen as a valid schema directive in the SDL returned by the subgraph. Is verified by checking for its inclusion in the query { _service { sdl } } result.
• @shareable - directive that provides ability to relax single source of truth for entity fields
  • Must be seen as a valid schema directive in the SDL returned by the subgraph. Is verified by checking for its inclusion in the query { _service { sdl } } result. Must also be able to query shareable types.
• @override - directive used for migrating fields between subgraphs
  • Must be seen as a valid schema directive in the SDL returned by the subgraph. Is verified by checking for its inclusion in the query { _service { sdl } } result. Must also be able to return the value of an overridden field.
• @inaccessible - directive used to hide fields from the supergraph
  • Cannot be @federation__ namespaced - this directive has to be named consistently as @inacessible across all the subgraphs
  • Must be seen as a valid schema directive in the SDL returned by the subgraph. Is verified by checking for its inclusion in the query { _service { sdl } } result. Must also be able to query inaccessible fields from the Products schema.

Setting up the testing suite

1. npm install
2. npm run setup
   • npm run build - compiles typescript code and composes supergraph SDL
   • npm run docker - build docker images for graph-router, users and inventory

Running the Test

npm run test will test all folders in the implementations folder. You can provide a comma separated string as an additional argument to test only specific implementations.

Test Results

A results.md file will be created that contains the testing results.

Contributing a new library to this test suite

Fork this repository and navigate to the Apollo Federation Subgraph Maintainers Implementation Guide for implementation instructions. Once you've completed the implementations instructions, feel free to create a PR and we'll review it. If you have any questions please open a GitHub issue on this repository.