GraphQL Federation: A Model-Based Approach

Abstract

The Graph Query Language (GraphQL) is a framework for de- veloping Web Services, which works on the domain model level rather than the functions. While the declarative nature of this framework has already attracted the interest of practitioners in both academia and industry, it still lacks integration capabilities. This shortcoming has been recognized in the industry; there exists a first tool creating a federation—a virtual integrated system—on top of instrumented systems. Being relatively new, it suffers from a few practical and conceptual shortcomings, such as consolidation of (conflicting) schemas and identification of multiple types. In this paper, we will analyze the federation challenge and propose a solution utilizing multi-view modeling and domain specific modeling. Our approach is accom- panied by a proof-of-concept implementation and provides a model-based presentation of the GraphQL framework.