# What Is Apollo Federation?

DevFeed: [What Is Apollo Federation?](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/what-is-apollo-federation-23576.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.apollographql.com/blog/what-is-apollo-federation>)

Author: Ceora Ford

Published: 2022-02-09T16:00:24Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Apollo Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/apollo-blog.md>)

Topics: [GraphQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/graphql.md>), [Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/development.md>)

Tags: [apollo-federation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/apollo-federation.md>), [architecture](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/architecture.md>), [backend](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/backend.md>), [distributed](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/distributed.md>), [graphql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/graphql.md>), [monolithic-architecture](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/monolithic-architecture.md>), [open](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/open.md>), [standard](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/standard.md>)

## AI overview

This explanatory article introduces Apollo Federation as an open-source specification and standard for building distributed GraphQL graphs. It discusses why growing graphs can become monolithic and difficult to maintain, and outlines Apollo Federation's intended benefits and starting points.

## Source excerpt

You may have heard about Apollo Federation before, especially if you're on a team that uses GraphQL and Apollo tools. But what is it exactly? Apollo Federation is an approach to application architecture created by Apollo. It's open-sourced so anyone has access. It's not a product that we offer but instead, it's a specification or a standard for building a distributed graph. It can be implemented in any language that is compatible with GraphQL. But what does that entail?