---
title: "🚀 What Launched at GraphQLConf 2025"
tags: ["blog"]
date: 2025-10-20
byline: Jeff Auriemma and An Ngo
featured: true
---

_Article 1 of 4 GraphQLConf 2025 posts_

GraphQLConf 2025 was a launchpad for new tooling and infrastructure by GraphQL vendors, indie maintainers, and enterprise-backed open source organizations. Read on to learn more about what's now available for GraphQL users!

## 📋 The Latest GraphQL Specification

![Speaker Photo](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54774915705_11d1dd94e6_c.jpg)

<h3>

[Lee Byron - GraphQL Specification September 2025 Edition](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/fe829e6aab214193a809c31e4b0c832a/?name=Keynote:%20Opening%20Remarks%20-%20Lee%20Byron,%20Co-Creator%20of%20GraphQL%20&%20Director,%20GraphQL%20Foundation)

</h3>

The program kicked off with the announcement of the September 2025 edition of the GraphQL Specification by Lee Byron in his opening keynote. Read more about what's new in GraphQL here.

---

## 📦 New Data Fetching Concepts

<h3>

[Michael Staib - Offset Pagination Is Dead! Meet Relative Cursors](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/73b37145c961856b3c857568d0739a9f/?name=Lightning%20Talk:%20Offset%20Pagination%20Is%20Dead!%20Meet%20Relative%20Cursors%20-%20Michael%20Staib,%20ChilliCream)

</h3>

Michael Staib introduced relative cursors so teams can keep familiar jump to page flows while gaining the reliability and efficiency of cursor based pagination.

---

<h3>

[Matt Mahoney - @async: Defer Even More!](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/4614b0dbd6236e202a87270ceda0c3bf/?name=@async:%20Defer%20Even%20More!%20-%20Matt%20Mahoney,%20Meta)

</h3>

Matt Mahoney unveiled Meta's @async directive so products request data only when needed, trimming the hidden costs that @defer can leave behind.

---

<h3>

[Raymie Stata - Rethinking GraphQL Execution](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/9426f470312d5ebb39a99a3a822f2821/?name=Rethinking%20GraphQL%20Execution%20-%20Raymie%20Stata,%20Airbnb)

</h3>

Raymie Stata detailed Airbnb's newly open-sourced Viaduct framework, with separate resolution and completion phases, a planner that orchestrates them, and shared data structures that keep one thousand contributors efficient.

---

## 🚀 GraphQL Application Development

![Martin Bonnin](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54774799549_1423365e40_c.jpg)

<h3>

[Martin Bonnin - Compose Your Mobile App With GraphQL](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/33ba3777057f6b5d6e17b0e6fe86e7d9/?name=Compose%20Your%20Mobile%20App%20With%20GraphQL%20-%20Martin%20Bonnin,%20Apollo)

</h3>

Martin Bonnin demonstrated a new library for Apollo Kotlin users to work with colocated fragments in their Jetpack Compose apps.

---

<h3>

[Robert Balicki - GraphQL in a World of Full-stack, Rich Clients: The Next Evolution](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/a2bb7f46355a46dcab47d654c9ccbe4e/?name=GraphQL%20in%20a%20World%20of%20Full-stack,%20Rich%20Clients:%20The%20Next%20Evolution%20-%20Robert%20Balicki,%20Pinterest)

</h3>

Robert Balicki won the Academy Award for most theatrical talk showcasing the latest innovations in the Isograph framework.

---

<h3>

[Benoit Lubek - Next-Generation GraphQL Cache Management in Your Android and iOS Apps](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/a0e2a06e7fa0578e1b252beef517aef2/?name=Lightning%20Talk:%20Next-Generation%20GraphQL%20Cache%20Management%20in%20Your%20Android%20and%20iOS%20Apps%20-%20Benoit%20Lubek,%20Apollo%20GraphQL)

</h3>

Benoit Lubek shared the latest Apollo Kotlin and iOS cache upgrades, covering pagination, expiration, and offline first patterns for mobile teams.

---

<h3>

[Lenz Weber-Tronic - Reintroducing Apollo Client: V4 and Beyond](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/efe5aee612551209ba413d57d3ddbb4e/?name=Reintroducing%20Apollo%20Client:%20V4%20and%20Beyond%20-%20Lenz%20Weber-Tronic,%20Apollo%20GraphQL)

</h3>

Lenz Weber-Tronic unpacked the latest modernizations and features shipped in Apollo Client with query preloading, suspense, fragment APIs, and masking that keep complex apps fast and maintainable.

---

<h3>

[Alec Aivazis - GraphQL Isn't Just for Enterprises: The New King of Fullstack Typescript Applications](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/dda1fbb70f8b5b73223a6e37a736e5bd/?name=GraphQL%20Isn%27t%20Just%20for%20Enterprises:%20The%20New%20King%20of%20Fullstack%20Typescript%20Applications%20-%20Alec%20Aivazis,%20HoudiniLabs)

</h3>

Alec Aivazis showed the Houdini developer experience, demonstrating how smaller teams can sprint from idea to production with GraphQL first tooling.

---

<h3>

[Jason Kuhrt - Hello Graffle! A Modular Type Safe GraphQL Client](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/ce3c04db5c598ba5451fcd71df4849ee/?name=Lightning%20Talk:%20Hello%20Graffle!%20A%20Modular%20Type%20Safe%20GraphQL%20Client%20-%20Jason%20Kuhrt,%20The%20Guild)

</h3>

Jason Kuhrt showed off the Graffle library (formerly graphql-request), unveiling a plugin-first approach that combines a document builder, OTEL support, and in-memory execution for TypeScript apps.

---

## 🔌 Protocol Innovations

<h3>

[Tom Houle - The Federated GraphQL Subscriptions Zoo](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/f4c4515cba67a0ef57bb208e2c805c6c/?name=Lightning%20Talk:%20The%20Federated%20GraphQL%20Subscriptions%20Zoo%20-%20Tom%20Houlé,%20Grafbase)

</h3>

Tom Houle mapped the protocol translations required to keep subscriptions alive across federated gateways, from SSE to WebSocket bridges to payload handshakes.

---

<h3>

[Matteo Collina - GraphQL Subscriptions Are Stateful; We Made Them Stateless](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/0c3828d450fca7c409a3dda68f066428/?name=GraphQL%20Subscriptions%20Are%20Stateful;%20We%20Made%20Them%20Stateless%20-%20Matteo%20Collina,%20Platformatic)

</h3>

Matteo Collina shared Platformatic's approach to resumable subscriptions that protect real time updates from WebSocket disconnects.

---

## 🤝 GraphQL Federation

![Dotan Simha & Kamil Kisiela](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54774915925_68fdf4e61a_c.jpg)

<h3>

[Dotan Simha & Kamil Kisiela - Building an Open-Source Federation Query Planner & Router](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/1a0475a575803503fce927f22dd1beae/?name=Building%20an%20Open-Source%20Federation%20Query%20Planner%20&%20Router%20-%20Dotan%20Simha%20&%20Kamil%20Kisiela,%20The%20Guild)

</h3>

Dotan Simha and Kamil Kisiela introduced The Guild's Rust based router, sharing benchmarks, modular query planner design, and ways the community can plug in.

---

<h3>

[Samuel Bernardo Vazquez Andalon - Building a Kotlin Federated GraphQL Gateway and Executor](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/cb0e7d61d4055d199e7b9040617c2f88/?name=Building%20a%20Kotlin%20Federated%20GraphQL%20Gateway%20and%20Executor%20-%20Samuel%20Bernardo%20Vázquez%20Andalón,%20Expedia%20Group)

</h3>

Samuel Bernardo Vazquez Andalon highlighted Expedia Group's Kotlin router, leaning on DSLs to configure distributed GraphQL deployments.

---

<h3>

[Benjamin Rabier & Tom Houle - Beyond GraphQL Federation: How We Use Composite Schemas and WebAssembly to Federate Non-GraphQL Data Sources](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/3712b5f88962e155f080a7afa612e46e/?name=Workshop:%20Beyond%20GraphQL%20Federation:%20How%20We%20Use%20Composite%20Schemas%20and%20WebAssembly%20to%20Federate%20Non-GraphQL%20Data%20Sources%20-%20Benjamin%20Rabier%20&%20Tom%20Houlé,%20Grafbase)

</h3>

Benjamin Rabier and Tom Houle guided attendees through combining Apollo Federation V2, composite schemas, and WebAssembly so any backend can join the graph.

---

<h3>

[Denis Badurina & Arda Tanrikulu - Unleash the Power of Federation with Hive Gateway](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/6fbc71a3ad13189339d753cb078ec781/?name=Workshop:%20Unleash%20the%20Power%20of%20Federation%20with%20Hive%20Gateway%20-%20Denis%20Badurina%20&%20Arda%20Tanrıkulu,%20The%20Guild)

</h3>

Denis Badurina and Arda Tanrikulu walked teams through Hive Gateway's OpenTelemetry support, automatic batching, JWT authentication, rate limiting, and subscriptions.

---

<h3>

[Michael Staib - Composite Schemas in Action](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/3b8701f24da2cf5456ffd5b793836ace/?name=Workshop:%20Composite%20Schemas%20in%20Action%20-%20Michael%20Staib,%20Chillicream)

</h3>

Michael Staib offered a hands on look at the Composite Schema Specification and how it standardizes multi service graphs.

---

<h3>

[Benjamin Rabier - Deep Dive Into a GraphQL Federation Gateway, From Query Planning To the Execution](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/d017baa3d96bc8ee7e195dbdce137a96/?name=Deep%20Dive%20Into%20a%20GraphQL%20Federation%20Gateway,%20From%20Query%20Planning%20To%20the%20Execution%20-%20Benjamin%20Rabier,%20Grafbase)

</h3>

Benjamin Rabier explained Grafbase's Steiner tree query planner and lock free execution DAG that keep responses low latency.

---

<h3>

[Tom Houle - Authorization in Federated GraphQL](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/4c9e99eb72e65a8115cabc6df964e106/?name=Lightning%20Talk:%20Authorization%20in%20Federated%20GraphQL%20-%20Tom%20Houlé,%20Grafbase)

</h3>

Tom Houle showcased federation aware directives and policies in Grafbase Gateway that let platform teams centralize authorization without blocking subgraph autonomy.

---

## 🛠️ Tooling & DX

![Fiona Huang](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54777774072_34df1566e3_k.jpg)

<h3>

[Fiona Huang - One API Definition To Rule Them All: Generating GraphQL Schemas From TypeSpec](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/0843f99870a32c08d091379a43d0c224/?name=One%20API%20Definition%20To%20Rule%20Them%20All:%20Generating%20GraphQL%20Schemas%20From%20TypeSpec%20-%20Fiona%20Huang,%20Pinterest)

</h3>

Fiona Huang announced Pinterest's TypeSpec GraphQL emitter that collapses REST and GraphQL definitions into a single source.

---

<h3>

[Mark Larah - Hacking the Federation Query Planner](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/806eaa5ecdc05b0c0f01165c7980b4a6/?name=Hacking%20the%20Federation%20Query%20Planner%20-%20Mark%20Larah,%20Yelp)

</h3>

Mark Larah unpacked a difficult concurrency edge case Yelp encountered and the long term spec fixes emerging through Composite Schemas.

---

<h3>

[Vanessa Johnson - What If GraphQL Knew Accessibility?](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/87264d07e7aaafb1811ba5ad451285a2/?name=Lightning%20Talk:%20What%20If%20GraphQL%20Knew%20Accessibility?%20-%20Vanessa%20Johnson,%20The%20New%20York%20Times)

</h3>

Vanessa Johnson proposed embedding accessibility metadata directly in schemas so tooling can generate inclusive experiences by default.

---

<h3>

[Jordan Eldredge - Grats: Bringing Implementation-First GraphQL to TypeScript](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/e9075771b5513faaf06cca527e7a837d/?name=Grats:%20Bringing%20Implementation-First%20GraphQL%20to%20TypeScript%20-%20Jordan%20Eldredge,%20Meta)

</h3>

Jordan Eldredge previewed Meta's static analysis pipeline, showing how developers can build GraphQL servers in TypeScript without giving up type safety.

---

<h3>

[Eddy Nguyen - Building the Ideal GraphQL Server Workflow Featuring GraphQL Code Generator](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/0281a72e8e35f07c74a5815c42c64a02/?name=Sponsored%20Session:%20Building%20the%20Ideal%20GraphQL%20Server%20Workflow%20Featuring%20GraphQL%20Code%20Generator%20-%20Eddy%20Nguyen,%20SEEK%20&%20The%20Guild)

</h3>

Eddy Nguyen walked through a refreshed workflow powered by GraphQL Code Generator, highlighting stronger typing, fewer runtime errors, and lessons from a decade of community effort.

---

<h3>

[Derek Kuc - Efficient Semantic Comparison of GraphQL Queries](https://graphql.org/conf/2025/schedule/deac4044512d6d0a59c76aa712a777a4/?name=Lightning%20Talk:%20Efficient%20Semantic%20Comparison%20of%20GraphQL%20Queries%20-%20Derek%20Kuc,%20Apollo%20GraphQL)

</h3>

Derek Kuc unveiled static analysis that proves when two queries are equivalent and makes refactoring safer.

---

## 🙏 Thank You, Attendees and Sponsors!

GraphQLConf 2025 was held in September 2025 in Amsterdam and attended by over 250 GraphQL enthusiasts. The GraphQL Foundation would like to thank our sponsors:

**Gold Sponsors**

- [Apollo GraphQL](https://www.apollographql.com/)
- [The Guild](https://the-guild.dev/graphql/hive)

**Silver Sponsors**

- [Grafbase](https://grafbase.com/)
- [Meta](https://about.facebook.com/meta/)
- [Netflix](https://netflix.com/)

## Blogposts & Upcoming GraphQL events

Stay tuned, this is a serie of articles on GraphQLConf 2025. More articles will be published soon!

For upcoming events and GraphQL Local initiatives, please visit our [GraphQL community events](https://graphql.org/community/events/) page.