Schema Federation
Schema Federation is a design pattern in GraphQL that enables multiple GraphQL services to combine their schemas into a single unified schema, allowing clients to query across them as if they were one service. It involves a gateway that stitches together schemas from various microservices, handling query routing and result aggregation. This approach supports modular development and scalability in distributed systems.
Developers should use Schema Federation when building large-scale applications with multiple GraphQL services, as it simplifies client interactions by providing a single endpoint and schema. It is particularly useful in microservices architectures where different teams own separate services, enabling independent development and deployment while maintaining a cohesive API. This pattern reduces complexity for frontend developers and improves performance by allowing efficient data fetching across services.