grafbase
Grafbase is a self-hosted GraphQL Federation gateway (built in Rust) for composing and executing Apollo Federation v2 subgraphs, with extensibility via WebAssembly extensions and optional MCP server support.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
README claims JWT authentication, federated authorization, rate limiting/operation limits/trusted documents, and SOC 2 Type II compliance. However, the provided content does not document detailed authn/authz scope granularity, secret handling practices, or transport/security settings (e.g., explicit HTTPS-only) for all interfaces.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
You need a performant, self-hosted GraphQL federation gateway with extension-based customization and potentially MCP integration.
Avoid When
You require guaranteed, well-specified API contracts for programmatic gateway management via OpenAPI/REST/SDKs without relying on external documentation.
Use Cases
- • Unifying Apollo Federation v2 microservices into a single GraphQL API
- • Federating multiple upstream data sources (GraphQL subgraphs, REST, gRPC, databases, queues) behind one schema
- • Custom authentication/authorization and request lifecycle logic via WebAssembly extensions
- • Exposing the GraphQL API as an MCP server for model-context workflows
- • Self-hosted, high-scale GraphQL gateway deployments (including air-gapped setups)
Not For
- • Teams that only need a simple single-schema GraphQL server (no federation requirements)
- • Scenarios requiring a fully managed gateway with no self-hosting responsibility (gateway is self-hosted even in hybrid mode)
- • Use cases where the absence of publicly verifiable REST/OpenAPI/SDK contracts for the gateway itself is a blocker
Interface
Authentication
Auth details for the self-hosted gateway are described at a feature level (JWT, federated authorization, rate limiting/trusted documents), but fine-grained scope/permissions model is not specified in the provided README.
Pricing
README describes self-hosted gateway and an enterprise/managed cloud option, but no concrete pricing tiers or limits are provided in the supplied content.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ The README describes functionality at a high level, but it does not provide machine-consumable API specifications (OpenAPI) or explicit gateway HTTP error/response contracts for automated agent integration.
- ⚠ Hybrid mode relies on an organization access token; ensure proper secret handling for GRAFBASE_ACCESS_TOKEN.
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-30.