Apollo MCP Server Launch Positions GraphQL as the Essential Protocol for AI-API Orchestration

New product establishes the graph-based industry standard for secure, orchestrated access to APIs in the age of AI

SAN FRANCISCO, May 15, 2025 –  Apollo GraphQL, the graph-based API orchestration leader, today announced the Apollo MCP Server, a solution that connects graph APIs to AI models using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP has quickly emerged as the go-to standard for giving AI models access to data and capabilities beyond their training. With this new addition to Apollo's toolkit, developers can now harness GraphQL's power when building AI applications that need seamless AI access to data and services.

The launch comes at a critical moment when organizations are racing to provide AI applications with appropriate access to their APIs. GraphQL, the emerging standard for declarative API orchestration, offers AI application builders a seamless path to quickly and safely build API-powered agentic software. Getting data from APIs into the right shape for AI consumption involves complex challenges around discovering, sequencing, security gating, retrying, parallelizing, caching, and numerous other functional and non-functional requirements. GraphQL's declarative, schema-driven approach to API orchestration provides these capabilities out-of-the-box, making it uniquely suited to serve as the foundation for MCP implementations, especially in an AI landscape where speed, security, and agility are paramount.

“With the Apollo MCP Server, we’re establishing GraphQL as the essential protocol for AI-API orchestration,” said Matt DeBergalis, CTO and co-founder of Apollo GraphQL. "While MCP is still evolving, and perspectives on implementation will continue to mature as the technology develops, what's clear today is that GraphQL uniquely addresses the needs of AI by allowing teams to focus on building new AI-powered business capabilities, not rehashing endpoints specifically for AI integration. Safe, secure and performant AI needs graph-based API orchestration."

The Apollo MCP Server provides capabilities that reinforce graph-based API orchestration as the essential approach for AI:

• Zero-code MCP tool creation: Apollo MCP Server lets developers instantly turn GraphQL schema or operations into MCP tools without writing a single line of procedural code.

• Native REST and GraphQL support: Apollo MCP works with any combination of unmodified REST APIs via Apollo Connectors as well as native GraphQL services.

• Deterministic, efficient execution: Apollo implements precise and consistent API call execution across every interaction.

• Built-in policy enforcement: AI interactions are limited to pre-approved operations and surface area, including complex orchestration workflows across multiple APIs.

• AI-native development: graph-based tools that allow AI-assisted and AI-automated workflows for automatically discovering and creating new capabilities across a complete API footprint.

By implementing MCP, the Apollo MCP Server enables teams to move at AI speed while maintaining appropriate governance. It also simplifies deployment, with options to start in a local environment via Apollo's Rover CLI or deploy as a containerized service for seamless integration with your cloud infrastructure.

The Apollo MCP Server is available today either by downloading and building from source code or deploying via ready-to-use containers. To learn more, visit the resources below:

• Learn how to get started with Apollo MCP Server for any GraphQL API.

• Read Apollo CTO Matt DeBergalis’s thoughts on how the future of MCP is GraphQL.

• Get hands-on with us on May 21 at 10:00 a.m.-10:45 a.m. PT and see it in action.

• Fast-track your learning with an Apollo Odyssey tutorial.

• Join the Apollo GraphQL Community.

About Apollo GraphQL

Apollo GraphQL helps developers build better software faster with a declarative, graph-based approach to API orchestration. With over 1 billion downloads of its open-source software, Apollo has become the standard for working with GraphQL and powers the most innovative brands today. The Apollo GraphOS® platform provides the infrastructure to unify APIs into a composable graph, enabling teams to query data from anywhere and ship new experiences with speed and confidence. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Insight Partners, Matrix Partners, and Trinity Ventures, Apollo is headquartered in San Francisco. Learn more at: https://www.apollographql.com.