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GraphQLConf 2026 has ended
May 19 - 20 | In-Person Only
GraphQLConf 2026 website

The Sched app allows you to build your schedule but you must also be registered for GraphQLConf 2026 to participate in the sessions.

Please note: This schedule is automatically displayed in Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7). To see the schedule in your preferred timezone, please select from the drop-down located at the bottom of the menu to the right.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Timing of sessions and room locations are subject to change.
Type: Keynote Sessions clear filter
Tuesday, May 19
 

9:00am PDT

Keynote: Opening Remarks - Janette Cheng, Software Engineer, Meta
Tuesday May 19, 2026 9:00am - 9:05am PDT

Speakers
avatar for Janette Cheng

Janette Cheng

Software Engineer, Meta
Working on the GraphQL client and build infrastructure for mobile apps at Meta
Tuesday May 19, 2026 9:00am - 9:05am PDT
Grand Ballroom II - IV
  Keynote Sessions
  • Audience Level Any

9:05am PDT

Keynote: GraphQL Foundation Update - Lee Byron, Co-Creator of GraphQL and Director, GraphQL Foundation
Tuesday May 19, 2026 9:05am - 9:15am PDT

Speakers
avatar for Lee Byron

Lee Byron

Co-creator of GraphQL and Director, GraphQL Foundation

Tuesday May 19, 2026 9:05am - 9:15am PDT
Grand Ballroom II - IV
  Keynote Sessions
  • Audience Level Any
  • Presentation Slides Attached Yes

9:15am PDT

9:25am PDT

Keynote: Built to Evolve: 13 Years of GraphQL - Elena Bukareva, Software Engineering Manager & Braxton Bragg, Senior Product Manager, Meta
Tuesday May 19, 2026 9:25am - 9:45am PDT
In 2015, we promised GraphQL would be "easy to learn and use". Ten years, and hundreds of billions of daily API calls later, we've learned that not all our hopes and promises turned out to be true.

This keynote is an honest retrospective from inside Meta. We'll share which assumptions didn't survive contact with thousands of engineers, the complexity traps we fell into, and what’s driving the new wave of GraphQL adoption and popularity at Meta.

Whether you're GraphQL-curious or GraphQL-exhausted, this is a rare look behind the curtain and a preview of what re-inventing GraphQL at scale actually looks like.
Speakers
avatar for Elena Bukareva

Elena Bukareva

Software Engineering Manager, Meta
Software Engineering Manager at Meta, leading the Mobile GraphQL Platform. Focused on building scalable, intuitive GraphQL infrastructure and tooling that powers mobile experiences at global scale. Passionate about platform engineering, API design, and enabling product teams to move... Read More →
avatar for Braxton Bragg

Braxton Bragg

Senior Product Manager, Meta
Product manager with 13 years experience on a variety of consumer-facing products. I currently support the Mobile GraphQL platform at Meta.
Tuesday May 19, 2026 9:25am - 9:45am PDT
Grand Ballroom II - IV
  Keynote Sessions
  • Audience Level Any

9:50am PDT

Keynote: Creating a Golden Path for GraphQL - Benjie Gillam, Maintainer, Graphile & Kewei Qu, Software Engineer, Meta
Tuesday May 19, 2026 9:50am - 10:00am PDT
GraphQL's precise specification gives us incredible interoperability and a rich ecosystem of tooling to be used with any compliant GraphQL service... And yet, that hasn't led to every adopter of GraphQL having a great experience. Some leave disillusioned with performance pitfalls, security concerns, and unforeseen complexity. This can be frustrating for successful GraphQL practitioners since in many cases the solutions to these problems have existed for most of the last decade.

The Golden Path Initiative aims to make it so avoiding common pitfalls becomes the path of least resistance. By encouraging off-the-shelf GraphQL-related software to implement the recommended default behaviours, we hope that GraphQL adopters will have the greatest chance of being successful even without ingesting the vast amount of information in the ecosystem. The Golden Path is not centred on building the most optimal experience, instead it is focused on minimizing downsides: making it so users are exploring around the "pit of success", and taking them far from the "pit of despair".

But to do this will take a huge, coordinated community effort! We need successful GraphQL practitioners; maintainers of key GraphQL libraries, frameworks and tooling; and documentation writers to join us over the next 6 months as we lay out the Golden Path, its recommendations and requirements; and then next year: time to start implementing it across the ecosystem!
Speakers
avatar for Benjie Gillam

Benjie Gillam

Maintainer, Graphile
A self-described "community-funded open source maintainer," Benjie dedicates much of his time to open source, made possible by the support of appreciative and forward-thinking individuals and organizations. He can often be found helping contributors advance their proposals, and has... Read More →
avatar for Kewei Qu

Kewei Qu

Software Engineer, Meta Platforms
TBD
Tuesday May 19, 2026 9:50am - 10:00am PDT
Grand Ballroom II - IV
  Keynote Sessions
  • Audience Level Any
  • Presentation Slides Attached Yes

10:00am PDT

Keynote: GraphQL in the AI Era - Matt DeBergalis, CEO and Co-Founder, Apollo GraphQL
Tuesday May 19, 2026 10:00am - 10:05am PDT
A year ago, we forecast an important role for GraphQL in an AI future. That prediction has come true, with GraphQL now serving as the foundation of critical AI initiatives at household brands in retail, hospitality, health care and many more. Just as importantly, GraphQL's declarative entity-based architecture has proven to be an ideal match for modern agentic development.

In this talk, we'll share a view of where GraphQL now sits in the modern enterprise stack, recount lessons we've learned putting MCP workloads and agentic software in production with the graph, our roadmap for an AI-first world, and a vision of where GraphQL can and must go next.
Speakers
avatar for Matt DeBergalis

Matt DeBergalis

CEO and co-founder, Apollo GraphQL

Tuesday May 19, 2026 10:00am - 10:05am PDT
Grand Ballroom II - IV
  Keynote Sessions
  • Audience Level Any
  • Presentation Slides Attached Yes

10:05am PDT

Keynote: Closing Remarks - Janette Cheng, Software Engineer, Meta
Tuesday May 19, 2026 10:05am - 10:10am PDT

Speakers
avatar for Janette Cheng

Janette Cheng

Software Engineer, Meta
Working on the GraphQL client and build infrastructure for mobile apps at Meta
Tuesday May 19, 2026 10:05am - 10:10am PDT
Grand Ballroom II - IV
  Keynote Sessions
  • Audience Level Any
 
Wednesday, May 20
 

5:00pm PDT

Keynote: GraphQL’s Next Chapter: Progress, Proposals, and Participation - Pascal Senn, COO, Chillicream & Mark Larah, Group Tech Lead, Yelp
Wednesday May 20, 2026 5:00pm - 5:20pm PDT
GraphQL has always been a community driven project. In this closing keynote, we will look at what the GraphQL Working Groups have been building and the progress made across the specification and ecosystem. We will also highlight the GraphQL GAP proposal and explore how it can open new opportunities for collaboration. Join us as we reflect on how far GraphQL has come and how the community can help shape what comes next.
Speakers
avatar for Pascal Senn

Pascal Senn

COO, ChilliCream
I'm co-founder of ChilliCream, where we're passionate about advancing the GraphQL ecosystem. We develop and maintain open-source software, actively help and participate in the community, and create tools that help developers to get the most out of their GraphQL APIs. Since 2025, I’ve... Read More →
avatar for Mark Larah

Mark Larah

Group Tech Lead, Yelp

Wednesday May 20, 2026 5:00pm - 5:20pm PDT
Grand Ballroom II - IV
  Keynote Sessions
  • Audience Level Any

5:20pm PDT

Keynote: Closing Remarks - Lee Byron, Co-Creator of GraphQL and Director, GraphQL Foundation
Wednesday May 20, 2026 5:20pm - 5:30pm PDT

Speakers
avatar for Lee Byron

Lee Byron

Co-creator of GraphQL and Director, GraphQL Foundation

Wednesday May 20, 2026 5:20pm - 5:30pm PDT
Grand Ballroom II - IV
  Keynote Sessions
  • Audience Level Any
 
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