August 2025 Summaries

Cosmo Connect is a solution designed to facilitate service federation by integrating gRPC services with a GraphQL interface, thereby simplifying backend operations while maintaining a unified frontend experience. It addresses the challenges of microservices architecture, where backend services are independent but the frontend requires a seamless user experience. By leveraging gRPC's efficient binary protocol, Cosmo Connect reduces the overhead associated with GraphQL's parsing and execution, thus enhancing performance. The system allows backend teams to implement simple gRPC services without needing to become GraphQL experts, while the router handles the mapping of requests to RPC calls, maintaining a single API surface for frontend teams. Additionally, Cosmo Connect provides flexibility with two paths for extending the supergraph—plugins for quick integrations and gRPC services for greater control—enabling developers to work with familiar tools and languages while benefiting from federation's advantages. This approach lowers the barrier to federation for teams hesitant to fully adopt GraphQL, allowing them to choose the best tools for their needs without sacrificing a cohesive frontend.

WunderGraph, aiming to streamline the creation of digital products from design to API implementation, has experienced significant growth in 2025, tripling its team size following a successful Series A funding round. In response to rapid expansion, WunderGraph has developed an engineering career framework focusing on impact and performance across engineering excellence, collaboration, and company culture. This framework supports two growth paths—individual contributor and management—ensuring fairness, consistency, and career development opportunities. Feedback from the team has been positive, and the framework is being actively refined to align with company evolution. Additionally, WunderGraph is launching the WunderGraph Hub, a collaborative platform designed to enhance the process of designing and shipping APIs. Alexandra Stoica, the People and Culture Lead, plays a pivotal role in crafting processes that facilitate scaling and foster a culture of excellence and collaboration within the company.