The introduction of Automatic Persisted Queries (APQ) in Apollo Server and Apollo Client aims to improve network performance for GraphQL by reducing bandwidth utilization. By sending a query ID or hash instead of an entire GraphQL query string, APQ can significantly speed up loading times for end-users. This solution requires zero build-time configuration and is supported by the latest version of Apollo Server. It works by using a lightweight protocol extension between Apollo Client and Apollo Server to cache and retrieve query mappings at runtime. This approach eliminates the need for static analysis and build-time configuration, making it more flexible and decoupling client and server teams. APQ is designed to address performance issues caused by growing GraphQL query sizes, which can be a blocker to switching from REST.