GraphQL

Yelp · Jul 16, 2026

Migrating from Apollo Tooling to GraphQL Codegen at Yelp

Yelp migrated its frontend React monorepo from the deprecated apollo-tooling to GraphQL Codegen to ensure ongoing maintenance and build reliability. Because the monorepo spans over 500 packages with thousands of generated type files and custom nested type imports, the Client Data team prioritized a transparent migration that avoided codebase-wide changes. The team rejected approaches requiring syntax updates or altered import paths, choosing instead to configure GraphQL Codegen and contribute upstream plugin changes so output structures and naming conventions matched the legacy output. Migrating packages incrementally through small pull requests enabled continuous feedback while allowing developers across dozens of teams to maintain their workflows without editing existing code. Completing the migration to GraphQL Codegen v6 simplified Yelp's build tooling, eliminated deprecated dependencies, and left upstream compatibility enhancements available for the wider open-source community.