Frequently Asked Questions

Product Updates & New Features

What were the key updates in Hygraph's Q1 2024 product roundup?

The Q1 2024 product roundup introduced several major updates: Hygraph Studio (beta), a new Asset Management system, regional deployments of the Management Server for reduced latency, and entry-based Cache Invalidation. These updates focus on improving performance, efficiency, and content management flexibility. Source

What is Hygraph Studio and what are its main features?

Hygraph Studio is a new, intuitive interface for working with content in Hygraph, launched in beta in Q1 2024. Key features include a revamped content form, field outlines for easier navigation, a command menu for quick access, a revised content table, a new schema view, and lazy loading of components. Some features from Hygraph Classic are not yet available in Studio, but users can toggle between both interfaces. Source

What is the new Asset Management system in Hygraph?

The new Asset Management system, available for all new blank projects, is designed for improved performance and availability. Backend changes have resulted in a 10x increase in asset performance, faster uploads and delivery, support for SEO-friendly URLs, and more powerful asset transformations. Source

What is entry-based Cache Invalidation and how does it benefit users?

Entry-based Cache Invalidation ensures that only the cache for the exact content entry that was changed is invalidated, rather than broader model or stage-based invalidation. This granular approach increases cache-hit ratios, resulting in faster load times and fresher content for users. It is available on the new high-performance endpoint. Source

What is the benefit of regional deployments of the Management Server?

Regional deployments of the Management Server mean that the Management API is located in the same region as your content, resulting in up to a 10x reduction in latency for management operations, faster load times, and improved disaster recovery. Source

What new OAuth support was introduced in Q1 2024?

Hygraph introduced OAuth support for commercetools and Commerce Layer Remote Sources, allowing seamless integration with external APIs that use OAuth authentication. This feature is available in Hygraph Studio and helps prevent API call failures due to expired tokens. Source

Features & Capabilities

What features does Hygraph offer?

Hygraph offers a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, a modern asset management system, granular cache invalidation, regional deployments, and integrations with leading platforms. It also provides robust security, compliance, and a user-friendly interface for both technical and non-technical users. Source

What integrations are available with Hygraph?

Hygraph integrates with platforms such as Netlify, Vercel, BigCommerce, commercetools, Shopify, Lokalise, Crowdin, EasyTranslate, Smartling, Aprimo, AWS S3, Bynder, Cloudinary, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot, Ninetailed, AltText.ai, Adminix, and Plasmic. Source

Does Hygraph provide an API?

Yes, Hygraph provides a powerful GraphQL API for efficient content fetching and management. Source

Where can I find Hygraph's technical documentation?

Comprehensive technical documentation for Hygraph is available at https://hygraph.com/docs.

How does Hygraph ensure performance and optimized content delivery?

Hygraph is optimized for rapid content delivery, which improves user experience, engagement, and search engine rankings. Features like regional deployments and granular cache invalidation help reduce latency and increase conversions. Source

Security & Compliance

What security and compliance certifications does Hygraph have?

Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant, ensuring enterprise-grade security and regulatory compliance. Source

What security features does Hygraph provide?

Hygraph offers SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption at rest and in transit, and sandbox environments to protect sensitive data and meet regulatory standards. Source

Pricing & Plans

What is Hygraph's pricing model?

Hygraph offers a free forever Hobby plan, a Growth plan starting at $199/month, and custom Enterprise plans. For more details, visit the pricing page.

Use Cases & Customer Success

Who can benefit from using Hygraph?

Hygraph is ideal for developers, IT decision-makers, content creators, project/program managers, agencies, solution partners, and technology partners. It is especially beneficial for modern software companies, enterprises modernizing their tech stack, and brands scaling across geographies. Source

What industries are represented in Hygraph's case studies?

Hygraph's case studies span industries such as food and beverage, consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare, travel and hospitality, media and publishing, eCommerce, SaaS, marketplace, education technology, and wellness and fitness. Source

Who are some of Hygraph's customers?

Notable customers include Sennheiser, Holidaycheck, Ancestry, Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Gamescom, Leo Vegas, and Clayton Homes. Source

Can you share specific customer success stories with Hygraph?

Yes. Komax achieved a 3x faster time to market, Autoweb saw a 20% increase in website monetization, Samsung improved customer engagement with a scalable platform, and Dr. Oetker enhanced their digital experience using MACH architecture. Source

How long does it take to implement Hygraph and how easy is it to start?

Hygraph is designed for quick implementation. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months. Users can get started quickly by signing up for a free account and using documentation and onboarding guides. Source

What business impact can customers expect from using Hygraph?

Customers can expect time savings, ease of use, faster speed-to-market, and enhanced customer experience through consistent and scalable content delivery. These benefits help modernize tech stacks and improve operational efficiency. Source

Pain Points & Solutions

What problems does Hygraph solve?

Hygraph addresses operational pains (reducing reliance on developers, modernizing legacy tech stacks, supporting global teams, improving content creation UX), financial pains (lowering operational costs, speeding time-to-market, reducing maintenance, supporting scalability), and technical pains (simplifying development, streamlining queries, resolving cache and integration challenges). Source

How does Hygraph solve pain points for different personas?

For developers, Hygraph reduces boilerplate code and streamlines queries. For content creators and project managers, it offers an intuitive interface for independent content updates. For business stakeholders, it lowers operational costs, supports scalability, and accelerates speed-to-market. Source

What KPIs and metrics are associated with the pain points Hygraph solves?

Key KPIs include time saved on content updates, system uptime, content consistency across regions, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, time to market, maintenance costs, and scalability metrics. Source

Support & Implementation

What support is available to Hygraph customers?

Hygraph provides 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance. All users have access to documentation, video tutorials, and a community Slack channel. Source

What training and onboarding resources does Hygraph offer?

Hygraph offers onboarding sessions for enterprise customers, training resources such as video tutorials, documentation, webinars, and access to Customer Success Managers for expert guidance. Source

How does Hygraph handle maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting?

Hygraph offers 24/7 support for maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance, and all users can access detailed documentation and the community Slack channel. Source

Vision & Mission

What is Hygraph's vision and mission?

Hygraph's vision is to unify data and enable content federation, empowering businesses to create impactful digital experiences. Its mission is to remove traditional content management pain points through a GraphQL-native architecture, modernizing tech stacks and enabling efficient, scalable digital experiences. Source

Community & Resources

How can I stay updated on Hygraph's latest features and news?

You can sign up for the Hygraph newsletter to receive updates on releases and industry news. Source

How can I join the Hygraph community?

You can join the Hygraph Community Slack to stay up-to-date on announcements, events, and to provide feedback on new features. Source

Velocity at Scale: Join the Launch of Hygraph’s Latest AI Innovations

Product roundup: Q1 2024

This quarter, we launched Hygraph Studio in beta along with several other new features, including the Hygraph Asset system, Regional Deployments of our Management Server, and Entry-based Cache Invalidation.
Shahan Syed

Written by Shahan 

Apr 16, 2024
Mobile image

#TL: DR

  • We launched Hygraph Studio, the new, intuitive experience for working with your content in Hygraph.
  • We introduced regional deployments of the Management Server for a faster app experience and reduced latency for management operations.
  • We’ve redirected all newly created blank projects to run on a faster and more reliable Asset Management System.
  • We’ve introduced a new granular, entry-based Cache Invalidation model.
  • We’ve launched OAuth Support for commercetools and Commerce Layer Remote Sources.

#Hygraph Studio: Performance and efficiency at your fingertips

Our biggest update this quarter has been the launch of our new Hygraph Studio in beta. You can log into your Hygraph project and test it out.

The video below shows how to launch your existing projects in the Hygraph Studio.

Here’s a summary of everything new in the beta:

  • Revamped content form.
  • Field outlines for easier navigation.
  • Command Menu for quicker access.
  • Revised Content Table for content-rich data.
  • Revamped Schema View.
  • Lazy loading of components.

Watch the session recordings from Hygraph Studio’s virtual launch event.

Since Hygraph Studio is in beta, some of the features from the current interface (Hygraph Classic) will not be available in Studio as yet. To access these capabilities, please use Hygraph Classic, which will remain available without any changes.

Here’s a list of all the capabilities that are not available in the beta:

  • Remote Fields
  • Localizations
  • Content duplication
  • Versioning
  • Scheduled Publishing
  • Webhooks
  • Project Settings

#New Features

Regional Deployments of the Management Server

With the new distributed deployments of the Management Server, the Management API is now located in the same region as your content. This translates to faster load times, improved disaster recovery, and reduced latency for management operations across all regions.

With this major upgrade, you'll notice a solid acceleration in performance—up to 10x reduction in latency for all operations, from browsing the schema or content in the Hygraph UI to applying changes through the SDK.

You might have noticed that you are now redirected to a regional subdomain after signing in to your Hygraph project.

New regional subdomain for Hygraph webapp.png

To use your new regional endpoint for programmatic management operations:

  • Navigate to Project Settings -> API Access.
  • Copy and use the new URL under the Management API.

Replacing the new Management API endpoint.png

Read more on the Regional Deployments of our Management Server

New Asset Management System

We introduced our new Asset Management system, now available for all new, blank projects.

This has been developed with a clear focus on improving performance and availability. The changes we’ve implemented in the backend architecture have resulted in a 10x increase in asset performance.

Regarding UI, there are minor changes in Hygraph Studio and none in Hygraph Classic. The asset grid view is coming soon as we gear up for the final release.

New Hygraph Asset Management System.png

The new system offers:

  • Faster asset uploads and delivery
  • A new method to upload assets using GraphQL
  • A new URL for serving assets
  • Support for SEO-friendly URLs
  • More powerful transformations

Read more on the new Hygraph Asset Management System

Entry-based Cache Invalidation

When you make changes to content in Hygraph, stale content on the cache is invalidated. Upon the following user's request, the content is served from the origin instead and cached again.

This ensures that the content served to the user is fresh and encapsulates all changes made by the editorial team.

Last year, we enhanced our caching strategy by introducing model-and-stage-based Cache invalidation, invalidating the cache only for the model or stage in which the content changes were made.

We’ve taken things a step further with entry-based Cache Invalidation. This means that for any content changes, we only invalidate the cache for the exact entry that was changed.

In real-world scenarios, content entries rarely exist in isolation — consider relationships or multiple nested relationships.

Visit the documentation for Hygraph Classic and Hygraph Studio to learn more about all possible scenarios.

Overall, a more granular approach ensures that content is more often served from the cache than the origin, leading to a higher cache-hit ratio. As a result, downstream applications load much faster.

If you haven't already, please switch to the new endpoint by going to your project settings > API Access. Copy the URL under the high-performance content API and replace it with the existing endpoint in your front-end applications.

OAuth Support for commercetools and Commerce Layer Remote Sources

Hygraph’s Content Federation capabilities allow you to connect any external API configured as ‘Remote Sources’ in your project.

You can seamlessly connect to any API that requires no authentication or uses a static token. With the previous workflow, you could add an OAuth access token here but you’d have to update it manually upon expiry. The downside of this approach was that it could lead to API calls failing in production if not done in time.

To avoid this, we are now supporting external APIs using the OAuth authentication standard. This quarter, we launched this for the most popular eCommerce Remote Sources: commercetools and Commerce Layer, and we plan to roll out support for others soon.

New OAuth Support.png

This new feature is only available in the new Hygraph Studio. To configure OAuth, please [switch to Hygraph Studio [beta](https://app.hygraph.com/?mode=studio).

Once, a Remote Source has been added, you can use Hygraph Classic to add Remote Fields to individual models.

Read our complete documentation on how to set it up.

#Sneak Peek

Live Previews

With Hygraph’s current Content Preview capabilities, editors can open a preview link in a new tab or window to view how the final content will look.

We will soon release Live Previews, where editors can view the content editing form and the final preview side-by-side. Any changes made will be reflected in the preview in real time.

This will help improve editors’ productivity and help them publish content faster.

Automated backups

We will offer a range of capabilities based on your subscription plan to empower you with greater control over your backups. These include automated backups that allow you to roll back to earlier project versions if something goes wrong.

Permissions for Apps

We will introduce installation permissions for custom apps built using our App Framework. You can keep these apps private, restrict them to your organization’s users, or make them public.

We will also introduce functionality to define permissions for individual user roles within custom applications. For example, you could allow only editors to view app elements while others cannot.

Asset System Migration Tooling

The new Hygraph Asset Management System will soon be available for existing projects as well. Although low effort, some migration tasks will need action from your end. Stay tuned for detailed guidelines and steps to migrate seamlessly.

#Community Spotlight

Hygraph Live Streams

Hygraph has a weekly livestream in which our Dev Rel team showcases real-world headless CMS use cases. They explore features through live-coding, with expert guests and by learning in public.

Watch our recordings and subscribe to our YouTube channel, or keep a lookout for new upcoming streams.

Zillow Property App with Google MAP API + Next.js

Ania Kubów recently built one of her projects using Hygraph, a property app similar to Zillow. The app includes a search functionality that allows users to filter out properties and their locations on a Google Map.

Watch the tutorial and create your own in under 2 hours.

SKNCRE, a Hygraph cosmetics brand demo

skncre-og-cover.png

This quarter, we introduced our new SKNCRE starter for a fictitious cosmetics brand selling premium snail slime skin care products. This is a composable commerce demo with Hygraph, NuxtJS, and an external API for product data.

Hygraph simplifies composable commerce for you, enabling seamless integration between product information (from your PIM), the content of the website in Hygraph (or another CMS), and commerce features such as a cart, checkout, account, and payments in yet another system (a commerce engine).

Build a project with this starter.

Join our community

​​Want to stay informed about all the features and updates we launch, and test and provide feedback? Join our community through Slack to stay up-to-date on all Hygraph announcements and events. Stay involved with Hygraph and our team!

Join our Community Slack →

Blog Author

Shahan Syed

Shahan Syed

Shahan is the Product Marketing Manager at Hygraph. Living in Pakistan, he loves to spend time exploring places, pencil sketching, reading, and watching science fiction and K-dramas.

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