Starbucks runs on a graph. Now agents want in.
Starbucks architect: agents are just another client on your graph | Sharon GorlaSince 2016, a lot of what happens between tapping the Starbucks app and grabbing your drink has run through a graph API. Then leadership changed, priorities changed, and parts of the platform went back to a monolith. What survived wasn't the implementation. It was the contract.
In this episode I talk with Sharon Gorla, Lead Engineer and Architect at Starbucks. Sharon helped architect a 90-day greenfield proof of concept to prove the point of sale could run on the same platform as mobile and in-store experiences, piloted in 11 stores. We talk through what happened when the org moved under it, why she jokes that GraphQL was accidentally built for AI, and what a decade of platform work taught her about people.
*In our conversation, we get into:*
1. Why AI agents are a new kind of consumer, and what they need from your platform
2. Whether GraphQL had already had its moment before agents arrived
3. Why orders are still orders, whatever the next client is
4. How a kiosk team built on her graph without meetings or a roadmap
5. What survives when leadership, priorities, and tech stacks all change
6. Why you don't need a new platform for AI, and where MCP fits
7. Tokens, context, and the bill that's now coming due
8. Why every technical champion needs an organizational one
Watch to the end for her advice to every architect listening: find your leader champion.
Sharon Gorla, Lead Engineer and Architect, Starbucks.
*Where to find Sharon Gorla:*
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sgorla/
*Where to find Dan Boerner:*
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dboerner/
- Email the show: onthegraph@apollographql.com
*Related:*
- Apollo GraphQL: https://www.apollographql.com
*In this episode, we cover:*
0:00 The contract survived
0:26 Introduction
2:10 Agents are a new kind of consumer
5:00 Did GraphQL already have its moment?
6:14 Accidentally built for AI?
9:34 Clients come and go
10:36 Making the case inside Starbucks
13:44 A kiosk team that needed no meetings
14:36 Leadership changed. The contract didn't.
18:20 Do agents need a new platform? Where MCP fits
19:51 Tokens, and the bill coming due
21:59 Champion people, not just technology
If you're working to power your AI efforts and APIs are in the way, email me and I'll connect you with other API champions like Sharon — onthegraph@apollographql.com
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