Umbraco debuts Compose for GraphQL-first data integration

Umbraco has launched Compose, a stand-alone software-as-a-service product that standardises how data moves across the mix of tools used in composable digital experience platforms.

The Danish company built its business around its open-source .NET content management system, which is used by a large developer community and a network of digital agency partners. Compose is the first product from Umbraco that runs independently from the Umbraco CMS.

Composability has become a common approach for brands that want to assemble marketing, content, and commerce services from multiple vendors. In practice, this often leaves development teams with a separate integration layer that needs ongoing updates. Data also needs a consistent structure so that different systems can share it.

Compose focuses on that integration problem. It provides a standardised method to structure, ingest and deliver data drawn from several marketing and eCommerce systems.

Many organisations already run websites on the Umbraco platform, including Carlsberg Group, Renault UK Group, and Rubbermaid. Those sites often rely on a wider stack, which can include product information management systems, digital asset management tools, enterprise resource planning platforms, and separate content and personalisation services.

Integration layer

In an eCommerce setting, Compose aggregates product and marketing information from multiple sources. It then serves that combined data to front-end applications and other consumers through a consistent interface.

Umbraco positions Compose as an alternative to building bespoke connections between systems or adopting a single-vendor suite. Lasse Fredslund, Staff Product Manager at Umbraco, described the work involved in assembling a landing page from different back-end services.

"When creating a product landing page, Umbraco Compose provides a standardised tool to pull in product specifications from the PIM, images from the DAM, prices from the ERP system, and marketing content from the CMS. Previously, this could involve multiple custom integrations that demand ongoing maintenance and eat into developer resource. Alternatively, organisations are bound into a suite approach, which limits their flexibility," said Fredslund.

Compose uses an ingestion API for bringing data into the system. A delivery API serves the data to applications and services that need it. Umbraco said Compose uses GraphQL as its main query language, with queries returning a unified output built from multiple underlying sources.

GraphQL focus

GraphQL has become a common choice for teams building composable stacks because it lets clients request only the fields they need. Umbraco argued that this approach can reduce unnecessary data transfer between services and front ends, which can affect speed and operational efficiency.

Filip Bech-Larsen, CTO at Umbraco, linked the GraphQL approach to performance and operating concerns across digital services.

"GraphQL ensures that Umbraco Compose only delivers the data you need. This speeds up the load time of frontend applications, which is good for site visitors, your SEO/GEO/AEO ranking, and the planet. On top of this, with Umbraco Compose you can connect any digital tool or technology to GraphQL, allowing faster adaptation to new business requirements, trends, and customer needs," said Bech-Larsen.

The company also connected the product to emerging interest in agentic AI and agent-driven commerce. Many organisations are assessing how AI assistants might use structured product and content data to complete tasks or transactions across channels. Those initiatives often require consistent identifiers, clean data models, and predictable access patterns across systems.

Umbraco said the unified output from GraphQL queries makes the combined data easier to use with generative AI tools. It also said that removing custom "backend-for-frontend" integrations can free development time for other work, including efforts linked to AI-driven discovery and shopping flows.

Bech-Larsen framed Compose as a foundation layer for organisations that want to prepare data for AI systems.

"With content collected, structured, and exposed through a unified Graph QL layer, Compose becomes your perfect starting point for your AI journey," said Bech-Larsen.

Broader platform

Umbraco was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Odense, Denmark. The company has offices in the US, the UK, and Australia and employs more than 150 people. Its wider business includes Umbraco Cloud, a hosted offering for organisations that want managed infrastructure and regional hosting options.

The introduction of a product that does not depend on the Umbraco CMS marks an expansion in scope. It also places Umbraco more directly into the market for integration and orchestration services that sit alongside content and commerce platforms, rather than inside them.

Compose now becomes part of the toolset available to teams that use Umbraco for content management and to those that do not, with Umbraco pitching GraphQL-based aggregation as a route to reducing bespoke integration work and preparing data flows for newer AI-driven experiences.