Building Platforms, APIs, and AI at Procore with Robert Farr

TL;DR

Procore Principal Architect Robert Farr shares lessons from 20+ years in enterprise software, from Cerner’s healthcare systems to Procore’s construction platform. He explains how APIs evolve with scale, why contracts are critical, and how AI agents will change both development practices and customer expectations.

From Healthcare to Construction

Robert began his career at Cerner, spending over two decades helping grow it into what is now Oracle Health . He saw how enterprise SaaS transforms industries, then moved to Procore to tackle similar challenges in construction.

I got to see how you can transform an industry with software… now I find myself doing the same thing in the construction industry.

At Procore, he focuses on turning the company into a true platform for construction, managing both scale and core information architecture.

The Role of APIs Inside Procore

Asked how Procore thinks about APIs, Robert noted that the company has both an external marketplace and deep internal needs. But he admitted Procore hasn’t historically been API-first.

I would say no, not yet… historically it’s been more solution first and ecosystem second.

That balance is shifting. Both internal workflows and external marketplaces depend on reliable contracts. With AI agents becoming likely consumers of APIs, contracts are becoming more critical than ever.

Choosing the Right API Style

The group explored API design patterns: RPC , REST, hypermedia , and GraphQL. Robert argued RPC is often the simplest for consumers but stressed pragmatism.

At the end of the day, I favor whatever works… but I probably think RPC is a little simpler.

Jens added that hypermedia, though underused, was built for agents, and that federation creates the flexibility to evolve graphs without overloading single services.

Federation as the Missing Database Layer

The discussion positioned GraphQL Federation in enterprise software as a missing database layer, giving teams a common way to stitch services together.

GraphQL Federation is kind of like a database for the web… it’s that one layer where you pull it all together.

For Jens, federation’s query plans mirror relational databases’ EXPLAIN statements, providing clarity into data access patterns.

Connecting Federation and AI

Robert sees AI as the biggest shift in his career, and one that makes schema-first design more important.

If you give an LLM a well-documented schema, it can do a much better job… it’s going to pivot us to thinking about APIs as schema first.

He described experimenting with running an MCP server locally against Procore’s federated graph to see how an LLM explores the schema and then capturing those queries as production-ready operations. This reinforced the value of schema-first API design, where clear contracts help both developers and AI agents make reliable use of Procore’s platform.

Customer Expectations Around AI

Asked how Procore’s construction customers view AI, Robert said larger enterprises are already asking about strategy, while smaller customers will notice AI mainly through improved workflows.

We’re going to be an AI-first company… this is the biggest shift I’ve seen in my career.

For him, the companies that embrace this moment will be in a much stronger position than those that hold back.