At swampUP 2025 in Napa Valley, longtime JFrog collaborator and Java community veteran Stephen Chin talks about the evolution of software delivery, the fusion of graph intelligence with DevOps, and the growing need for integrated security across the software supply chain.

Chin, who has worn many hats across his career — from developer advocate to founder and now technologist working at the intersection of graph data and DevOps — has seen firsthand how the field has shifted since the first swampUP event a decade ago. What began as a small, casual gathering of early DevOps adopters has evolved into a global conversation about automation, AI and security at scale.

In his latest work, Chin is exploring how graph intelligence can be used to map and understand complex DevOps environments — from dependencies and artifacts to vulnerabilities and trust relationships. He described how visualizing these relationships in graph form gives teams a clearer view of their entire software supply chain, helping them detect risk patterns and respond to incidents faster.

The conversation turned toward what Chin jokingly dubbed “DevGraphIntelOps” — a synthesis of graph data, intelligence, and DevOps principles aimed at securing modern, AI-driven workflows. As organizations embrace agentic automation and complex multi-repository systems, understanding the connections between components has become mission-critical.

Reflecting on the past ten years of swampUP, Chin noted that while tools and trends have evolved, the core DevOps ethos remains the same: collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement. The next frontier, he said, will be about context and visibility — knowing not just what’s running in production, but how every component connects across the entire ecosystem.