Apollo Reference Architecture

Overview

Production-ready reference architecture for Apollo.io integrations covering system design, data flows, and integration patterns.

Architecture Diagram

+------------------+     +------------------+     +------------------+
|   Frontend       |     |   API Gateway    |     |   Apollo API     |
|   (React/Vue)    |---->|   (Express)      |---->|   (External)     |
+------------------+     +------------------+     +------------------+
                                |                        |
                                v                        |
                    +------------------+                 |
                    |   Apollo Service |<----------------+
                    |   (Business Logic)|
                    +------------------+
                          |    |    |
            +-------------+    |    +-------------+
            v                  v                  v
    +------------+     +------------+     +------------+
    |   Cache    |     |  Database  |     |   Queue    |
    |   (Redis)  |     | (Postgres) |     |   (Bull)   |
    +------------+     +------------+     +------------+

Project Structure

src/
├── lib/
│   └── apollo/
│       ├── client.ts          # Apollo API client
│       ├── cache.ts           # Caching layer
│       ├── rate-limiter.ts    # Rate limiting
│       ├── errors.ts          # Custom errors
│       └── types.ts           # TypeScript types
├── services/
│   └── apollo/
│       ├── search.service.ts  # People/org search
│       ├── enrich.service.ts  # Enrichment logic
│       ├── sequence.service.ts # Email sequences
│       └── sync.service.ts    # Data synchronization
├── jobs/
│   └── apollo/
│       ├── enrich.job.ts      # Background enrichment
│       ├── sync.job.ts        # Periodic sync
│       └── cleanup.job.ts     # Cache cleanup
├── routes/
│   └── api/
│       └── apollo/
│           ├── search.ts      # Search endpoints
│           ├── enrich.ts      # Enrichment endpoints
│           └── webhooks.ts    # Webhook handlers
├── models/
│   ├── contact.model.ts       # Contact entity
│   ├── company.model.ts       # Company entity
│   └── engagement.model.ts    # Email engagement
└── config/
    └── apollo.config.ts       # Apollo configuration

Core Components

1. Apollo Service Layer

// src/services/apollo/apollo.service.ts
import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
import { InjectRepository } from '@nestjs/typeorm';
import { Repository } from 'typeorm';
import { ApolloClient } from '../../lib/apollo/client';
import { ApolloCache } from '../../lib/apollo/cache';
import { Contact } from '../../models/contact.model';
import { Company } from '../../models/company.model';

@Injectable()
export class ApolloService {
  constructor(
    private readonly client: ApolloClient,
    private readonly cache: ApolloCache,
    @InjectRepository(Contact)
    private readonly contactRepo: Repository<Contact>,
    @InjectRepository(Company)
    private readonly companyRepo: Repository<Company>,
  ) {}

  async searchAndEnrich(criteria: SearchCriteria): Promise<EnrichedLead[]> {
    // 1. Search Apollo
    const searchResults = await this.client.searchPeople(criteria);

    // 2. Filter and score
    const qualified = this.qualifyLeads(searchResults.people, criteria);

    // 3. Enrich top leads
    const enriched = await Promise.all(
      qualified.slice(0, 25).map(lead => this.enrichLead(lead))
    );

    // 4. Persist to database
    await this.persistLeads(enriched);

    return enriched;
  }

  private async enrichLead(lead: RawLead): Promise<EnrichedLead> {
    // Check cache
    const cached = await this.cache.get(`lead:${lead.id}`);
    if (cached) return cached;

    // Enrich from Apollo
    const [personData, companyData] = await Promise.all([
      this.client.enrichPerson({ id: lead.id }),
      lead.organization?.primary_domain
        ? this.client.enrichOrganization(lead.organization.primary_domain)
        : null,
    ]);

    const enriched = this.mergeData(lead, personData, companyData);

    // Cache result
    await this.cache.set(`lead:${lead.id}`, enriched, 86400); // 24h

    return enriched;
  }

  private async persistLeads(leads: EnrichedLead[]): Promise<void> {
    for (const lead of leads) {
      // Upsert contact
      await this.contactRepo.upsert({
        apolloId: lead.id,
        email: lead.email,
        name: lead.name,
        title: lead.title,
        linkedinUrl: lead.linkedinUrl,
        companyId: lead.company?.id,
        enrichedAt: new Date(),
      }, ['apolloId']);

      // Upsert company
      if (lead.company) {
        await this.companyRepo.upsert({
          apolloId: lead.company.id,
          name: lead.company.name,
          domain: lead.company.domain,
          industry: lead.company.industry,
          employeeCount: lead.company.employeeCount,
          enrichedAt: new Date(),
        }, ['apolloId']);
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Background Job Processing

// src/jobs/apollo/enrich.job.ts
import { Job, Queue } from 'bull';
import { Process, Processor } from '@nestjs/bull';
import { ApolloService } from '../../services/apollo/apollo.service';

interface EnrichJobData {
  contactIds: string[];
  priority: 'high' | 'normal' | 'low';
}

@Processor('apollo-enrich')
export class EnrichProcessor {
  constructor(private readonly apolloService: ApolloService) {}

  @Process('enrich-contacts')
  async handleEnrich(job: Job<EnrichJobData>): Promise<void> {
    const { contactIds, priority } = job.data;

    // Process in batches to respect rate limits
    const batchSize = priority === 'high' ? 10 : 5;

    for (let i = 0; i < contactIds.length; i += batchSize) {
      const batch = contactIds.slice(i, i + batchSize);

      await Promise.all(
        batch.map(id => this.apolloService.enrichContact(id))
      );

      // Update progress
      await job.progress(((i + batchSize) / contactIds.length) * 100);

      // Rate limit delay
      if (i + batchSize < contactIds.length) {
        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000));
      }
    }
  }
}

// Queue producer
@Injectable()
export class EnrichQueue {
  constructor(@InjectQueue('apollo-enrich') private queue: Queue) {}

  async enqueueContacts(contactIds: string[], priority: 'high' | 'normal' | 'low' = 'normal') {
    await this.queue.add('enrich-contacts', {
      contactIds,
      priority,
    }, {
      priority: priority === 'high' ? 1 : priority === 'normal' ? 5 : 10,
      attempts: 3,
      backoff: {
        type: 'exponential',
        delay: 5000,
      },
    });
  }
}

3. Data Models

// src/models/contact.model.ts
import { Entity, Column, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, ManyToOne, Index } from 'typeorm';
import { Company } from './company.model';

@Entity('contacts')
export class Contact {
  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn('uuid')
  id: string;

  @Index({ unique: true })
  @Column()
  apolloId: string;

  @Index()
  @Column({ nullable: true })
  email: string;

  @Column()
  name: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  firstName: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  lastName: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  title: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  seniority: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  linkedinUrl: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  phone: string;

  @Column({ type: 'jsonb', nullable: true })
  customFields: Record<string, any>;

  @ManyToOne(() => Company, company => company.contacts)
  company: Company;

  @Column()
  companyId: string;

  @Column({ type: 'timestamp' })
  enrichedAt: Date;

  @Column({ type: 'timestamp', default: () => 'CURRENT_TIMESTAMP' })
  createdAt: Date;

  @Column({ type: 'timestamp', default: () => 'CURRENT_TIMESTAMP' })
  updatedAt: Date;
}

// src/models/company.model.ts
@Entity('companies')
export class Company {
  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn('uuid')
  id: string;

  @Index({ unique: true })
  @Column()
  apolloId: string;

  @Column()
  name: string;

  @Index()
  @Column()
  domain: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  industry: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  subIndustry: string;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  employeeCount: number;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  annualRevenue: number;

  @Column({ nullable: true })
  foundedYear: number;

  @Column({ type: 'text', nullable: true })
  description: string;

  @Column({ type: 'jsonb', nullable: true })
  technologies: string[];

  @Column({ type: 'jsonb', nullable: true })
  location: {
    city: string;
    state: string;
    country: string;
  };

  @OneToMany(() => Contact, contact => contact.company)
  contacts: Contact[];
}

4. API Routes

// src/routes/api/apollo/search.ts
import { Router } from 'express';
import { ApolloService } from '../../../services/apollo/apollo.service';
import { validateRequest } from '../../../middleware/validation';

const router = Router();

router.post('/search', validateRequest(SearchSchema), async (req, res) => {
  const { domains, titles, locations, minEmployees, maxEmployees } = req.body;

  const results = await apolloService.searchAndEnrich({
    domains,
    titles,
    locations,
    minEmployees,
    maxEmployees,
  });

  res.json({
    success: true,
    data: results,
    meta: {
      count: results.length,
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    },
  });
});

router.post('/enrich/bulk', validateRequest(BulkEnrichSchema), async (req, res) => {
  const { contactIds, priority } = req.body;

  // Queue for background processing
  await enrichQueue.enqueueContacts(contactIds, priority);

  res.json({
    success: true,
    message: `Queued ${contactIds.length} contacts for enrichment`,
    jobId: 'job-id-here',
  });
});

export default router;

Integration Patterns

CRM Integration (Salesforce)

// src/integrations/salesforce.ts
export class SalesforceIntegration {
  async syncContact(contact: Contact): Promise<void> {
    const sfContact = await this.salesforce.sobject('Contact').upsert({
      Email: contact.email,
      FirstName: contact.firstName,
      LastName: contact.lastName,
      Title: contact.title,
      Apollo_ID__c: contact.apolloId,
      LinkedIn_URL__c: contact.linkedinUrl,
    }, 'Email');

    console.log(`Synced contact ${contact.email} to Salesforce`);
  }

  async syncCompany(company: Company): Promise<void> {
    const sfAccount = await this.salesforce.sobject('Account').upsert({
      Name: company.name,
      Website: `https://${company.domain}`,
      Industry: company.industry,
      NumberOfEmployees: company.employeeCount,
      Apollo_ID__c: company.apolloId,
    }, 'Website');
  }
}

Event-Driven Architecture

// src/events/apollo.events.ts
export const APOLLO_EVENTS = {
  CONTACT_ENRICHED: 'apollo.contact.enriched',
  COMPANY_ENRICHED: 'apollo.company.enriched',
  SEARCH_COMPLETED: 'apollo.search.completed',
  SEQUENCE_STARTED: 'apollo.sequence.started',
  EMAIL_ENGAGEMENT: 'apollo.email.engagement',
};

// Event handlers
eventBus.on(APOLLO_EVENTS.CONTACT_ENRICHED, async (contact) => {
  // Sync to CRM
  await salesforceIntegration.syncContact(contact);

  // Update search index
  await searchIndex.indexContact(contact);

  // Notify relevant teams
  if (contact.score >= 80) {
    await slackNotifier.sendHighValueLead(contact);
  }
});

Output

• Layered architecture (client, service, job, model)
• Background job processing with Bull
• Database models with TypeORM
• RESTful API endpoints
• CRM integration patterns
• Event-driven architecture

Error Handling

Layer	Strategy
Client	Retry with backoff
Service	Graceful degradation
Jobs	Dead letter queue
API	Structured error responses

Resources

• NestJS Documentation
• Bull Queue
• TypeORM
• Event Sourcing Patterns

Next Steps

Proceed to apollo-multi-env-setup for environment configuration.