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Apollo API Essential Guide

Aug 13, 20246 minute read

What type of API does Apollo provide?

GraphQL API

  • Apollo is built around GraphQL and provides tools and libraries for working with GraphQL APIs.

  • GraphQL is a query language and runtime for APIs developed by Facebook. It allows clients to request exactly the data they need in a single query.

  • Apollo Client is a popular JavaScript library for using GraphQL in front-end applications. It provides features like caching, state management, and declarative data fetching.

Key Characteristics of GraphQL APIs

  • Strongly typed schema that defines the structure of queries and data
  • Single endpoint for all data requests
  • Clients specify exactly what data they need in each request
  • Efficient data fetching by avoiding over-fetching or under-fetching of data
  • Flexible and evolving API without need for versioning

Using GraphQL with Apollo

import { useQuery } from "@apollo/client"; import gql from "graphql-tag"; const GET_TASKS = gql` query getTasks { tasks { id name description } } `; function TasksList() { const { loading, error, data } = useQuery(GET_TASKS); if (loading) return <p>Loading...</p>; if (error) return <p>Error :(</p>; return ( <ul> {data.tasks.map(task => ( <li key={task.id}>{task.name} - {task.description}</li> ))} </ul> ); }

This code defines a GraphQL query and uses Apollo Client's useQuery hook to fetch and render task data.

Does the Apollo API have webhooks?

Key Points:

  1. Apollo Client supports subscriptions, which allow real-time updates, but these are not the same as webhooks.

  2. Apollo Client supports subscription protocols like WebSocket and HTTP with chunked multipart responses.

  3. While not native to Apollo, webhooks can be implemented using external services or custom server-side code.

Subscription Events

Although not webhooks, Apollo subscriptions allow you to subscribe to certain events:

  1. You can define custom subscription events on the server-side.

  2. Common subscription events might include data updates, creations, or deletions.

  3. Example of a subscription event:

subscription OnCommentAdded($postID: ID!) { commentAdded(postID: $postID) { id content } }

Implementing Webhooks

While Apollo doesn't have built-in webhooks, you can implement them using:

  1. External services like Zapier, which offers integrations between Apollo and webhook services.

  2. Custom server-side code to handle webhook endpoints, as demonstrated in the Express.js example for Stripe webhooks.

Best Practices

  1. If real-time updates are needed, consider using Apollo's subscription feature instead of webhooks.

  2. For webhook-like functionality, you may need to implement custom solutions or use third-party services.

  3. When implementing custom webhooks, ensure proper security measures are in place, such as authentication and payload verification.

In conclusion, while Apollo doesn't have native webhook support, you can achieve similar functionality through subscriptions or by implementing custom webhook solutions.

Rate Limits and other limitations

The API Rate Limits for the Apollo API are as follows:

General Rate Limits

  • API tokens are limited to 100 API requests per 5 minutes.
  • Once you exceed this limit, calls will return HTTP status 429 and a message indicating you've been rate limited.

Detailed Rate Limits

Apollo provides more granular rate limits based on different time intervals:

  • Per minute: 50 requests
  • Per hour: 100 requests
  • Per day: 300 requests

These limits may vary depending on your pricing plan. The exact limits for your plan can be found in the response headers of each API request you make.

Rate Limit Headers

The API returns the following headers with each response to help you track your usage:

  • x-minute-requests-left
  • x-minute-usage
  • x-hourly-requests-left
  • x-hourly-usage
  • x-daily-requests-left
  • x-daily-usage
  • x-rate-limit-minute
  • x-rate-limit-hourly
  • x-rate-limit-daily

Key Points to Consider

  1. The rate limits are enforced on a per-token basis.
  2. Different endpoints may have different rate limits. For example, the bulk enrichment endpoint has a rate limit of 1/10th of the single enrichment endpoint.
  3. Newer plans utilizing Export Credits will deduct 1 export credit when calling certain endpoints, such as organization enrichment.

Best Practices

  1. Monitor the rate limit headers in your API responses to track your usage and avoid hitting the limits.
  2. Implement proper error handling for 429 status codes to gracefully handle rate limit errors.
  3. If you need higher rate limits, consider contacting Apollo.io sales for a custom plan with higher API rate limits.
  4. Optimize your API usage by batching requests where possible and avoiding unnecessary calls.

By adhering to these rate limits and following best practices, you can ensure smooth integration with the Apollo API while avoiding disruptions due to rate limiting.

Latest API Version

The most recent version of the Apollo API is Apollo Client 4. Here are the key points:

  1. Apollo Client 4 is the latest version and is generally available for production use.

  2. Apollo Server 4 is also the latest version of Apollo Server and is generally available.

  3. Apollo Kotlin 4 was released on July 29, 2023 as the latest stable version for Kotlin.

  4. For the JavaScript/TypeScript Apollo Client, the latest version can be found on npm as @apollo/client.

Key points to consider:

  • Apollo Server 3 is deprecated and will reach end-of-life on October 22, 2024.

  • Apollo Server 2 reached end-of-life on October 22, 2023.

  • Users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest versions (Apollo Client 4, Apollo Server 4, Apollo Kotlin 4) for the best features and support.

Best practices:

  • Keep your Apollo libraries up-to-date to benefit from the latest features, performance improvements, and security updates.

  • When upgrading, follow the official migration guides provided by Apollo to ensure a smooth transition between versions.

  • For JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use the @apollo/client package from npm, which combines multiple Apollo packages into a single package for easier management.

How to get a Apollo developer account and API Keys?

1. Sign up for an Apollo account

The first step is to create an account on the Apollo platform. Generally, you would:

  • Visit the Apollo website
  • Look for a "Sign Up" or "Get Started" button
  • Fill out the registration form with your details

2. Choose the appropriate plan

Apollo typically offers different plans for developers. You'll need to select the plan that best suits your needs for API integration. This information is not provided in the search results, so you'd need to check Apollo's pricing page for current options.

3. Set up your project

Once you have an account, you'll likely need to set up a project or workspace for your API integration. This usually involves:

  • Logging into your Apollo account
  • Creating a new project
  • Configuring basic settings for your project

4. Obtain API credentials

To use Apollo's API, you'll typically need to generate API credentials. This usually includes:

  • An API key
  • Possibly other authentication tokens or client IDs

5. Install necessary dependencies

For using Apollo Client in a React project, you'll need to install the required dependencies:

npm install @apollo/client graphql

6. Initialize Apollo Client

After setting up your account and project, you'll need to initialize Apollo Client in your application:

import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, ApolloProvider } from '@apollo/client'; const client = new ApolloClient({ uri: 'YOUR_API_ENDPOINT', cache: new InMemoryCache(), });

Replace 'YOUR_API_ENDPOINT' with the actual endpoint provided by Apollo for your project.

7. Connect Apollo Client to your React app

Wrap your React app with the ApolloProvider component:

import { ApolloProvider } from '@apollo/client'; function App() { return ( <ApolloProvider client={client}> {/* Your app components */} </ApolloProvider> ); }

What can you do with the Apollo API?

Based on the search results provided, I can provide information about the data models you can interact with using the Apollo API. Here's a list of bullet points going over what is possible for each data model:

Organizations

  • Enrich organization information with details such as industry, company size, etc.
  • Perform bulk organization enrichment for up to 10 records at a time
  • Retrieve information like address, description, and funding details

Opportunities

  • Create and manage opportunity records to track potential deals
  • Associate opportunities with both companies and people in Apollo

People

  • Enrich contact information (implied from the organization enrichment functionality)

GraphQL Schema

  • Define and interact with custom data models through GraphQL schemas
  • Combine multiple GraphQL APIs into a single, federated graph
  • Design schemas at scale, preserving client simplicity and performance

Queries and Mutations

  • Execute queries to retrieve data from the Apollo API
  • Perform mutations to create, update, or delete data
  • Use fragments to compose complex queries
  • Implement subscriptions for real-time data updates

Service Models

  • Generate strongly typed representations of your GraphQL schema
  • Use service models to simplify data fetching and manipulation
  • Leverage type safety and autocomplete features for better development experience

Authentication and Authorization

  • Implement authentication mechanisms to secure API access
  • Apply authorization methods at various levels (API-wide, resolvers, data models)

Caching

  • Utilize Apollo Client's caching capabilities to optimize performance

Error Handling

  • Implement error handling strategies for various GraphQL errors

It's important to note that the specific data models and interactions available may depend on the particular implementation of the Apollo API you're working with. The information provided here covers a range of possibilities based on the Apollo ecosystem and common GraphQL practices.