Step by Step Guide to Building a Zillow Leads API Integration in JS

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your real estate app with Zillow's powerful leads data? You're in the right place. We're going to walk through building a Zillow Leads API integration using JavaScript. This guide assumes you're already familiar with JS and API integrations, so we'll keep things snappy and focus on the good stuff.

Prerequisites

Before we dive in, make sure you've got:

• A Zillow API key (if you don't have one, hop over to Zillow's developer portal and grab it)
• Node.js and npm installed on your machine
• Your favorite code editor ready to roll

Setting up the project

Let's get our project off the ground:

mkdir zillow-leads-integration
cd zillow-leads-integration
npm init -y
npm install axios dotenv

Authentication

Security first! We'll use environment variables to keep our API key safe:

// .env
ZILLOW_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

// index.js
require('dotenv').config();
const apiKey = process.env.ZILLOW_API_KEY;

Making API requests

Time to create our API client:

const axios = require('axios');

const zillowApi = axios.create({
  baseURL: 'https://api.zillow.com/leads/v1',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${apiKey}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  }
});

Implementing core functionalities

Let's tackle the main operations:

// Fetch leads
async function getLeads() {
  const response = await zillowApi.get('/leads');
  return response.data;
}

// Create a new lead
async function createLead(leadData) {
  const response = await zillowApi.post('/leads', leadData);
  return response.data;
}

// Update lead information
async function updateLead(leadId, updateData) {
  const response = await zillowApi.patch(`/leads/${leadId}`, updateData);
  return response.data;
}

// Handle lead assignments
async function assignLead(leadId, agentId) {
  const response = await zillowApi.post(`/leads/${leadId}/assignments`, { agentId });
  return response.data;
}

Error handling and rate limiting

Let's add some robustness to our code:

async function apiCall(method, ...args) {
  try {
    return await method(...args);
  } catch (error) {
    if (error.response && error.response.status === 429) {
      console.log('Rate limit hit. Waiting before retrying...');
      await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 60000));
      return apiCall(method, ...args);
    }
    throw error;
  }
}

// Usage
const leads = await apiCall(getLeads);

Data processing and storage

Here's a simple way to handle the data:

function processLeads(leadsData) {
  return leadsData.map(lead => ({
    id: lead.id,
    name: lead.name,
    email: lead.email,
    phone: lead.phone,
    status: lead.status
  }));
}

// If you want to store in a database, you'd add your database logic here

Building a simple user interface (optional)

If you're feeling fancy, you could whip up a quick frontend:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/leads', async (req, res) => {
  const leads = await apiCall(getLeads);
  res.json(processLeads(leads));
});

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Server running on port 3000'));

Testing the integration

Don't forget to test! Here's a basic example using Jest:

const { getLeads } = require('./index');

test('getLeads returns an array of leads', async () => {
  const leads = await getLeads();
  expect(Array.isArray(leads)).toBeTruthy();
  expect(leads.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
});

Deployment considerations

When you're ready to go live:

1. Use environment variables for all sensitive data
2. Implement proper error logging
3. Consider using a caching layer to reduce API calls
4. Set up monitoring for your integration

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've just built a solid Zillow Leads API integration. Remember, this is just the beginning - there's always room to expand and improve. Keep an eye on Zillow's documentation for any updates, and happy coding!