Apollo Install & Auth Skill

Apollo Install & Auth

Overview

Set up Apollo.io API client and configure authentication credentials. Apollo uses the x-api-key HTTP header for authentication against the base URL https://api.apollo.io/api/v1/. There is no official SDK — all integrations use the REST API directly.

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+
Package manager (npm, pnpm, or pip)
Apollo.io account with API access (Basic plan or above)
API key from Apollo dashboard (Settings > Integrations > API Keys)

Instructions

Step 1: Install HTTP Client

set -euo pipefail
# Node.js
npm install axios dotenv

# Python
pip install requests python-dotenv

Step 2: Configure API Key

Apollo supports two API key types:

Master API key — full access to all endpoints (required for contacts, sequences, deals)
Standard API key — limited to search and enrichment only

# Create .env file (never commit this)
echo 'APOLLO_API_KEY=your-api-key-here' >> .env
echo '.env' >> .gitignore

Step 3: Create Apollo Client (TypeScript)

// src/apollo/client.ts
import axios, { AxiosInstance } from 'axios';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';

dotenv.config();

const BASE_URL = 'https://api.apollo.io/api/v1';

export function createApolloClient(apiKey?: string): AxiosInstance {
  const key = apiKey ?? process.env.APOLLO_API_KEY;
  if (!key) throw new Error('APOLLO_API_KEY is not set');

  return axios.create({
    baseURL: BASE_URL,
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'Cache-Control': 'no-cache',
      'x-api-key': key,
    },
    timeout: 30_000,
  });
}

export const apolloClient = createApolloClient();

Step 4: Verify Connection

// src/scripts/verify-auth.ts
import { apolloClient } from '../apollo/client';

async function verifyConnection() {
  try {
    // Use the health endpoint to test connectivity
    const response = await apolloClient.get('/auth/health');
    console.log('Apollo connection:', response.data.is_logged_in ? 'OK' : 'Invalid key');
  } catch (error: any) {
    if (error.response?.status === 401) {
      console.error('Invalid API key. Generate a new one at:');
      console.error('  Apollo Dashboard > Settings > Integrations > API Keys');
    } else {
      console.error('Connection failed:', error.message);
    }
  }
}

verifyConnection();

Step 5: Create Apollo Client (Python)

# apollo_client.py
import os
import requests
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

class ApolloClient:
    BASE_URL = 'https://api.apollo.io/api/v1'

    def __init__(self, api_key: str | None = None):
        self.api_key = api_key or os.environ.get('APOLLO_API_KEY')
        if not self.api_key:
            raise ValueError('APOLLO_API_KEY is not set')
        self.session = requests.Session()
        self.session.headers.update({
            'Content-Type': 'application/json',
            'Cache-Control': 'no-cache',
            'x-api-key': self.api_key,
        })

    def get(self, endpoint: str, **kwargs) -> requests.Response:
        return self.session.get(f'{self.BASE_URL}/{endpoint}', **kwargs)

    def post(self, endpoint: str, json: dict = None, **kwargs) -> requests.Response:
        return self.session.post(f'{self.BASE_URL}/{endpoint}', json=json, **kwargs)

    def verify(self) -> bool:
        resp = self.get('auth/health')
        return resp.json().get('is_logged_in', False)

client = ApolloClient()
print('Connected:', client.verify())

Output

HTTP client configured with x-api-key header authentication
Environment variable file with .gitignore protection
Successful /auth/health verification
Both TypeScript and Python implementations

Error Handling

| Error | Cause | Solution | |-------|-------|----------| | 401 Unauthorized | Invalid or missing API key | Verify key in Apollo Dashboard > Settings > Integrations > API Keys | | 403 Forbidden | Endpoint requires master key | Generate a master API key (not standard) in the dashboard | | 429 Rate Limited | Too many requests per minute | Implement backoff; see apollo-rate-limits | | Network Error | Firewall blocking outbound HTTPS | Allow outbound to api.apollo.io on port 443 |

Examples

Quick cURL Verification

# Test your API key from the command line
curl -s -X GET \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" \
  -H "x-api-key: $APOLLO_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.apollo.io/api/v1/auth/health" | python3 -m json.tool

Resources

Next Steps

After successful auth, proceed to apollo-hello-world for your first API call.

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