I’m curious about how automation services like Zapier and IFTTT manage to connect so many different apps and services. Do they build each integration from scratch or is there some kind of universal method they use?
From what I understand, most of these connections probably use REST APIs and OAuth for authentication, which seems pretty standard. But what really puzzles me is how they handle all the specific trigger events and filtering options that each service offers. For example, Gmail triggers are totally different from Slack triggers or Facebook triggers.
Are these integrations coded individually for each service? That would require a huge development team. Or maybe there’s some smart generic framework that can adapt to different APIs automatically? I’m trying to understand the architecture behind these platforms.
I’ve worked with integration platforms professionally, and honestly? Each service integration needs tons of custom dev work. Sure, they use common patterns like REST APIs and OAuth, but the devil’s in the details. Most platforms basically maintain a huge library of service-specific adapters. Each one handles that API’s weird quirks - different data formats, auth flows, error handling, field mappings. Trigger mechanisms are all over the place too. Some have webhooks for real-time stuff, others need polling, many need both. The ‘smart framework’ you’re thinking of does exist somewhat - they build reusable components for pagination, rate limiting, data transformation. But you still need serious manual coding for each new integration. That’s why these platforms have massive engineering teams and why adding services takes forever. The architecture is more brute force than elegant, but it scales.
totally agree! it’s all about custom connections. webhooks help with real-time, but polling’s how they catch up on things. mapping all those APIs must be a nightmare with rate limits too! gotta respect the effort that goes in!
The core architecture uses abstraction layers and normalized data models. Most platforms work like a hub-and-spoke system - incoming data from different APIs gets transformed into standard internal formats, then pushed to destination services. This cuts complexity from N-to-N connections down to just 2N adapters. I’ve built similar systems, and honestly, the initial integration work isn’t the hard part - it’s keeping them running when APIs change. Stripe and Google constantly update endpoints, deprecate fields, or change auth requirements. Automation platforms need entire teams just to monitor and update existing connectors. The trigger handling you mentioned gets really complex because services have completely different event models. Some push notifications instantly, others batch events, and many don’t support real-time triggers at all. Most platforms run scheduled jobs every few minutes to poll services without webhook support - that’s why some automations have delays.