Appfolio local dev loop

AppFolio Local Dev Loop

Overview

Local development workflow for AppFolio property management API integration. Provides a fast feedback loop with mock property, tenant, and lease endpoints so you can build and test integrations without consuming live API quota. Toggle between mock mode for rapid iteration and sandbox mode for pre-deployment validation against the real AppFolio Stack API.

Environment Setup

cp .env.example .env
# Set your credentials:
# APPFOLIO_API_KEY=af_live_xxxxxxxxxxxx
# APPFOLIO_BASE_URL=https://api.appfolio.com/api/v1
# MOCK_MODE=true
npm install express axios dotenv tsx typescript @types/node
npm install -D vitest supertest @types/express

Dev Server

// src/dev/server.ts
import express from "express";
import { createProxyMiddleware } from "http-proxy-middleware";
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
const MOCK = process.env.MOCK_MODE === "true";
if (!MOCK) {
  app.use("/api/v1", createProxyMiddleware({
    target: process.env.APPFOLIO_BASE_URL,
    changeOrigin: true,
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.APPFOLIO_API_KEY}` },
  }));
} else {
  const { mountMockRoutes } = require("./mocks");
  mountMockRoutes(app);
}
app.listen(3001, () => console.log(`AppFolio dev server on :3001 [mock=${MOCK}]`));

Mock Mode

// src/dev/mocks.ts — realistic property management responses
export function mountMockRoutes(app: any) {
  app.get("/api/v1/properties", (_req: any, res: any) => res.json([
    { id: "prop_1", name: "Sunset Apartments", address: { street: "123 Sunset Blvd", city: "Los Angeles", state: "CA" }, property_type: "residential", unit_count: 24 },
    { id: "prop_2", name: "Downtown Office", address: { street: "456 Main St", city: "San Francisco", state: "CA" }, property_type: "commercial", unit_count: 8 },
  ]));
  app.get("/api/v1/tenants", (_req: any, res: any) => res.json([
    { id: "t1", first_name: "Jane", last_name: "Smith", email: "[email protected]", unit_id: "u1", lease_id: "l1" },
  ]));
  app.get("/api/v1/leases", (_req: any, res: any) => res.json([
    { id: "l1", unit_id: "u1", start_date: "2025-01-01", end_date: "2026-01-01", rent_amount: 2500, status: "active" },
  ]));
  app.post("/api/v1/work-orders", (req: any, res: any) => res.status(201).json({ id: "wo_1", ...req.body, status: "open" }));
}

Testing Workflow

npm run dev:mock &                    # Start mock server in background
npm run test                          # Unit tests with vitest
npm run test -- --watch               # Watch mode for rapid iteration
MOCK_MODE=false npm run test:integration  # Integration test against real API

Debug Tips

• Set DEBUG=express:* to trace all route matching and middleware execution
• Use curl -v http://localhost:3001/api/v1/properties to inspect raw responses
• Check X-RateLimit-Remaining header when testing against the live API
• AppFolio sandbox returns 403 for properties you do not own — verify your API key scope
• Enable axios interceptors to log request/response pairs during development

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Fix
401 Unauthorized	Invalid or expired API key	Regenerate at AppFolio Stack portal
403 Forbidden	Key lacks scope for endpoint	Request additional permissions
404 Not Found	Wrong property ID or path	Verify resource exists in sandbox
429 Too Many Requests	Rate limit exceeded	Add exponential backoff, use mock mode
ECONNREFUSED :3001	Dev server not running	Run npm run dev:mock first

Resources

• AppFolio Stack APIs
• AppFolio Engineering Blog

Next Steps

See appfolio-debug-bundle.