Adobe Reference Architecture
Overview
Production-ready architecture patterns for Adobe API integrations, designed around the three main API families: Firefly Services (creative AI), PDF Services (document automation), and I/O Events (event-driven).
Prerequisites
- Understanding of layered architecture
- TypeScript project setup
- Decision on which Adobe APIs to integrate
Instructions
Step 1: Project Structure
my-adobe-project/
├── src/
│ ├── adobe/ # Adobe client layer
│ │ ├── auth.ts # OAuth Server-to-Server token management
│ │ ├── firefly-client.ts # Firefly API wrapper (generate, fill, expand)
│ │ ├── pdf-client.ts # PDF Services wrapper (create, extract, merge)
│ │ ├── photoshop-client.ts # Photoshop API wrapper (cutout, actions)
│ │ ├── events-client.ts # I/O Events registration and verification
│ │ ├── types.ts # Shared Adobe types
│ │ └── errors.ts # Error classification (retryable vs permanent)
│ ├── services/ # Business logic layer
│ │ ├── image-generation.ts # Orchestrates Firefly + Photoshop workflows
│ │ ├── document-pipeline.ts # Orchestrates PDF create/extract/merge
│ │ └── event-processor.ts # Routes and processes I/O Events
│ ├── api/ # API layer (routes, controllers)
│ │ ├── health.ts # Health check including Adobe IMS
│ │ ├── webhooks/adobe.ts # I/O Events webhook endpoint
│ │ └── routes/
│ │ ├── images.ts # Image generation endpoints
│ │ └── documents.ts # Document processing endpoints
│ ├── jobs/ # Background job layer
│ │ ├── firefly-batch.ts # Batch image generation queue
│ │ └── pdf-extraction.ts # Async PDF extraction worker
│ └── index.ts
├── tests/
│ ├── unit/
│ │ ├── adobe/auth.test.ts
│ │ └── services/
│ └── integration/
│ └── adobe/
│ ├── firefly.test.ts
│ └── pdf-services.test.ts
├── config/
│ ├── adobe.development.json
│ ├── adobe.staging.json
│ └── adobe.production.json
└── package.json
Step 2: Layer Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ API Layer │
│ Routes, Controllers, Webhook Endpoints │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Service Layer │
│ Business Logic, Workflow Orchestration │
│ (image-generation.ts, document-pipeline.ts) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Adobe Client Layer │
│ auth.ts, firefly-client.ts, pdf-client.ts │
│ Token caching, retry, error classification │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Infrastructure Layer │
│ Cache (LRU/Redis), Queue (BullMQ), Monitoring │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Rules:
- API layer never calls Adobe APIs directly — always through Service layer
- Service layer orchestrates multiple Adobe clients (e.g., Firefly + Photoshop)
- Adobe Client layer handles auth, retry, error classification
- Infrastructure layer is swappable (in-memory cache for dev, Redis for prod)
Step 3: Error Boundary
export class AdobeServiceError extends Error {
constructor(
message: string,
public readonly code: string,
public readonly httpStatus: number,
public readonly retryable: boolean,
public readonly api: 'firefly' | 'pdf-services' | 'photoshop' | 'events',
public readonly retryAfter?: number,
public readonly originalError?: Error
) {
super(message);
this.name = 'AdobeServiceError';
}
static fromResponse(api: string, status: number, body: string, headers?: Headers): AdobeServiceError {
const retryAfter = headers?.();
(
,
status === ? :
status === ? :
status >= ? : ,
status,
status === || status >= ,
api ,
retryAfter ? (retryAfter) : ,
);
}
}
Step 4: Configuration Management
export interface AdobeConfig {
clientId: string;
clientSecret: string;
scopes: string;
environment: 'development' | 'staging' | 'production';
apis: {
firefly: { enabled: boolean; baseUrl: string };
pdfServices: { enabled: boolean };
photoshop: { enabled: boolean; baseUrl: string };
events: { enabled: boolean; webhookUrl: string };
};
retry: { maxRetries: number; baseDelayMs: number };
cache: { enabled: boolean; ttlSeconds: number };
}
export function loadConfig(): AdobeConfig {
const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
const base = require();
{
...base,
: process..!,
: process..!,
: process..!,
: env ,
};
}
Step 5: Health Check
export async function adobeHealthCheck(config: AdobeConfig) {
const checks: Record<string, any> = {};
try {
const start = Date.now();
await getCachedToken();
checks.ims = { status: 'healthy', latencyMs: Date.now() - start };
} catch (e: any) {
checks.ims = { status: 'unhealthy', error: e.message };
}
if (config.apis.firefly.enabled) {
checks.firefly = await pingEndpoint('https://firefly-api.adobe.io');
}
if (config.apis.photoshop.enabled) {
checks.photoshop = await pingEndpoint('https://image.adobe.io');
}
const overall = .(checks).(
c. ===
) ? : ;
{ : overall, : checks };
}
Data Flow
User Request
│
▼
┌─────────────┐
│ Express │ ← Webhook from Adobe I/O Events
│ Router │
└──────┬───┬──┘
│ │
▼ ▼
┌────────┐ ┌────────────┐
│Service │ │Event │
│Layer │ │Processor │
└───┬────┘ └──────┬─────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
┌──────────────────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│ Adobe Client Layer │───▶│ Cache │
│ (auth + API calls) │ │ LRU/Redis│
└──────────┬───────────┘ └─────────┘
│
┌──────┼──────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
┌──────┐┌──────┐┌──────┐
│Firefly││PDF ││Photo │
│API ││Svc ││shop │
└──────┘└──────┘└──────┘
Output
- Layered project structure separating concerns
- Error boundary with classification and retry logic
- Per-environment configuration with secret injection
- Health check covering IMS and all enabled APIs
Resources
Next Steps
For multi-environment setup, see adobe-multi-env-setup.
