LinkedIn Integration

PingCRM syncs LinkedIn messages and profiles through a Chrome extension. The extension calls LinkedIn's internal Voyager API directly from your browser — no LinkedIn credentials are sent to the backend.

Extension Pairing

Connecting the extension uses a one-time pairing code instead of a password:

1. Install the PingCRM Chrome extension.
2. Open the extension popup — it displays a code like PING-X7K3M2.
3. Open PingCRM Settings → Integrations → LinkedIn and click Connect.
4. Enter the code in the modal and click Pair.
5. The extension polls the backend and, once matched, shows Connected.

Pairing codes expire after 10 minutes. The issued token is valid for 30 days and renews silently on use: when a sync receives a 401, the extension transparently exchanges the expired token for a fresh 30-day one via /api/v1/extension/refresh, so you normally never see a pairing prompt after the first setup. Tokens that are more than 90 days past expiry are not renewable — the popup then flips to the unpaired view and you re-pair with a new code.

Message Sync

Messages are fetched via LinkedIn's Voyager GraphQL API, called directly from the extension's service worker. This provides access to full conversation history, not just whatever is visible on the page.

On each sync the extension reads your LinkedIn session cookies from the browser, fetches conversations sorted by most-recent activity, and stops paginating once it reaches messages already seen in a previous sync (the watermark). Parsed results are pushed to the backend; LinkedIn cookies are never included.

A 2-hour throttle prevents excessive syncs during a browsing session. The popup's Sync Now button bypasses the throttle for an immediate sync.

What Gets Synced

The extension syncs contacts you have LinkedIn conversations with. If you've exchanged messages with someone, they become a contact in PingCRM with their most recent message, profile info, and avatar. You can also pull and regenerate AI follow-up suggestions directly from LinkedIn using the P and R buttons injected into the messaging composer.

Synced automatically:

• Contacts you've messaged (inbound and outbound)
• Profile data (name, headline, company, location, avatar) via Voyager API backfill
• Up to 500 conversations per sync cycle

Not synced:

• LinkedIn connections you've never messaged
• Profiles you browse but don't message
• Group chat messages

Suggestion Buttons (P and R)

When you open a LinkedIn message composer, the extension injects two small buttons into the toolbar:

• P (Pull) — fetches your current pending follow-up suggestions for the contact whose conversation is open and displays them in a compact overlay above the composer.
• R (Regenerate) — asks the backend to generate a fresh AI-drafted message for that suggestion, then updates the overlay with the new text.

Clicking a suggestion in the overlay pastes it directly into the composer via a simulated keyboard event, so the LinkedIn send button activates normally. Both buttons use the extension's scoped JWT (aud: pingcrm-extension) to authenticate against the same /api/v1/suggestions endpoints used by the web app.

The overlay is injected into LinkedIn's shadow DOM alongside the compose area and is removed automatically when the composer closes.

Extension Architecture

The extension is built from two main pieces:

• Content script — monitors the LinkedIn page for compose areas inside LinkedIn's shadow DOM. When a compose area appears, it injects the P and R buttons and manages the suggestion overlay lifecycle.
• Service worker — handles sync logic: reads LinkedIn session cookies, calls the Voyager GraphQL API to fetch conversations and profiles, resolves a contact by matching the Voyager member ID or profile slug against the backend, and pushes parsed results to /api/v1/linkedin/push.

When the P button is clicked, the content script sends a message to the service worker, which calls /api/v1/suggestions with the extension JWT and returns suggestions filtered to the current contact. The R button calls /api/v1/suggestions/{id}/regenerate. Text is inserted into the composer via a paste event simulation so LinkedIn's React input detects the change correctly.

Profile Backfill

After each sync, the backend identifies contacts missing a job title, company, or avatar. The extension then fetches those profiles via the Voyager API and pushes the enriched data back — up to 10 profiles per sync cycle. No manual profile visits required.

Voyager profile responses include CDN URLs for profile photos at multiple resolutions. The backend downloads the images server-side, so contacts you've messaged but never visited on LinkedIn receive avatars automatically.

Importing Full History

For a complete import of your LinkedIn network (including connections you haven't messaged), use LinkedIn's data export:

1. Go to LinkedIn Data Export and request your data
2. Download the archive when ready (usually takes ~24 hours)
3. Extract Connections.csv from the archive
4. In PingCRM, go to Contacts → Import and upload the CSV

This imports all your 1st-degree connections with names, companies, positions, and email addresses. The extension's Voyager sync will then enrich these contacts with avatars and recent message history on subsequent syncs.

Privacy

LinkedIn session cookies (li_at and JSESSIONID) are read fresh from your browser at the start of every sync and are used only to authenticate Voyager API calls made from the extension itself. They are never transmitted to the PingCRM backend. All Voyager requests originate from your browser and your IP address, indistinguishable from normal LinkedIn browsing.

Sync Schedule

Trigger	Behavior
Any LinkedIn page visit	Syncs if more than 2 hours have passed since the last sync
Manual "Sync Now" (popup)	Syncs immediately, no throttle

Sync is purely event-driven — no background alarms or scheduled tasks are needed. If your LinkedIn session expires, the popup shows a prompt to visit linkedin.com so the extension can pick up fresh cookies automatically on your next page visit.