Documenso Reference Architecture

Overview

Production-ready architecture patterns for Documenso document signing integrations.

Prerequisites

• Understanding of layered architecture
• Documenso SDK knowledge
• TypeScript project setup
• Testing framework configured

Project Structure

my-signing-app/
├── src/
│   ├── documenso/
│   │   ├── client.ts           # Singleton client wrapper
│   │   ├── config.ts           # Environment configuration
│   │   ├── types.ts            # TypeScript types
│   │   ├── errors.ts           # Custom error classes
│   │   └── handlers/
│   │       ├── webhooks.ts     # Webhook handlers
│   │       └── events.ts       # Event processing
│   ├── services/
│   │   └── signing/
│   │       ├── index.ts        # Service facade
│   │       ├── documents.ts    # Document operations
│   │       ├── templates.ts    # Template operations
│   │       └── cache.ts        # Caching layer
│   ├── api/
│   │   └── signing/
│   │       ├── routes.ts       # API routes
│   │       └── webhook.ts      # Webhook endpoint
│   ├── jobs/
│   │   └── signing/
│   │       ├── cleanup.ts      # Draft cleanup job
│   │       └── sync.ts         # Status sync job
│   └── utils/
│       ├── pdf.ts              # PDF utilities
│       └── validation.ts       # Input validation
├── tests/
│   ├── unit/
│   │   └── signing/
│   │       ├── documents.test.ts
│   │       └── templates.test.ts
│   └── integration/
│       └── signing/
│           └── workflows.test.ts
├── config/
│   ├── documenso.development.json
│   ├── documenso.staging.json
│   └── documenso.production.json
├── templates/
│   └── pdf/                    # PDF template files
│       ├── nda.pdf
│       ├── contract.pdf
│       └── agreement.pdf
└── docs/
    └── signing/
        ├── SETUP.md
        └── RUNBOOK.md

Layer Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             API Layer                    │
│   (Controllers, Routes, Webhooks)        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           Service Layer                  │
│  (Business Logic, Orchestration)         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│          Documenso Layer                 │
│   (Client, Types, Error Handling)        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│         Infrastructure Layer             │
│    (Cache, Queue, Monitoring)            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Components

Documenso Client Wrapper

// src/documenso/client.ts
import { Documenso } from "@documenso/sdk-typescript";
import { DocumensoConfig, loadDocumensoConfig } from "./config";
import { CacheService } from "../services/signing/cache";
import { MetricsService } from "../utils/metrics";

export class DocumensoService {
  private client: Documenso;
  private cache: CacheService;
  private metrics: MetricsService;

  constructor(config: DocumensoConfig) {
    this.client = new Documenso({
      apiKey: config.apiKey,
      serverURL: config.baseUrl,
      timeoutMs: config.timeout,
    });
    this.cache = new CacheService(config.cacheOptions);
    this.metrics = new MetricsService("documenso");
  }

  async getDocument(documentId: string) {
    return this.cache.getOrFetch(
      `doc:${documentId}`,
      () => this.metrics.track("getDocument", () =>
        this.client.documents.getV0({ documentId })
      ),
      { ttl: 300 }
    );
  }

  async createDocument(input: CreateDocumentInput) {
    return this.metrics.track("createDocument", () =>
      this.client.documents.createV0(input)
    );
  }

  // Expose raw client for advanced use cases
  getRawClient(): Documenso {
    return this.client;
  }
}

// Singleton instance
let service: DocumensoService | null = null;

export function getDocumensoService(): DocumensoService {
  if (!service) {
    const config = loadDocumensoConfig();
    service = new DocumensoService(config);
  }
  return service;
}

Configuration Management

// src/documenso/config.ts
import { z } from "zod";

const ConfigSchema = z.object({
  apiKey: z.string().min(1),
  baseUrl: z.string().url().optional(),
  timeout: z.number().default(30000),
  cacheOptions: z.object({
    enabled: z.boolean().default(true),
    ttl: z.number().default(300),
  }).default({}),
});

export type DocumensoConfig = z.infer<typeof ConfigSchema>;

export function loadDocumensoConfig(): DocumensoConfig {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV ?? "development";

  // Load environment-specific config
  let fileConfig = {};
  try {
    fileConfig = require(`../../config/documenso.${env}.json`);
  } catch {
    console.warn(`No config file for environment: ${env}`);
  }

  // Merge with environment variables
  const config = {
    apiKey: process.env.DOCUMENSO_API_KEY ?? "",
    baseUrl: process.env.DOCUMENSO_BASE_URL,
    ...fileConfig,
  };

  return ConfigSchema.parse(config);
}

Error Boundary

// src/documenso/errors.ts
export class DocumensoServiceError extends Error {
  constructor(
    message: string,
    public readonly code: string,
    public readonly statusCode: number,
    public readonly retryable: boolean,
    public readonly originalError?: Error
  ) {
    super(message);
    this.name = "DocumensoServiceError";
  }

  static fromSdkError(error: any): DocumensoServiceError {
    const statusCode = error.statusCode ?? error.status ?? 0;
    const retryable = statusCode === 429 || statusCode >= 500;

    return new DocumensoServiceError(
      error.message,
      `DOCUMENSO_${statusCode}`,
      statusCode,
      retryable,
      error
    );
  }
}

export async function withErrorHandling<T>(
  operation: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
  try {
    return await operation();
  } catch (error) {
    throw DocumensoServiceError.fromSdkError(error);
  }
}

Service Facade

// src/services/signing/index.ts
import { getDocumensoService } from "../../documenso/client";
import { withErrorHandling } from "../../documenso/errors";
import { validateCreateDocumentInput } from "../../utils/validation";

export interface SigningService {
  createAndSendDocument(input: CreateDocumentInput): Promise<DocumentResult>;
  getDocumentStatus(documentId: string): Promise<DocumentStatus>;
  downloadSignedDocument(documentId: string): Promise<Buffer>;
}

export class SigningServiceImpl implements SigningService {
  private documenso = getDocumensoService();

  async createAndSendDocument(
    input: CreateDocumentInput
  ): Promise<DocumentResult> {
    // Validate input
    const validated = validateCreateDocumentInput(input);

    return withErrorHandling(async () => {
      // Create from template
      const envelope = await this.documenso.getRawClient().envelopes.useV0({
        templateId: validated.templateId,
        title: validated.title,
        recipients: validated.recipients.map((r, i) => ({
          email: r.email,
          name: r.name,
          signerIndex: i,
        })),
      });

      // Send immediately
      await this.documenso.getRawClient().envelopes.distributeV0({
        envelopeId: envelope.envelopeId!,
      });

      return {
        documentId: envelope.envelopeId!,
        status: "SENT",
      };
    });
  }

  async getDocumentStatus(documentId: string): Promise<DocumentStatus> {
    const doc = await this.documenso.getDocument(documentId);
    return {
      id: doc.id!,
      status: doc.status!,
      recipients: doc.recipients?.map((r) => ({
        email: r.email!,
        status: r.signingStatus!,
      })) ?? [],
    };
  }

  async downloadSignedDocument(documentId: string): Promise<Buffer> {
    return withErrorHandling(async () => {
      const result = await this.documenso.getRawClient().documents.downloadV0({
        documentId,
      });
      // Handle the download response
      return Buffer.from(result as any);
    });
  }
}

// Export singleton
let signingService: SigningService | null = null;

export function getSigningService(): SigningService {
  if (!signingService) {
    signingService = new SigningServiceImpl();
  }
  return signingService;
}

Health Check

// src/documenso/health.ts
import { getDocumensoService } from "./client";

export interface HealthStatus {
  status: "healthy" | "degraded" | "unhealthy";
  latencyMs: number;
  error?: string;
}

export async function checkDocumensoHealth(): Promise<HealthStatus> {
  const service = getDocumensoService();
  const start = Date.now();

  try {
    await service.getRawClient().documents.findV0({ perPage: 1 });
    return {
      status: "healthy",
      latencyMs: Date.now() - start,
    };
  } catch (error: any) {
    return {
      status: "unhealthy",
      latencyMs: Date.now() - start,
      error: error.message,
    };
  }
}

Data Flow Diagram

User Request
     │
     ▼
┌─────────────┐
│   API       │
│   Layer     │
└──────┬──────┘
       │
       ▼
┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐
│  Service    │───▶│   Cache     │
│   Layer     │    │  (Redis)    │
└──────┬──────┘    └─────────────┘
       │
       ▼
┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐
│ Documenso   │───▶│   Queue     │
│   Layer     │    │  (Bull)     │
└──────┬──────┘    └─────────────┘
       │
       ▼
┌─────────────┐
│ Documenso   │
│   API       │
└─────────────┘

Webhook Architecture

Documenso
    │
    ▼ POST /webhooks/documenso
┌─────────────┐
│  Webhook    │
│  Handler    │
└──────┬──────┘
       │
       ▼
┌─────────────┐
│  Event      │
│  Queue      │
└──────┬──────┘
       │
       ├──▶ Update Database
       ├──▶ Send Notifications
       ├──▶ Trigger Workflows
       └──▶ Update Cache

Setup Script

#!/bin/bash
# scripts/setup-documenso-structure.sh

# Create directory structure
mkdir -p src/documenso/handlers
mkdir -p src/services/signing
mkdir -p src/api/signing
mkdir -p src/jobs/signing
mkdir -p src/utils
mkdir -p tests/unit/signing
mkdir -p tests/integration/signing
mkdir -p config
mkdir -p templates/pdf
mkdir -p docs/signing

# Create placeholder files
touch src/documenso/{client,config,types,errors}.ts
touch src/documenso/handlers/{webhooks,events}.ts
touch src/services/signing/{index,documents,templates,cache}.ts
touch src/api/signing/{routes,webhook}.ts
touch config/documenso.{development,staging,production}.json

echo "Documenso project structure created!"

Output

• Structured project layout
• Layered architecture implemented
• Error handling configured
• Health checks ready

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Circular dependencies	Wrong layering	Separate by layer
Config not loading	Wrong paths	Verify file locations
Cache misses	Wrong keys	Check key generation
Test isolation	Shared state	Use dependency injection

Resources

• Clean Architecture
• Documenso SDK
• TypeScript Project References

Next Steps

For multi-environment setup, see documenso-multi-env-setup.