Inbound
Scheduled inbound from Salesforce
Most inbound enrichment should start where the record already lives: Salesforce. With scheduled inbound, Kernel polls your CRM for qualifying changes and runs the normal inbound workflow in the background.
This is the low-maintenance path when you want enriched Salesforce records without building your own orchestration layer around the Inbound API.
How scheduled inbound works
Salesforce stays the operating surface. Your team keeps creating and updating records in Salesforce.
Kernel polls on a configured cadence. Scheduled inbound can run every minute, every five minutes, hourly, or daily.
A CRM filter decides what qualifies. Each flow points at a configured Salesforce object, field map, and SOQL
WHEREclause, such as lifecycle stage, region, record type, or another agreed criterion.Matching records are claimed before work starts. Kernel checks active capacity, cooldowns, prior attempts, and whether another run already owns the same Salesforce ID before dispatching work.
The normal inbound worker takes over. Kernel links identity, runs the configured enrichment workflow, and tracks the record through queued, linking, processing, complete, or error.
Writeback uses the standard CRM integration. When writeback is configured, the workflow pushes mapped enriched fields back to the Salesforce record.
Scheduled inbound works for Accounts, Leads, and configured custom objects included in your Kernel Salesforce setup.
When to use it
Use scheduled inbound when Salesforce is the source of records that need enrichment. It is especially useful when the trigger is already expressible as a CRM filter: records entering a lifecycle stage, accounts in a region, leads with a specific status, or custom objects that are ready for Kernel to process.
API-triggered inbound
The Inbound API is still available when your own system needs to trigger just-in-time enrichment for a specific record and then poll for results.
Kernel collects and classifies data in real time, so API-triggered inbound is asynchronous. You initiate an enrichment task, then poll until the payload is complete or the workflow reaches an error state.
Understanding data availability
Asynchronous population: The output JSON payload populates gradually. When you poll, fields that have not been found or processed yet will usually be
null.Fast data points: Some firmographic fields are often available within minutes, such as country, state or region, industry, headcount, and headcount growth.
Slower data points: Other data points can require more extensive analysis or different data sources and may take longer.
Polling strategy: Continue polling until
statusiscompleteorerror. The exact fast and slow fields depend on your configured workflow.
Error handling strategy
When interacting with the API, use this default retry strategy:
HTTP 502/503/504 server errors
Meaning: These indicate a temporary server-side issue.
Default action: Retry the request after some time.
GET response
"status": "error"Meaning: The enrichment workflow identified by the
executionIdencountered an error during processing.Default action: Retry the request after some time. If the error persists, contact Kernel support.
Rate limits
The API enforces rate limiting to ensure fair usage:
Rate limit: 5 requests per second per API key
Concurrency limit: Maximum of 50 accounts can be processing simultaneously. This can be increased upon request.
429 response: When rate limit is exceeded, you will receive a 429 status code. Please wait before retrying.
Base path
Input Data Requirements:
salesforceId (string): This is the Salesforce record ID (e.g., Lead IDs often start with 00Q, Account IDs with 001).
You must provide either:
linkedinUrl (string): The LinkedIn profile URL (e.g., https://www.linkedin.com/company/example).
OR both name (string) and website (string).
force (boolean, optional): When true, bypasses the previously enriched check and starts a fresh enrichment.
Contextual Data (Optional but helpful): While the core requirement is above, providing additional context like emailDomain (e.g., kernel.ai from [email protected]) will be beneficial depending on the specific workflow configuration, even if it is not strictly required by the current endpoint setup. Check with your Kernel contact to see if these are utilized.
Data Privacy: Do not send Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as first name or last name, unless explicitly part of the agreed schema. You should send email_domain if available and relevant to the configuration.
API key for authentication
Request body for initiating inbound enrichment
Note the executionId. You will need this unique identifier to poll for results.
Successful response from POST enrichment endpoint
New enrichment workflow has been initiated
startingAccount was recently enriched (within 14 days)
cachedEnrichment is in progress
in_progressUnique identifier for this enrichment job. Use this to poll for results.
f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479Optional message providing additional context
Account has been enriched in the last 14 days400 Bad Request
POST /api/v1/inbound/enrichment HTTP/1.1
x-api-key: text
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: */*
Content-Length: 273
{
"name": "Kernel",
"website": "https://kernel.ai/",
"linkedinUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/kernelai/",
"street": "128 City Road",
"city": "London",
"state": "England",
"country": "United Kingdom",
"legalName": "Momentum AI Ltd.",
"force": true,
"salesforceId": "001j000000HWb16AAD"
}{
"status": "starting",
"executionId": "f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479",
"message": "Account has been enriched in the last 14 days"
}Because enrichment happens asynchronously, you need to periodically check the status of your request using the executionId.
The executionId returned from the POST /enrichment request
f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479API key for authentication
Enrichment status and results. The response includes dynamic fields based on your client configuration. Salesforce ID can be included as an output field when configured.
400 Bad Request
500 Internal Server Error
GET /api/v1/inbound/enrichment?executionId=f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479 HTTP/1.1
x-api-key: text
Accept: */*
{
"status": "fast-success",
"message": "Fast enrichment successful",
"Kernel_Duplicate_CRM_ID__c": null,
"Kernel_Duplicate_account__c": null,
"Kernel_Parent_Child_type__c": null,
"Kernel_Parent_Child_reasoning__c": null,
"Kernel_Is_website_working__c": null,
"Kernel_Out_of_Business_Reasoning__c": null,
"Kernel_EME_Operations_Reasoning__c": null,
"Kernel_Cleaned_website__c": null,
"Kernel_Who_does_the_customer_sell_to__c": null,
"Kernel_Company_Name__c": "Kernel",
"Kernel_Parent_company__c": null,
"Kernel_Website_status__c": "Working",
"Kernel_Headcount": 29
}Last updated

