Fathom Production Checklist

Overview

Fathom provides AI-powered meeting intelligence with automated transcription, summaries, and action item extraction. A production integration ingests meeting recordings, processes transcripts, and syncs action items to downstream systems. Failures mean lost meeting context, missed follow-ups, or transcript data leaking outside authorized channels. This checklist ensures reliable, compliant meeting data pipelines.

Authentication & Secrets

• FATHOM_API_KEY

  stored in secrets manager (not environment files)
• OAuth app registered if building public-facing integration
• Key rotation schedule documented (90-day cycle)
• Separate credentials for dev/staging/prod environments
• Webhook signing secret configured for payload verification

API Integration

• Production base URL configured (

  https://api.fathom.video/v1

  )
• Rate limit handling with backoff (60 req/min standard tier)
• Webhook endpoint registered and tested with sample payloads
• Meeting recording retrieval handles large file downloads
• Transcript pagination implemented for long meetings (>60 min)
• Action item extraction tested with various meeting formats
• Calendar integration sync verified (Google Calendar / Outlook)

Error Handling & Resilience

• Circuit breaker configured for Fathom API outages
• Retry with exponential backoff for 429/5xx responses
• Empty or partial transcript handling (silent meetings, poor audio)
• Webhook delivery failures trigger re-fetch via polling
• Meeting data PII handling documented (GDPR consent, retention)
• Backup webhook URL configured for failover

Monitoring & Alerting

• API latency tracked per endpoint (meetings, transcripts)
• Error rate alerts set (threshold: >5% over 10 minutes)
• Failed transcript processing triggers notification
• Webhook delivery success rate monitored
• Daily digest of processed meeting counts vs scheduled

Validation Script

async function checkFathomReadiness(): Promise<void> {
  const checks: { name: string; pass: boolean; detail: string }[] = [];
  // API connectivity
  try {
    const res = await fetch('https://api.fathom.video/v1/meetings?limit=1', {
      headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FATHOM_API_KEY}` },
    });
    checks.push({ name: 'Fathom API', pass: res.ok, detail: res.ok ? 'Connected' : `HTTP ${res.status}` });
  } catch (e: any) { checks.push({ name: 'Fathom API', pass: false, detail: e.message }); }
  // Credentials present
  checks.push({ name: 'API Key Set', pass: !!process.env.FATHOM_API_KEY, detail: process.env.FATHOM_API_KEY ? 'Present' : 'MISSING' });
  // Webhook endpoint reachable
  const webhookUrl = process.env.FATHOM_WEBHOOK_URL;
  if (webhookUrl) {
    try {
      const res = await fetch(webhookUrl, { method: 'HEAD' });
      checks.push({ name: 'Webhook Endpoint', pass: res.ok, detail: `HTTP ${res.status}` });
    } catch (e: any) { checks.push({ name: 'Webhook Endpoint', pass: false, detail: e.message }); }
  } else { checks.push({ name: 'Webhook Endpoint', pass: false, detail: 'URL not configured' }); }
  for (const c of checks) console.log(`[${c.pass ? 'PASS' : 'FAIL'}] ${c.name}: ${c.detail}`);
}
checkFathomReadiness();

Error Handling

Check	Risk if Skipped	Priority
API key rotation	Expired key halts transcript pipeline	P1
Webhook verification	Spoofed payloads inject bad data	P1
PII retention policy	GDPR/CCPA violation on meeting data	P1
Empty transcript handling	Downstream systems crash on null	P2
Rate limit backoff	Bulk meeting import blocked by 429	P3

Resources

• Fathom API Docs
• Fathom Status

Next Steps

See

fathom-security-basics

for meeting data privacy and consent patterns.