Quick start

Prerequisites

Commercetools configured - if you don't have your Commercetools configured, see our Configuration guide.
Install Node.js version 16.x.x

Using the integration

In this section, we will explain in a step-by-step guide how to use Commercetools integration in your front-end application.

Middleware preparation

Key concept - Middleware

Middleware concept is described in detail in our Key concepts: Middleware docs.

Install the API Client to communicate with Commercetools. This package is used to create a server-to-server connection with the Commercetools backend and the server middleware.

yarn add @vsf-enterprise/commercetools-api

Install @vue-storefront/middleware package. This package is used to create the server middleware.

yarn add @vue-storefront/middleware@rc

Create a file middleware.config.js with server middleware configuration.

// middleware.config.js

require('dotenv').config();

const stringToArrayValue = (val, separator = ',') => {
  return typeof val === 'string' ? val.split(separator) : [];
}

module.exports = {
  integrations: {
    ct: {
      location: '@vsf-enterprise/commercetools-api/server',
      configuration: {
        api: {
          uri: process.env.VSF_API_URI,
          apiHost: process.env.VSF_API_HOST,
          authHost: process.env.VSF_API_AUTH_HOST,
          projectKey: process.env.VSF_PROJECT_KEY,
          clientId: process.env.VSF_API_CLIENT_ID,
          clientSecret: process.env.VSF_API_CLIENT_SECRET,
          scopes: stringToArrayValue(process.env.VSF_API_SCOPES)
        },
        serverApi: {
          clientId: process.env.VSF_SERVER_API_CLIENT_ID,
          clientSecret: process.env.VSF_SERVER_API_CLIENT_SECRET,
          scopes: stringToArrayValue(process.env.VSF_SERVER_API_SCOPES),
          operations: stringToArrayValue(process.env.VSF_SERVER_API_OPERATIONS),
        },
        /* Below is just an example configuration for currencies and languages */
        currency: 'USD',
        country: 'US',
        languageMap: {
          en: ['en', 'de'],
          de: ['de', 'en']
        }
      },
    }
  }
};

Configure environment variables in your .env file.

# .env
# The name of your commercetools project
VSF_PROJECT_KEY=

# URL of the GraphQL API
VSF_API_URI=
# URL of the HTTP server
VSF_API_HOST=
# URL of the Auth server
VSF_API_AUTH_HOST=
# Unique ID specific to the API client.
VSF_API_CLIENT_ID=
# Unique secret string specific to the API client.
VSF_API_CLIENT_SECRET=
# Comma Separated List of user permissions. For the list of available scopes and their descriptions.
VSF_API_SCOPES=

# The serverApi object contains the information necessary to request data from the GraphQL API
# with elevated permissions that users should not have.
VSF_SERVER_API_CLIENT_ID=
VSF_SERVER_API_CLIENT_SECRET=
VSF_SERVER_API_SCOPES=
VSF_SERVER_API_OPERATIONS=

# List of allowed origins separated by coma.
# Example: MIDDLEWARE_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:3000,https://mydomain.io
MIDDLEWARE_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=

Create a middleware.js file. This script is used to run the server middleware.

// middleware.js

const { createServer } = require('@vue-storefront/middleware');
const { integrations } = require('./middleware.config');
const cors = require('cors');

(async () => {
  const app = await createServer({ integrations });
  // By default it's running on the localhost.
  const host = process.argv[2] ?? '0.0.0.0';
  // By default it's running on the port 8181.
  const port = process.argv[3] ?? 8181;
  const CORS_MIDDLEWARE_NAME = 'corsMiddleware';

  const corsMiddleware = app._router.stack.find(
    (middleware) => middleware.name === CORS_MIDDLEWARE_NAME
  );

  // You can overwrite the cors settings by defining allowed origins.
  corsMiddleware.handle = cors({
    origin: ['http://localhost:3000'],
    credentials: true
  });

  app.listen(port, host, () => {
    console.log(`Middleware started: ${host}:${port}`);
  });
})();

Your middleware is ready. You can start it by running node middleware.js

SDK preparation

Key concept - SDK

SDK is described in detail in our Key concepts: SDK docs.

Install the SDK package. It's the core of the SDK.

yarn add @vue-storefront/sdk

Install the Commercetools module. It extends the SDK core with methods to communicate with Commercetools.

yarn add @vsf-enterprise/commercetools-sdk

Initialize the SDK. Configure Commercetools module with apiUrl that points to the server middleware.

import { initSDK, buildModule, middlewareModule } from '@vue-storefront/sdk';
import { Endpoints as CTEndpoints } from '@vsf-enterprise/commercetools-api';

const sdkConfig = {
  ct:
    buildModule(
      middlewareModule<CTEndpoints>,
      {
        apiUrl: 'http://localhost:8181/ct',
        ssrApiUrl: 'http://localhost:8181/ct'
      }
    )
};

export const sdk = initSDK(sdkConfig);

Your SDK is ready and you can call methods with sdk.ct.<METHOD_NAME>. To see a full list of methods offered by the Commercetools module, check out the API Reference.