AEM and Third-Party Commerce Integration using Commerce Integration Framework aem-third-party

The integration of non-Adobe Commerce solution is a common scenario for CIF. Third-party solutions with different APIs and schemas get connected by way of an integration layer.

Architecture architecture

The overall architecture is as follows:

The purpose of this integration layer is to map third-party APIs and schemas against the supported Adobe Commerce GraphQL APIs and schemas outside of the Experience Manager. Thanks to this encapsulation, the integration logic, and systems can get updated without changing code inside the Experience Manager.

Solution requirements for an integration

As the Experience Manager retrieves data on-demand, real-time APIs for product catalog are required.

There is no need to implement the complete GraphQL schema, just the objects of the schema to enable the desired use-cases.

Backend use-cases

CIF extends the Experience Manager with real-time product catalog access and product experience management tools. This seamless integration enables authors to access commerce data using embedded UIs whenever needed without leaving the content context.

The integration of product catalog APIs is required to unlock these use-cases.

Frontend Use-Cases

AEM CIF Core Components retrieve and exchange data via the CIF supported Adobe Commerce APIs. To reuse components, the respective APIs must be implemented.

The recommendation for performance critical client-side components is to communicate directly with the third-party solution to avoid latency.

Developing an Integration develop-integration

Adobe recommends using Adobe I/O Runtime for the integration layer. It is included in the CIF add-on for third parties. As it works with a microservice-like approach, it is suited well to integrate easily multiple solutions.

The reference implementation is a great starting point to build the integration to your commerce solution. Although it supports GraphQL, it can also be integrated with any other type of API such as REST.

This integration layer is not required if a third-party layer is available (such as Mulesoft) or the integration gets built on top of the third-party solution.

Pre-built connectors connectors

Connectors provide a good starting for projects. They come with a commerce solution-specific connection and default API mapping. These connectors are built by third parties and not maintained by Adobe. Contact the respective partner for information.