Commerce engines
The commerce engine is the system of record for products, carts, orders, and customers. In Evolve it is not the platform: it is one of the SAAS backends that the domain services integrate with, behind the GraphQL Federation layer. Every engine is integrated through an adapter, which is what lets Evolve support more than one engine and swap between them.
An engine-agnostic model
Section titled “An engine-agnostic model”Evolve defines its own data model: a shared GraphQL schema per domain (catalog, cart, checkout, customer, order, and so on) that is independent of any backend. A commerce-engine adapter implements that schema for a specific engine.
Each adapter provides the same set of domain modules built on the same schema: catalog, cart, checkout, account, order, payment, and the B2B modules for business units and quotes. What differs per engine is only the resolver layer: how each field maps to that engine’s own APIs and data. Because the schema and its Federation contract are identical across engines, the storefront, mobile apps, and AI agents that consume the API do not change when the engine changes.
This is the same adapter pattern Evolve uses for search, CMS, and payment providers.
Supported engines
Section titled “Supported engines”Status follows the same categories as the MACH integrations overview: Full is implemented and in production, Beta is usable in the framework but still has gaps, In development means a working implementation exists and is being ported into the framework, and Roadmap is planned.
| Engine | Status | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| commercetools | Full | The reference engine. All domains, including B2B (business units and quotes), search through Algolia or commercetools, and dedicated payment-provider integrations. |
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud | Beta | Catalog, cart, checkout, account, orders, and promotions, with search served by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. B2B quoting is not yet implemented and Algolia search is not wired for this engine. A working example ships with the framework. |
| SAP Commerce Cloud | In development | A working proof of concept covering the core commerce domains (catalog, checkout, order) and Algolia search is being ported into the framework. |
Other engines are integrated at varying levels, including Commerce Layer, Big Commerce, Emporix, and Shopify Plus. For the status of every engine and SAAS integration, see the MACH integrations overview.
Adding or changing an engine
Section titled “Adding or changing an engine”Adding support for a new engine means implementing the domain modules against the shared schema for that engine’s APIs. This is the same work as adding a search engine or another SAAS integration: the contract is fixed by the schema, so the adapter only supplies resolvers and mappers.
Because an engine is an adapter behind a shared, federated schema, the choice of engine is not permanent. Domains can resolve from a different engine without changing the API that consumers depend on, which makes a gradual transition from one engine to another possible. See Modernizing an existing stack for how that fits into adopting Evolve on top of an engine you already run.