BigCommerce

Overview

BigCommerce is a hosted e-commerce platform with strong headless capabilities. Unlike Shopify, it includes more features out of the box (no app fees for basic needs), has a comprehensive REST + GraphQL API, and supports multi-storefront. Works as a backend for headless commerce with Next.js (BigCommerce's own starter is Catalyst) or any other frontend.

Instructions

Step 1: Storefront API (GraphQL)

The endpoint is https://store-{store_hash}.mybigcommerce.com/graphql for the default channel (or your storefront domain plus /graphql); other channels use store-{store_hash}-{channel_id}.mybigcommerce.com. Create a token in the control panel or with POST /v3/storefront/api-token on the management API. BigCommerce's current docs say server-side integrations created after June 30, 2026 should use private tokens rather than storefront tokens; check the GraphQL authentication page for which applies to you. Limits: query complexity 10,000, depth 16, at most 50 products per page. Try queries in Settings > API > Storefront API Playground first.

// lib/bigcommerce.ts — Fetch products via GraphQL Storefront API
const STOREFRONT_TOKEN = process.env.BC_STOREFRONT_TOKEN!
const STORE_HASH = process.env.BC_STORE_HASH!

export async function getProducts(limit = 12) {
  const query = `
    query Products($first: Int!) {
      site {
        products(first: $first) {
          edges {
            node {
              entityId
              name
              path
              prices { price { value currencyCode } }
              defaultImage { url(width: 400) altText }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  `

  const res = await fetch(`https://store-${STORE_HASH}.mybigcommerce.com/graphql`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      Authorization: `Bearer ${STOREFRONT_TOKEN}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ query, variables: { first: limit } }),
  })

  const { data } = await res.json()
  return data.site.products.edges.map(e => e.node)
}

Step 2: Management API (REST)

// lib/bc-admin.ts — Server-side product and order management
const BC_TOKEN = process.env.BC_API_TOKEN!
const STORE_HASH = process.env.BC_STORE_HASH!
const BASE_URL = `https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/${STORE_HASH}/v3`

// Create product
await fetch(`${BASE_URL}/catalog/products`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-Auth-Token': BC_TOKEN,
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'Premium Headphones',
    type: 'physical',
    price: 199.99,
    weight: 1.5,
    categories: [23],
    is_visible: true,
  }),
})

// Get orders
// Orders are still the V2 API: /v2/orders, not /v3/orders
const orders = await fetch(`https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/${STORE_HASH}/v2/orders?status_id=11`, {
  headers: { 'X-Auth-Token': BC_TOKEN, Accept: 'application/json' },
}).then(r => r.json()) // status 11 = Awaiting Fulfillment

Create the API account under Settings > API > Store-level API accounts and grant only the scopes you need (Products, Orders). The token is shown once; keep it in an environment variable.

Step 3: Next.js Commerce

BigCommerce's official headless storefront is Catalyst (Next.js, App Router, GraphQL). It needs Node.js 24 and pnpm via Corepack.

corepack enable pnpm
pnpm create @bigcommerce/catalyst@latest
cd my-catalyst-store   # the directory name you chose
pnpm run dev           # http://localhost:3000

The CLI asks for your store hash and channel and writes .env.local. The old Vercel commerce template no longer ships a BigCommerce provider, so do not follow guides that use it.

Examples

Example 1: Show the newest products on a headless page

User request: "List the 8 newest products from my BigCommerce store in Next.js"

Use getProducts(8) from Step 1 in a Server Component with process.env.BC_STORE_HASH and BC_STOREFRONT_TOKEN set. The result is an array like { entityId: 113, name: 'Premium Headphones', path: '/premium-headphones/', prices: { price: { value: 199.99, currencyCode: 'USD' } } }. For newest-first ordering add sortBy: NEWEST inside products(...), which the playground will validate.

Example 2: Add a product and find orders waiting to ship

User request: "Create a headphones product and list orders awaiting fulfillment"

Run the Step 2 calls from a server script with BC_API_TOKEN set. The POST returns 201 with the new product's data.id; the orders call returns an array of order objects with id, status, total_inc_tax and date_created, an empty array (or 204) if nothing is waiting.

Guidelines

• Plans (checked October 2026): Core from $29/month billed annually ($39 monthly), Growth $79, Scale $299, Performance custom. Sales caps trigger automatic upgrades. Transaction fees are $0 with embedded providers such as Stripe and PayPal, but open payment providers carry 2.0% (Core) down to 0.6% (Scale). Re-check pricing before quoting it.
• Multi-storefront: run multiple stores from one account with different domains and catalogs.
• GraphQL Storefront API is read-focused (catalog, carts, customers); use the REST Management API for admin writes, and never expose management tokens in browser code.
• Built-in features (reviews, wishlists, faceted search) that cost extra on Shopify.