GraphQL for B2B Storefronts
Introduction
The REST Management API you’ll explore throughout this course is the optimal API to power various back-end integrations with B2B Edition, as well as certain privileged interactions in your storefront experience.
For integration points that are focused more heavily on driving storefront user interfaces, B2B Edition also supports two GraphQL Storefront APIs:
With a strong type system and a dynamic query structure, GraphQL is optimized for front-end applications, where full control over what data is requested and received is important for performance and responsiveness. The standard GraphQL Storefront API supports a limited but expanding number of B2B operations, while the B2B GraphQL API has full coverage of all operations. The typical practice is to use the B2B version for instances in which there is not coverage in the standard Storefront API. Both the B2B GraphQL API and the GraphQL Storefront API are used to power the built-in Buyer Portal interface.
Note that the B2B GraphQL API is separate from the standard BigCommerce GraphQL Storefront API, requiring a separate endpoint and authentication method.
For a full exploration of the API, see the dedicated B2B GraphQL API developer course.