Two key terms important for the concepts we’ll be exploring in this course are composable and headless. These describe different but related concepts.
“Composable” refers to the splitting of systems into specialized components that are orchestrated into a connected ecosystem.
In a well-built composable architecture, each isolated feature component of an application can be sourced from the provider, product, or service that best fits the requirements for that feature. For an ecommerce storefront, typical examples include choosing the best commerce platform, the best content management system (CMS) for rich content, the best search provider, and the best product reviews platform.
The more tightly coupled your web front-end is to a particular platform or architecture for one of these functional components, the more difficult it will be to make independent decisions about the others and make tech stack changes in the future.
At the simplest level, “headless” refers to interacting with a system bypassing a built-in “head” or front-end. As an API-first SaaS platform, BigCommerce is well suited for headless interactions.
A “headless front-end,” while a bit of a paradoxical term, refers to a front-end that is completely decoupled from and independent from the back-end platform that supports it. Building a headless BigCommerce storefront means complete freedom to build a front-end with your preferred frameworks, tools, and architecture, with core commerce functionality provided via predictable and reliable BigCommerce APIs.
As you can see, a headless front-end is a piece — perhaps the most important piece — of composability. A front-end that is completely decoupled from any back-end platform is the critical first step to being able to compose together services and functional components from various providers.
In practical terms, the core workflows we’ll examine in this course are centered on building headless storefronts, leveraging the power of BigCommerce, thus enabling you to realize your own composable commerce application.