BigCommerce Apps Quick Start

In this quick start tutorial, you will create a single-click app using Node.js, React, Next.js, and BigDesign.

Prerequisites

To successfully complete this tutorial, you will need the following:

• BigCommerce sandbox store (required to develop and test apps)
• Developer Portal Account (required to register apps)
• Experience using npm
• Node.js version 10.13+

Get started

1. Start by forking the sample-app-nodejs repository.
2. Navigate to the root directory of your project and install npm packages.

npm install

Add and start ngrok

You will need a publicly accessible URL to connect the draft app to BigCommerce. To add network access while in the development phase, you can use ngrok, a free tool that lets you expose local servers like localhost:3000 to the public internet over secure tunnels.

1. In a new terminal window, install ngrok.

npm install ngrok -g

2. Expose the web server on port 3000 to the internet.

ngrok http 3000

Register the app

Next, register the draft app in the Developer Portal using the following steps:

1. Sign in to the Developer Portal.
2. Click Create an app.
3. Give the app a name.
4. Click Technical.
5. Enter Auth Callback URL as https://{ngrok_id}.ngrok.io/api/auth. For example, https://12345.ngrok.io/api/auth. You can get the ngrok_id from the terminal that is running ngrok http 3000.
6. Enter Load Callback URL as https://{ngrok_id}.ngrok.io/api/load.
7. Enter Uninstall Callback URL as https://{ngrok_id}.ngrok.io/api/uninstall.
8. Because you will be modifying the Products API resource, set the Products OAuth scope to MODIFY. To learn more about the available OAuth scopes, see OAuth scopes.
9. Click Update & Close.
10. Click View Client ID – this is the app’s client ID and client secret.

Keep this tab open for the next step.

Configure environment variables

After registering the draft app, add its credentials and auth callback URL to your project’s environment variables file.

1. Create an .env file in the root directory of your project.

2. Copy the contents of .env-sample to .env.

# Get the Client ID and Secret from the Developer Portal
CLIENT_ID={app client id}
CLIENT_SECRET={app secret}

AUTH_CALLBACK=https://{ngrok_id}.ngrok.io/api/auth

# Replace jwt key with a 32+ random character secret
JWT_KEY={SECRET}

# Specify the type of database
DB_TYPE=firebase

# If using firebase, enter your config here
FIRE_API_KEY={firebase key}
FIRE_DOMAIN={firebase domain}
FIRE_PROJECT_ID={firebase project id}

# If using mysql, enter your config here
MYSQL_HOST={mysql host}
MYSQL_DATABASE={mysql database name}
MYSQL_USERNAME={mysql username}
MYSQL_PASSWORD={mysql password}
MYSQL_PORT={mysql port *optional*}

See code in GitHub

3. Replace the CLIENT_ID and CLIENT_SECRET with the app’s client ID and client secret from the Developer Portal.

4. Update the AUTH_CALLBACK with the ngrok_id. You can get the ngrok_id from the terminal that is running ngrok http 3000.

5. Enter a JSON Web Token (JWT) secret. To learn more about JWT, see the Internet Engineering Task Force documentation.

6. Specify DB_TYPE:

• If using Firebase, enter your project’s Firebase config keys. For information on how to set up Cloud Firestore, see Firebase quick start.
• If using MySQL, enter your project’s MySQL database config keys (host, database, user/pass and optionally port).
• If using Heroku with ClearDB, the database should create the necessary Config Var, namely, CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL.

Start dev environment

In a separate terminal from ngrok, start the app’s dev environment.

npm run dev

Install the app

Finally, install the draft app on any store registered to the same email as your Developer Portal account using the following steps:

1. Sign in to the store, navigate to Apps > My Apps > My Draft Apps, and install the app.
2. If everything is configured correctly, you should get an Authorization Successful message.
3. Navigate back to My Apps to see the list of installed apps.
4. Click Launch on the draft app to test the /load callback.
5. Navigate back to My Apps and click Uninstall to test the /uninstall callback.

Congrats! You’ve created and installed a BigCommerce draft app.

Next steps

• Learn more about building apps
• Apply to become a BigCommerce partner
• Check out the BC App Marketplace approval requirements

Resources

• BC App Marketplace
• Authenticating BigCommerce’s REST APIs
• Testing locally with ngrok
• Types of apps
• Becoming a partner