Apps & Integrations

The BigCommerce App Marketplace is where merchants discover and install apps that extend their store. It’s built into the control panel (Apps → Marketplace) and also browsable publicly. It lists thousands of third-party apps - built by BigCommerce technology partners and reviewed before listing - across categories like shipping & fulfilment, marketing & conversion, reviews & UGC, accounting / ERP / PIM, page builders, analytics, and customer support.

Most install with a single click through the OAuth flow below, and can be free or paid (billed through BigCommerce’s Unified Billing). For us it cuts two ways:

• As implementers - for client stores we often evaluate, install, and configure an existing third-party app instead of building from scratch. Always check the marketplace first; a solid app may already solve the problem.
• As builders - when nothing fits, we build a custom app and (optionally) publish it to the marketplace ourselves.

Browse it: BigCommerce App Marketplace.

An “app” is any external software that authenticates to one or more stores and uses the APIs. The main distinctions:

• Single-click apps - listed in the BigCommerce marketplace and installed by merchants with one click. They use the OAuth flow to receive a per-store token.
• Custom integrations - private software for a specific store (e.g. an ERP sync) using a store-level API account token. No marketplace listing.
• Channel apps - apps that create and manage sales channels / storefronts. (See channels below.)

When a merchant installs a single-click app, BigCommerce runs the OAuth authorization-code flow to give your app a unique access token for that store:

Your app implements three callbacks: /auth (install - exchange the code), /load (open the app inside the control panel via a signed payload), and /uninstall. After install, requests use the same X-Auth-Token header as everything else - the difference is only how the token was obtained.

App extensions let your app surface its own actions inside the BigCommerce control panel UI - for example a custom action on the product list - so merchants use your functionality without leaving their admin. They require an app-level OAuth app.

The fastest way to learn app development is BigCommerce’s Next.js Starter App tutorial - it walks you through scaffolding, the OAuth callbacks, connecting to a store, and rendering a control-panel UI. Work through it end-to-end on a sandbox before building anything bespoke.

A store can run multiple channels - additional storefronts, marketplaces, or POS surfaces - all from one catalog (this is multi-storefront). Channel apps create and manage these surfaces. When you build apps and integrations, design them to be multi-storefront aware (scope data to the right channel) rather than assuming a single storefront.

BigDesign is BigCommerce’s React component library. Build your app’s control-panel UI with it so the app looks and behaves native to the BigCommerce admin - consistent components, spacing, and accessibility out of the box.

Apps are created and configured in the Developer Portal (where you set callback URLs, scopes, and listing details). Marketplace apps then go through an approval process before they’re published, and Unified Billing lets apps charge through BigCommerce. For internal one-store tools you can skip the marketplace entirely and use a store-level API account.

• BigCommerce App Marketplace - browse the third-party apps merchants can install.
• Apps: introduction and types of apps.
• The single-click app OAuth flow and app extensions.
• Build a sample app (Next.js starter).
• Channels and BigDesign (GitHub).