Commerce services and backends
Shoppers get pages from Edge Delivery Services. Drop-ins call Adobe Commerce for cart, checkout, and account. Optional hosted services accelerate catalog reads.
The diagram shows the full stack. Without that picture, Catalog Service, Live Search, or the Storefront Compatibility package can feel like surprise add-ons. Backend options lists them for Commerce PaaS so you can plan installs in the right order.
Start by configuring your Commerce connection in Commerce configuration. Then check Backend options to confirm your setup is supported.
Coming from Luma or a classic Commerce theme?
Section titled “Coming from Luma or a classic Commerce theme?”If you know Luma or another Adobe Commerce theme, focus on one idea: who builds the page the shopper sees. In the classic model, Commerce builds storefront pages with PHP. In this model, Edge Delivery Services sends HTML and JavaScript, and drop-ins call Adobe Commerce APIs from the shopper’s browser. You are not replacing the Commerce Admin, catalog, or order tools. You are choosing a different way to assemble the shopper-facing experience.
If you still run Luma while you move content and marketing to Edge Delivery, use Luma Bridge. It is a PHP module that shares the shopper’s cart and sign-in session between Luma and EDS drop-ins so both storefronts stay in sync during the migration. For diagrams that include Luma Bridge and the Adobe Commerce Optimizer Connector, read Backend topology. Those topics cover phased migration.
How the pieces connect
Section titled “How the pieces connect”Commerce blocks, drop-ins, the boilerplate, your backend, and shared Commerce Services all work together on the page.
The storefront uses GraphQLA query language that drop-in components use to request and update data from Adobe Commerce APIs. Catalog Service, Live Search, and the core Commerce API all expose GraphQL endpoints. for both reads and writes.
Commerce Services include Catalog ServiceAdobe's fast, read-only GraphQL API for product data. Drop-ins call it instead of core Commerce GraphQL for product pages, search results, and category listings — up to ten times faster., Live SearchAdobe's AI-powered search service. It returns results instantly as shoppers type and adjusts rankings and facets based on browsing and click signals in the current session., Product Recommendations, and core GraphQL on your instance for carts, checkout, accounts, and other flows not covered by the hosted catalog layer.
All three backend options—Commerce PaaS, Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service, and Adobe Commerce Optimizer—connect to these services. To compare them, see Backend options.
Commerce Services and integrations
Section titled “Commerce Services and integrations”This section covers the services and packages that connect your storefront to Commerce data, hosted Adobe services, and other Adobe platforms. Most rows below describe calls that go from the storefront into Adobe: drop-in components call hosted services or core GraphQL to get or update Commerce data. Data ConnectionAn optional Commerce extension that sends storefront and order event data to Adobe Experience Platform for use in personalization, segmentation, and cross-channel campaigns., later on this page, is different. It sends shopper event data from your storefront out to Adobe Experience Platform.
Not all of these are required for every project. What you need depends on your backend and which drop-ins you use. For a checklist of prerequisites (especially on Commerce PaaS), use Backend options and PaaS: required packages and services.
Services Connector
Section titled “Services Connector”The Services Connector links your Commerce instance to the hosted catalog and search services in this section: Catalog Service, Live Search, and Product Recommendations. On Commerce PaaS, you configure that link once in the Commerce Admin using production and sandbox API keys from your Commerce license owner. All three services share the same key pair and data space after you save that configuration.
On Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service and Adobe Commerce Optimizer, Adobe sets up the hosted side of those services for you as part of the managed model in Backend options. You do not repeat the same manual Commerce Services Connector steps that Commerce PaaS administrators use in the Admin. The Experience League topic in the quick reference table below still explains how API keys and data spaces work if you need the full background for PaaS or for troubleshooting.
Catalog Service
Section titled “Catalog Service”Catalog Service gives your storefront fast, read-only access to product data through a dedicated GraphQL API. Instead of querying your Commerce application each time a shopper opens a product page or browses a category, drop-in components call this API, which Adobe designed specifically for storefront reads. It is built to return catalog reads faster than routing every read through the core Commerce GraphQL API alone. The Product Details drop-in requires Catalog Service, and the Product Discovery drop-in uses it for search results and category pages.
Live Search
Section titled “Live Search”Live Search replaces the default Commerce catalog search with an AI-powered experience. When a shopper types in the search field, Live Search returns results instantly and adjusts facets and ranking based on what shoppers are browsing and clicking in that session. It powers the Product Discovery drop-in, which gives you customizable search and product listing pages with filtering. For storefronts that do not use the classic PHP theme, Live Search needs storefront events so it can learn what shoppers click and view. You need to turn on event collection before the AI models have data to work with. See Analytics for details.
Product Recommendations
Section titled “Product Recommendations”Product Recommendations uses Adobe Sensei, Adobe’s AI engine, to show shoppers products they are likely to want. Examples include units like “Customers who bought this also bought” and “Most viewed.” You configure and place recommendation units in the Commerce Admin, and they can appear on product pages, the cart page, or anywhere else on your site. A storefront can run without Product Recommendations, but Adobe recommends turning it on when you want AI-driven merchandising blocks on the site.
Without the classic PHP theme, Product Recommendations needs the same storefront event collection as Live Search before models have signal. See Analytics.
Core GraphQL
Section titled “Core GraphQL”Core GraphQL is the GraphQL API on your Adobe Commerce backend (the address you set in the boilerplate for drop-ins). Cart, checkout, account, orders, and many other reads and writes still go here. Hosted services such as Catalog Service sit beside that API and speed up specific product reads. They do not remove core GraphQL from your architecture.
Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service can offer one combined GraphQL layer that merges core Commerce fields with the hosted service fields storefronts need. When you run Adobe Commerce yourself, whether on Adobe-managed cloud infrastructure or on your own servers (on-premises), you use the long-standing core and service schemas described in Adobe’s web API documentation. For a full overview, see the GraphQL overview on developer.adobe.com.
Data Connection
Section titled “Data Connection”Data Connection sends shopper behavior and order data from your storefront to the Adobe Experience Platform, where other Adobe tools can use it for personalization and segmentation. For example, Adobe Journey Optimizer (a cross-channel marketing automation tool) can use that data to trigger an abandoned cart email. This service is optional for most storefront builds. You only need it if your project uses Adobe Experience Platform features like real-time audience segmentation or cross-channel personalization. According to the Data Connection Guide on Experience League, the Data Connection extension applies to Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure and on-premises projects. It does not apply to Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (the fully managed SaaS product), where integrations with Experience Platform follow a different model.
The drawing below shows only this optional path so it does not compete with the main stack diagram above. Data Connection is a Commerce extension on your Adobe Commerce instance. It receives storefront activity from the shopper session (for example, through the Adobe Client Data Layer) and back office events from the Commerce application, then forwards compatible data to Experience Platform. For installation and configuration, see the Data Connection Guide on Experience League.
Storefront Compatibility package
Section titled “Storefront Compatibility package”The Storefront Compatibility package extends the Commerce GraphQL schema with the reads and writes that cart, checkout, account, and order drop-ins require. Without it on the Commerce deployment that serves those flows, the drop-ins cannot talk to your backend as they expect. On Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service and on Adobe Commerce Optimizer, Adobe manages this package for you as part of the fully managed model in Backend options. On Commerce PaaS (your own Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure or on-premises instance), you install it manually on that instance before you finish storefront settings in your GitHub project.
Quick reference
Section titled “Quick reference”| Service | One-line job | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Services Connector | On Commerce PaaS, connects Catalog Service, Live Search, and Product Recommendations using Admin API keys. On Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service and Adobe Commerce Optimizer, Adobe sets up the hosted side for you (see Backend options). | Commerce Services Connector |
| Catalog Service | Fast read-only catalog data for product pages, list pages, search, and navigation; required by the Product Details drop-in. | Catalog Service Guide |
| Live Search | AI-powered search that powers the Product Discovery drop-in. It needs storefront event collection when you do not use the classic PHP theme. | Live Search Guide |
| Product Recommendations | Optional (recommended). Adobe Sensei units in the Commerce Admin. It needs storefront event collection when you do not use the classic PHP theme. | Integration without classic theme Drop-in setup |
| Core GraphQL | Required. GraphQL API on your Commerce instance for cart, checkout, account, orders, and other flows; hosted catalog services do not replace it. | GraphQL overview |
| Data Connection | Optional. Sends storefront and order event data to Adobe Experience Platform for personalization. Applies to Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure or on-premises, not Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service. | Data Connection Guide |
| Storefront Compatibility packageA PHP package you install on Commerce PaaS that extends the GraphQL schema so cart, checkout, account, and order drop-ins can communicate with your backend as expected. | Required on Commerce PaaS (manual install on your Commerce instance). Managed automatically on Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service and Adobe Commerce Optimizer. | Install guide |
What’s next
Section titled “What’s next”Backend options explains how to confirm your backend type, required installations, and service connections before configuring your storefront.