Engineering

How we engineer

Standards, not promises. This is the internal bar we hold every project to — and the reason our work outlives the launch date.

//Architecture

Engineering principles

The rules that shape every theme, app and integration we build.

/01

Every decision is documented

Architecture choices carry a written rationale: the constraint, the options considered, the decision and the trade-off. No magic, no vibes.

/02

Merchants stay self-sufficient

A theme system is designed so operators configure content without a developer. Software should pay for itself in saved requests.

/03

Apps integrate, never patch

Theme App Extensions and stable contracts instead of injecting scripts into theme files. The theme and the app stay independent.

/04

Performance is a budget, not a hope

LCP, INP and CLS have explicit budgets enforced in CI. A new feature that breaks the budget does not ship.

/05

Migration is incremental

From theme to headless, from one ERP to another: staged rollouts with rollback paths, never big-bang rewrites.

/06

Code is reviewed like prose

Review is standard practice, not overhead. The review gate is part of how quality is defined.

//Tech stack

Tools tied to problems

Every technology below exists because a specific business problem needed it.

Area	Technology	Solves	Priority
Theme	Liquid / Sections / Blocks / Metaobjects	Reusable content systems merchants can edit	★★★★★
Frontend	React / Next.js / Hydrogen / TypeScript	Commerce frontends that scale with the brand	★★★★★
Commerce API	Storefront API / Admin API / Customer Account API	Shopify as the reliable commerce backend	★★★★★
Commerce Logic	Shopify Functions / Checkout Extensions	Order, discount and delivery rules in code	★★★★★
Integration	Webhooks / Queue / Retry / ERP / OMS / PIM	Data flows that stay in sync between systems	★★★★☆
Quality	Performance / Core Web Vitals / Testing / CI	Sites that stay fast and safe to change	★★★★☆

//Integrations

Systems we connect

Commerce is rarely one system. These are the seams we engineer.

ERP

↔ Shopify

Webhooks · Queue · Retry · Reconciliation

Order, product and inventory data stays in sync both ways.

OMS

↔ Shopify

Admin API · Fulfillment mutations

Fulfillment and shipping states flow without manual steps.

PIM

↔ Shopify

Product mutations · Metaobjects

Rich product data maps into Shopify content models.

CRM

↔ Shopify

Customer Account API · Webhooks

Customer events feed marketing and service systems.

Search

↔ Shopify

Storefront API · Edge caching

Custom search surfaces without slowing the storefront.

CMS

↔ Shopify

Headless content · Storefront API

Editorial content renders in the commerce frontend.

//Delivery

The process

Six steps from discovery to retainer. Each one lowers the risk of the next.

Discovery

Audit the existing system, capture the real business problem, define success metrics.

Architecture

Decide the shape: theme system, headless, app, or integration. Document every key decision.

Build

Engineer with version control, review, and a design system. No one-off hacks.

QA

Performance budget, accessibility, theme checks, and automated regression before launch.

Launch

Edge caching, redirects, monitoring, and a performance baseline you can defend.

Retainer

Version upgrades, technical debt, and continuous iteration after go-live.

//Performance

Budgets, enforced in CI

Core Web Vitals is a product requirement, not a report at the end.

LCP

< 2.5s

App impact, image pipeline, edge caching

INP

< 200ms

JS weight, hydration boundaries, third-party scripts

CLS

< 0.1

Reserved layout space, font loading strategy

JS budget

< 100KB

Lazy loading, islands, code splitting

This site runs on the same standard: static-first on Cloudflare’s edge network, a JS budget enforced at build time, and the performance numbers published in our engineering notes.

Next step

Want this standard applied to your store?

Start with a Commerce Architecture Review. If your system does not need us, we will say so.

Book a Commerce Architecture Review See the work