Broadleaf Microservices
  • v1.0.0-latest-prod

Getting Started with Broadleaf Microservices

Tip
If you haven’t already, we recommend following the Broadleaf Microservices API Tutorial before going through this. This tutorial allows you to experience working with the backend APIs using your own provisioned demo instance without having to run anything locally.

Overview

Broadleaf provides a collection of reference starter projects allowing a developer to work with the entire Broadleaf microservice ecosystem in a local environment.

These projects are intended to give you a hands on look at core framework concepts and key extension patterns. Additionally, these projects provide a good foundational starting point to begin building customizations for your specific commerce implementation.

The framework includes 30+ microservices containing extensible commerce service components built on Java and Spring as well as a centralized metadata-driven back office admin framework built in React.

What Do I Need?

In order to get started locally, you will need to obtain a few resources and credentials before working through the installation instructions outlined below.

Note

Contact info@broadleafcommerce.com for information on how to obtain the latest versions of these starter projects and repository credentials.

Starter Projects

  • Flex Package Backend APIs: This is a Java Spring Boot project that allows you to run the core backend commerce APIs locally. This project structure will also showcase different ways in which to utilize Broadleaf’s Flex Package composition capabilities. See the Deployment Flexibility article for more details around Broadleaf’s Flex Package technology.

  • Commerce Storefront Starter: This is a Next.js project showcasing a customer facing storefront interacting with core backend Broadleaf APIs using the latest presentation-tier technologies. Clients will typically use this as a starting point to begin building their own custom storefront.

Credentials

For Broadleaf licensed clients, access to Broadleaf’s Docker Registry, Maven Nexus, and NPM Repository is needed in order to build the starter projects. Once you have obtained these credentials, you will need to configure them appropriately (which will be outlined in the relevant sections below). To be eligible for credentials, the user must have a Broadleaf Enterprise License.

High Level Diagram

The following diagram illustrates a balanced Flex Package deployment composition and serves as a helpful way to visualize how each component of the broadleaf microservices ecosystem interacts with one another. The various starter projects will help jump start your implementation for each of the components listed in this architecture.

Starter Projects Diagram

Multiple Ways to Get Started

Now that you’ve obtained the starter projects and credentials, there are multiple ways to experience working with the framework.

  1. From a Frontend Development Perspective: As a frontend developer, I would like to experience building out a customer facing Next.JS storefront - Take me there!

  2. From a Backend API Development Perspective: As a backend developer, I would like to experience working and customizing the core Flex Package Java APIs - Take me there!

  3. From a DevOps and Infrastructure Perspective: I’m not interested in developing anything locally, I just want to understand how to deploy the microservices demo ecosystem - Point me to some containers!