Platform overview

Developer Fundamentals is the starting point in Ordergroove’s Developer Documentation. It walks you through the core concepts you’ll need before integrating with the platform: the four-object data model (Customer, Subscription, Items, Order), the six components that make up the systems landscape, how authentication works with API keys and hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) signatures, and what the merchant launch process looks like. Think of it as your orientation before diving into a subscription commerce build.

Data model

Ordergroove’s data model provides flexibility for merchants with a structure that supports full automation or merchant-specific processes via REST APIs. Ordergroove’s data is stored in a relational database, with both one-to-one and one-to-many relationships depending on how you look at the data.

Ordergroove has four main data objects:

• Customer
• Subscription
• Items
• Order

Data model at a glance has more information and a relational flowchart.

Systems landscape map

Ordergroove’s platform has six major integration components that power your relationship commerce experience. If you’re on a supported eCommerce platform, our applications and cartridges handle many of these components for you automatically. We still recommend reading through them all, though — having the full picture makes the integration easier to reason about, even when the work is being done for you.

The Systems landscape map has information on all six components and a relational chart.

API authentication

You can authenticate requests using either an API key or an HMAC signature, depending on the API scope. API keys can be viewed and managed in RC3, and the Authentication reference covers both methods.

Launching a brand new subscription program

Ordergroove has a proven process to bring new merchants up to speed on our platform as quickly as possible. If you’re assisting in a new build, it can be helpful to get familiar with our onboarding process.

The Ordergroove Launch Process: Stages, Steps, and Timeline in the Knowledge Center has our full rundown.

Feedback and support

Getting up to speed on a new platform can be tough. We get it. Ordergroove is committed to being the best tech partner we can be. If you have any questions about our API, especially around scope or implementation, reach out to partners@ordergroove.com. One of our solutions specialists will help get everything sorted out.

Please reach out if you feel anything is missing or unclear in our documentation. We’re actively rolling out new documentation and feature recipes, and we’d love to hear what would help make your life easier. What do we need to know to help?