Medusa
An open-source headless commerce platform and a self-hostable alternative to Shopify and commercetools. Medusa delivers commerce primitives — carts, orders, payments, fulfillment, promotions, multi-region and multi-warehouse — as a modular Node.js framework, with a REST/GraphQL API, an admin dashboard, and full control over the storefront.
Overview
Description
Medusa is an open-source headless commerce platform and a self-hostable alternative to Shopify and commercetools. Instead of a monolithic store, it provides commerce as a modular Node.js framework: carts, orders, payments, fulfillment, promotions, tax, and multi-region support are all customizable modules exposed through a REST and GraphQL API. Developers pair it with any storefront and deploy the whole stack on infrastructure they own.
Features
- Commerce modules: Products, pricing, inventory, orders, customers, promotions, and tax as composable building blocks.
- Multi-region and multi-warehouse: Currencies, tax regions, price lists, and stock locations out of the box.
- Admin dashboard: Extensible React admin for catalog, orders, and settings.
- APIs first: Store and Admin REST APIs plus a workflow engine for custom business logic.
- Framework, not a template: Add custom modules, subscribers, and scheduled jobs without forking core.
- Bring your own storefront: Next.js starter provided; use any framework.
Technology Stack
- Node.js / TypeScript
- PostgreSQL database
- Redis for events and caching
- React admin dashboard
- Docker for deployment
Requirements
- Node.js 20+
- PostgreSQL and Redis
- A storefront application (Next.js starter available)
Learning resources
Medusa JS Tutorial: Create Your First Project in 5 Minutes
A short video covering the Medusa CLI, spinning up the backend and admin locally, and exploring the API before customizing.
By · Invalid Date
ArticleHow to Build Your Own E-Commerce Site with Medusa
A full tutorial on scaffolding a Medusa backend and admin, seeding a catalog, and connecting a Next.js storefront for a working store.
By freeCodeCamp · Invalid Date
