Documentation

Custom Application Config

A Custom Application configuration file defines the necessary requirements to develop and build your application.

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The configuration of a Custom Application is typically defined in a JSON file custom-application-config.json in the root of your project directory (next to package.json).

Supported file extensions

The configuration file can be defined in different syntax formats, but it is expected that the file is named custom-application-config.
The following file extensions can be used: .json, .js, .cjs, .mjs, .ts.

For example:

custom-application-config.mjsJavascript
import { entryPointUriPath } from './constants';

const name = 'Test application';

/**
 * @type {import('@commercetools-frontend/application-config').ConfigOptions}
 */
const config = {
  name,
  entryPointUriPath,
  // ...
};
module.exports = config;
./constants.jsJavascript
const entryPointUriPath = 'test';
module.exports = { entryPointUriPath };

Editor support

To facilitate the usage of the application config, you should instruct your editor to provide hints and code completion (IntelliSense) depending on the format of the configuration file.

Use JSDoc @type expression

For non-JSON files, you can annotate the configuration object with a JSDOc @type tag, pointing it to the exported TypeScript declaration of the @commercetools-frontend/application-config package.
custom-application-config.jsJavascript
/**
 * @type {import('@commercetools-frontend/application-config').ConfigOptions}
 */
const config = {
  // ...
};

module.exports = config;
For TypeScript files .ts, you can import the type directly instead.
custom-application-config.tsts
import type { ConfigOptions } from '@commercetools-frontend/application-config';

const config: ConfigOptions = {
  // ...
};

export default config;

Configuration properties

To learn more about the application config properties, read the following.

name

The name of the Custom Application, for information purposes.

{
  "name": "Channels app"
}

description

An optional description of the Custom Application, for information purposes.

{
  "description": "Manage Channels"
}

entryPointUriPath

The unique identifier of the Custom Application, similarly to the projectKey of the Composable Commerce APIs. This value determines the route at which the Custom Application is served by the Merchant Center Proxy.
/:projectKey/:entryPointUriPath
The value is considered unique within each cloud Region environment, meaning that there can't be any duplicates.
Choosing the entryPointUriPath is important and should be done carefully as it affects routing and permissions.
{
  "entryPointUriPath": "channels"
}
The entryPointUriPath value must adhere to the following restrictions:
  • Only lowercase alphanumeric characters are allowed.
  • Must be between 2 and 64 characters.
  • Underscores and hyphens are allowed except as leading, trailing, and adjacent characters.
Furthermore, the entryPointUriPath value is bound to user permissions of the Custom Application and is used to derive the unique name of the user permissions.

Some values are reserved for internal usage and cannot be used:

  • account
  • audit-log
  • dashboard
  • categories
  • change-history
  • customers
  • exports
  • discounts
  • operations
  • impex
  • imports
  • imports-exports
  • orders
  • products
  • settings
  • welcome
  • disabled
  • standalone-prices
Note that the list can be extended at any time. Last update 2022-08-11.
Even though the entryPointUriPath is a unique identifier of a Custom Application, and thus should be defined statically in the source code, it can also be defined dynamically via environment variables using the environment placeholders.

This may be the case if the Custom Application is to be deployed in different environments.

We explain this further in the troubleshooting section.

cloudIdentifier

The identifier of the cloud Region that the Custom Application uses to connect to Composable Commerce. The values map to the actual Merchant Center API URL for that Region.
{
  "cloudIdentifier": "gcp-eu"
}
If a cloud Region is not listed in the values above, you can override the value by adding a mcApiUrl property to the Custom Application config file with the full origin URL.

mcApiUrl

The origin URL of the Merchant Center API.
The value takes precedence over the cloudIdentifier. Use this only if the cloudIdentifier does not contain a value for the environment you want to connect to.

env

An object holding environment specific configurations, for example development or production. Which environment is used depends on the environment variable MC_APP_ENV. If MC_APP_ENV isn't set, NODE_ENV will be used. If neither is set, it defaults to development.
The MC_APP_ENV is useful if you want to run the production build of the Custom Application locally. In this case the NODE_ENV needs to be set to production. However, because the application runs locally, you need to have the URL references pointing to localhost, thus the MC_APP_ENV needs to be set to development.

env.development.initialProjectKey

A projectKey of a commercetools Project you have access to. To be used as the default Project upon login in development.
{
  "env": {
    "development": {
      "initialProjectKey": "my-project-key"
    }
  }
}

env.development.teamId

Local development is allowed for users belonging to the Administrators Team of your Organization with no additional configuration required.
If you need to apply more granular permissions for local development of a Custom Application, specify the teamId of the user's team.
For more information, see Granular permissions for local development.

env.production.applicationId

The Custom Application ID is provided when you add a Custom Application in the Merchant Center (Organizations > Custom Applications > Configure > Add). For more information, see Managing Custom Applications in the Merchant Center.
{
  "env": {
    "production": {
      "applicationId": "ckvtahxl90097sys6har1e6n3"
    }
  }
}

As long as you are developing the Custom Application locally, you can define any random value as it's a required field.

env.production.url

The full URL value where the Custom Application is hosted at. The Merchant Center serves Custom Applications on its own domain, but requests are internally forwarded to this URL. For more information, see Merchant Center Proxy Router.
{
  "env": {
    "production": {
      "url": "https://channels.app"
    }
  }
}
This value is also used to configure the Content Security Policy (CSP) HTTP headers to allow the browser to request data from the application domain.

env.production.cdnUrl

The full URL value where the Custom Application static assets are hosted, for example when using an external CDN.
{
  "env": {
    "production": {
      "cdnUrl": "https://cdn.channels.app"
    }
  }
}
If the static assets are hosted alongside the Custom Application, you can omit this option and the Custom Application env.production.url value will be used instead.

additionalEnv

An optional object that should be used to inject properties used within your Custom Application. These properties are then made available to the runtime application environment.

For example, if the Custom Application should reference an external API, or have links to certain support pages:

{
  "additionalEnv": {
    "trackingSentry": "https://000@sentry.io/000",
    "channelsSupportUrl": "https://support.channels.app"
  }
}

oAuthScopes

The configuration for OAuth Scopes and user permissions.

You can have "view-only" or "manage-only" OAuth Scopes and leave the other list field empty, as long as at least one OAuth Scope is specified.

Alternatively, if at least one additional permission group is configured in additionalOAuthScopes, both "view-only" or "manage-only" OAuth Scopes list fields can be left empty.

oAuthScopes.view

A list of "view-only" OAuth Scopes required by the Custom Application and associated with the View permission.
{
  "oAuthScopes": {
    "view": ["view_states"]
  }
}

oAuthScopes.manage

A list of "manage-only" OAuth Scopes required by the Custom Application and associated with the Manage permission.
{
  "oAuthScopes": {
    "manage": ["manage_orders"]
  }
}
Using manage_ OAuth Scopes always imply the corresponding view_ OAuth Scope.

additionalOAuthScopes

This feature is available from version 21.21.0 onwards.
The optional configuration for defining more granular OAuth Scopes and user permissions.

additionalOAuthScopes.*.name

A unique name for the additional permission group.

{
  "additionalOAuthScopes": [
    {
      "name": "movies"
    }
  ]
}

The name value must adhere to the following restrictions:

  • Only lowercase alphabetic characters are allowed.
  • Must be between 2 and 64 characters.
  • Hyphens are allowed except as leading, trailing, and adjacent characters.

additionalOAuthScopes.*.view

A list of "view-only" OAuth Scopes required by the Custom Application and associated with the View<GroupName> permission.
{
  "additionalOAuthScopes": [
    {
      "name": "movies",
      "view": ["view_products"],
      "manage": []
    },
    {
      "name": "merch",
      "view": ["view_categories"],
      "manage": []
    }
  ]
}

additionalOAuthScopes.*.manage

A list of "manage-only" OAuth Scopes required by the Custom Application and associated with the Manage<GroupName> permission.
{
  "additionalOAuthScopes": [
    {
      "name": "movies",
      "view": [],
      "manage": ["manage_products"]
    },
    {
      "name": "merch",
      "view": [],
      "manage": ["manage_categories"]
    }
  ]
}

headers

An optional object to configure HTTP headers used by the Custom Application.

headers.csp

An optional object to extend the default Content Security Policy (CSP) directives. The following directives are allowed to be used:
  • connect-src
  • font-src
  • frame-src
  • img-src
  • media-src
  • script-src
  • style-src
You can specify various CSP source values (including wildcards *) to control from where certain types of content can be loaded or executed.
{
  "headers": {
    "csp": {
      "connect-src": ["https://api.stripe.com"],
      "frame-src": ["https://js.stripe.com", "https://hooks.stripe.com"],
      "script-src": ["https://js.stripe.com"]
    }
  }
}
The required Content Security Policy (CSP) headers are inferred by default from the cloudIdentifier and the env.production.url. This includes the hostname where the Custom Application is hosted and the hostname of the Merchant Center API Gateway.

headers.permissionsPolicies

An optional object to configure the HTTP Permissions-Policy header.
The headers.permissionPolicies object is used only for local development. To enable these features for production, you need to instruct your hosting server to return the header with the modified values. The Merchant Center Proxy Router will then attempt to merge the values with the default ones.
{
  "headers": {
    "permissionsPolicies": {
      "microphone": "()",
      "camera": "()",
      "payment": "()",
      "usb": "()",
      "geolocation": "()"
    }
  }
}

headers.strictTransportSecurity

An optional list to extend the HTTP Strict-Transport-Security header.
{
  "headers": {
    "strictTransportSecurity": ["includeSubDomains", "preload"]
  }
}

icon

The visual identifier of the Custom Application in the Merchant Center. You can choose one of the following predefined icons by referencing it with the special expansion-like syntax ${path:}:
{
  "icon": "${path:@commercetools-frontend/assets/application-icons/<icon_name>.svg}"
}
bag
bell
box
chat
code
export
files
folder
gift
globe
graph
headphones
import
location
network
percentage
pricetag
rocket
screen
search
settings
special
stack
stamp
star
stats
trolley
truck
users
wrench

mainMenuLink.defaultLabel

The label to be rendered if there is no matching localized label for the user locale.

{
  "mainMenuLink": {
    "defaultLabel": "Channels"
  }
}

mainMenuLink.labelAllLocales

A list of localized fields { locale, value } with translated labels for each application locale, available in the user profile.
{
  "mainMenuLink": {
    "labelAllLocales": [
      { "locale": "en", "value": "Popular Channels" },
      { "locale": "de", "value": "Beliebte Channels" }
    ]
  }
}
Labels can also be references using the i18n translation files. For more information, see Intl message references.

mainMenuLink.permissions

A list of the user permissions specific to your Custom Application. Users must have at least one of the specified permissions to see the link in the Merchant Center main navigation. Leaving the list of permissions empty makes the menu link always visible (no restrictions are applied).
{
  "mainMenuLink": {
    "permissions": ["ViewChannels"]
  }
}
The values of the user permissions for the Custom Application are always derived from the entryPointUriPath. For more information, see Apply user permissions.

submenuLinks.*.uriPath

The URI path relative to the entryPointUriPath of the Custom Application.
For example, given the entryPointUriPath: channels, and the (sub)route uriPath: new, the menu link results in /channels/new.
{
  "submenuLinks": [
    {
      "uriPath": "new"
    }
  ]
}
The main navigation links in the Merchant Center are marked as active based on an exact match strategy with the current page route.
For example, if a sub-link is set as new and the current page route is /channels/new, the link is marked as active. However, if the page route is at /channels or /channels/123 instead of /channels/new, the link doesn't match and isn't marked as active.

Be aware of how you configure the sub-links and how they're supposed to match with the application routes:

  • Avoid using / as the sub-link. While this is technically allowed, you're adding a duplicated menu link because it's the same as the mainMenuLink.
  • Avoid sublinks to routes that redirect to other routes because they'll never match. For example, if you have a main page with sub-routes such as /channels/config/general and /channels/config/new, and the routes are configured to redirect from /channels/config to /channels/config/general, defining the sub-link /channels/config will never match any route because of the redirect.

submenuLinks.*.defaultLabel

The label to be rendered if there is no matching localized label for the user locale.

{
  "submenuLinks": [
    {
      "defaultLabel": "Create Channel"
    }
  ]
}

submenuLinks.*.labelAllLocales

A list of localized fields { locale, value } with translated labels for each application locale, available in the user profile.
{
  "submenuLinks": [
    {
      "labelAllLocales": [
        { "locale": "en", "value": "Create Channel" },
        { "locale": "de", "value": "Channel erstellen" }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
Labels can also be references using the i18n translation files. For more information, see Intl message references.

submenuLinks.*.permissions

A list of the user permissions specific to your Custom Application. Users must have at least one of the specified permissions to see the link in the Merchant Center main navigation. Leaving the list of permissions empty makes the menu link always visible (no restrictions are applied).
{
  "submenuLinks": [
    {
      "permissions": ["ManageChannels"]
    }
  ]
}
The values of the user permissions for the Custom Application are always derived from the entryPointUriPath. For more information, see Apply user permissions.

Use variable placeholders

Variable placeholders are a way of injecting certain information into the "static" configuration file.

Environment variable references

To make the application config more reusable across different environments, you can use references to environment variables within the application config file.

References are specified with a special expansion-like syntax ${} together with the prefix key env:. For example, to load an environment variable called APP_URL, you would use ${env:APP_URL}.
Imagine developing a Custom Application that can be used in the same Regions (Europe and North America) as the Composable Commerce APIs. We can assign the ${env:CLOUD_IDENTIFIER} reference to the field cloudIdentifier and pass the actual value using environment variables.
{
  "cloudIdentifier": "${env:CLOUD_IDENTIFIER}"
}
The CLOUD_IDENTIFIER environment variable can be provided in various ways.

For example:

  • as an inline environment variable when running a script command

    CLOUD_IDENTIFIER=gcp-eu mc-scripts start
  • using a dotenv file
    .env-eubash
    CLOUD_IDENTIFIER=gcp-eu

    mc-scripts --env .env-eu start

  • by defining the environment variables in your CI service

You can also pass multiple references to the same value:

{
  "additionalEnv": {
    "authorityUrl": "https://${env:IDP_URL}/${env:IDP_ID}"
  }
}

Intl message references

This feature is available from version 20.8.0 onwards.
References for Intl messages are specified with a special expansion-like syntax ${} together with the prefix key intl:. For example, to load a translation message from the en.json file named Menu.Channels, you would use ${intl:en:Menu.Channels}.
This is useful when specifying menu link labels.
{
  "mainMenuLink": {
    "defaultLabel": "${intl:en:Menu.Channels}",
    "labelAllLocales": [
      { "locale": "en", "value": "${intl:en:Menu.Channels}" },
      { "locale": "de", "value": "${intl:de:Menu.Channels}" }
    ]
  }
}

The reference placeholder assumes that the Custom Application has the translation files in one of the following locations:

  • <app_root>/src/i18n/data/<locale>.json
  • <app_root>/i18n/data/<locale>.json

File path references

This feature is available from version 20.8.0 onwards.
References to files are specified with a special expansion-like syntax ${} together with the prefix key path:.
This is useful when specifying the icon of the Custom Application.
{
  "icon": "${path:./app.svg}"
}

You can use a path relative to the application folder or a path to a module.

{
  "icon": "${path:@commercetools-frontend/assets/application-icons/rocket.svg}"
}

Runtime application environment

Much of the information specified in the application config is injected into the runtime environment and available via the global variable window.app.
It is recommended to always pass the value to the <ApplicationShell>.
const EntryPoint = () => (
  <ApplicationShell
    environment={window.app}
    // other props
  />
);
The environment prop is parsed and injected into a React Context, making it available to the entire application. To access it, use the @commercetools-frontend/application-shell-connectors package.
import { useApplicationContext } from '@commercetools-frontend/application-shell-connectors';

const MyComponent = () => {
  const applicationName = useApplicationContext(
    (context) => context.environment.applicationName
  );
  return <div>{`Welcome to the application ${applicationName}!`}</div>;
};
All the properties defined in the additionalEnv object are made available to the context.environment object.
For more information, see Custom user properties.