Integrations/API
Generally, Shopware provides two APIs that serve two aspects of integrations with our platform. Both APIs are based on HTTP and though they serve different use cases, they share some underlying concepts. We recommend understanding these concepts before diving deeper into either of the APIs.
Customer-facing interactions - Store API
Frontend applications usually provide interfaces for users (customers). These applications usually don't expose sensitive data and have two layers of users - anonymous and authenticated i.e., unregistered and registered. Payloads are usually small, performance and availability are critical.
Backend-facing integrations - Admin API
These integrations are characterized by the exchange of structured data, synchronizations, imports, exports and notifications. Performance is also important in terms of high data loads rather than fast response times. Consistency, error handling, and transaction-safety are critical.