What makes a component¶

A MACH component should be a single repository specifically to provide domain-specific functionality.

A single component can consist of one or more of the following things:

one or more serverless functions
other cloud specific infrastructure

Or a MACH service specific functionality or configuration like:

custom commercetools objects
a commercetools API extension

One component per domain¶

In order to make your MACH stack truly composable, components should be designed so that it serves to provide functionality for a specific domain within your entire commerce environment.

Simple components¶

For some components, the domain and thus the implementation is quite straight-forward and clear, like for example a component responsible for handling payments or a component that should sends a confirmation email upon a new order.

Complex components¶

Some components might be a bit more complex, but still a good fit for a single component;
For example an ERP component that imports data from an ERP system and exports commercetools order data to be imported in the ERP.
This might include multiple serverless functions that receive different triggers for example:

New object is upload to a S3 bucket or Storage account
New order is received through a commercetools Order

Instead of provided these seperate pieces of functionality in two seperate components, it would make more sense to include that in one component so that when including that component in your MACH stack, all ERP-related functionality is taken care of.

Creating a component¶

The easiest way to get started with a component is by using the mach bootstrap command:

$ mach bootstrap component

This will generate a new project including a README file on how to get started and include it in your MACH configuration.

Adding it to your stack¶

A component can be added to your MACH stack by including it in your MACH configuration.

It should be present in your:

Component definitions so that MACH knows where to find your component
Site component configuration to include it in your MACH stack add site-specific configuration

The getting started guide includes an example of a configuration file with a component implemented.

Using Serverless framework¶

The 'function'-part of a MACH component can easily be integrated with the serverless framework for "zero-friction serverless development".

This gives you a couple of features:

Easy local development of your function code including mocked infrastructure that might be needed for your setup
Build & package your function by calling sls package. More info about Packaging & Deployment

Serverless framework in your MACH deployment

Altho we do encourage the usage of the serverless framework for development and packaging, we don't recommend using it for the actual MACH deployment itself.
More info about this in the MACH configuration deployment notes.