Overview

This checklist helps teams evaluate whether Graph Commerce is the right fit and what needs to be validated before committing to a headless build. Use it to surface risks early, align stakeholders, and avoid costly rework.

1. Technical Infrastructure & Setup

Hosting & Deployment

  • What hosting infrastructure will support Graph Commerce (Vercel, AWS, Google Cloud)?
  • Do we have experience with serverless/edge deployments?
  • What's our budget for hosting costs (Next.js can be expensive at scale)?
  • How will we handle image optimization and CDN costs?
  • Do we need multi-region deployment for performance?

Development Environment

  • What Node.js version are we standardizing on (Graph Commerce requires 18+)?
  • Which package manager (pnpm, yarn, npm) - Graph Commerce recommends pnpm?
  • Do all developers have sufficient local machine resources (8GB+ RAM minimum)?
  • How will we handle long build times during development?
  • What's our strategy for managing .env files across teams?

2. Magento 2 Backend Integration

Magento Setup & Compatibility

  • Which Magento 2 version are we running (Graph Commerce requires 2.4.3+)?
  • Is our Magento instance optimized for GraphQL queries?
  • Have we enabled all required Magento 2 GraphQL modules?
  • Are there custom Magento extensions that might break GraphQL compatibility?
  • How will we handle Magento GraphQL rate limiting?

Custom Magento Development

  • Do we have custom product types that need frontend representation?
  • Are there custom customer attributes that need to be surfaced?
  • How many custom GraphQL resolvers/mutations do we have?
  • Will we need to extend Magento's GraphQL schema significantly?
  • Who maintains the Magento backend vs. the Graph Commerce frontend?

API Performance

  • What's the average response time of our Magento GraphQL endpoint?
  • How will we handle slow Magento responses (caching, SWR, fallbacks)?
  • Do we need GraphQL query optimization/batching?
  • What's our strategy for handling Magento API downtime?

3. Team Skills & Learning Curve

Current Team Expertise

  • Does the team have experience with Next.js App Router and React Server Components?
  • Are developers comfortable with GraphQL (queries, fragments, mutations)?
  • Do we understand TypeScript at an intermediate/advanced level?
  • Has anyone worked with monorepo architectures before?
  • Do we have frontend performance optimization expertise?

Learning & Training

  • How much time can we allocate for the team to learn Graph Commerce?
  • Who will become the Graph Commerce "expert" on the team?
  • What's our plan for knowledge transfer and documentation?
  • Do we have budget for external Graph Commerce consultants if needed?
  • How will we stay updated with Graph Commerce releases and breaking changes?

4. Customization & Extensibility

Design & Theming

  • How much will our design deviate from Graph Commerce defaults?
  • Do we need to completely override the Material-UI theme?
  • Are we comfortable with Emotion CSS-in-JS or prefer other solutions?
  • How will we manage design tokens and brand consistency?
  • Do we need multiple themes (B2B, B2C, white-label)?

Plugin System

  • Do we understand Graph Commerce's plugin architecture?
  • How many custom plugins will we need to create?
  • Will we need to override core Graph Commerce components significantly?
  • What's our strategy for maintaining plugins across Graph Commerce updates?
  • How will we test custom plugins in isolation?

Third-Party Integrations

  • What payment gateways need integration (beyond Magento's defaults)?
  • Do we need custom shipping calculators or methods?
  • Are there specific analytics/tracking tools to integrate (GA4, GTM, Segment)?
  • Do we need integration with PIM, ERP, or CRM systems?
  • What's our strategy for managing third-party service API keys?

5. Performance & Scalability

Performance Requirements

  • What are our target Core Web Vitals scores (LCP, FID, CLS)?
  • How will we handle large product catalogs (10k+ SKUs)?
  • What's our strategy for image optimization at scale?
  • Do we need server-side caching (Redis, Varnish)?
  • How will we optimize for mobile performance on slow networks?

Traffic & Load

  • What's our expected traffic volume (concurrent users)?
  • Do we have seasonal traffic spikes (Black Friday, holidays)?
  • How will we load test Graph Commerce before launch?
  • What's our auto-scaling strategy?
  • Do we need a CDN strategy for static assets?

6. Data & State Management

GraphQL Data Fetching

  • How will we handle data fetching patterns (SSR, SSG, ISR, CSR)?
  • What's our caching strategy for GraphQL responses?
  • Do we need optimistic UI updates for better UX?
  • How will we handle stale data and revalidation?
  • What's our approach to pagination and infinite scroll?

Client-Side State

  • Which pages need client-side state management?
  • Do we need a global state solution beyond React Context?
  • How will we handle cart state synchronization with Magento?
  • What's our strategy for persisting user preferences?
  • How will we handle authentication state and token management?

7. SEO & Content Management

SEO Requirements

  • Do we need multi-language/multi-region SEO?
  • How will we handle dynamic metadata for products/categories?
  • What's our strategy for structured data (Schema.org)?
  • Do we need XML sitemaps generation?
  • How will we manage canonical URLs and redirects?

Content Strategy

  • Will we use Magento CMS or an external headless CMS (Contentful, Sanity)?
  • How will we manage landing pages and marketing content?
  • Do we need A/B testing capabilities?
  • What's our content preview/staging strategy?
  • How will non-technical users manage content?

8. Testing & Quality Assurance

Testing Strategy

  • What's our testing pyramid (unit, integration, E2E)?
  • Which testing frameworks (Jest, React Testing Library, Playwright)?
  • How will we test GraphQL integrations?
  • Do we need visual regression testing?
  • What's our cross-browser/device testing strategy?

Quality Gates

  • What code coverage percentage is required?
  • How will we enforce code quality (ESLint, Prettier, TypeScript strict mode)?
  • What's our code review process?
  • Do we need automated accessibility testing (WCAG compliance)?
  • How will we monitor bundle size and performance budgets?

9. Security & Compliance

Security Concerns

  • How will we handle PCI compliance for payment data?
  • What's our strategy for protecting customer PII?
  • How will we prevent XSS, CSRF, and other vulnerabilities?
  • Do we need rate limiting on the frontend?
  • How will we handle security headers and CSP?

Data Privacy

  • Do we need GDPR compliance features?
  • How will we handle cookie consent management?
  • What's our data retention policy?
  • Do we need customer data export/deletion features?
  • How will we handle third-party tracking compliance?

10. Maintenance & Long-term Support

Update Strategy

  • How frequently can we update Graph Commerce versions?
  • What's our process for handling breaking changes?
  • Do we have a staging environment for testing updates?
  • How will we handle dependency security vulnerabilities?
  • What's our rollback strategy if updates fail?

Monitoring & Debugging

  • What monitoring tools will we use (Sentry, LogRocket, Datadog)?
  • How will we track frontend errors in production?
  • What's our alerting strategy for critical issues?
  • How will we debug issues reported by customers?
  • Do we need real user monitoring (RUM)?

Documentation

  • Who will maintain technical documentation?
  • How will we document custom implementations?
  • What's our process for onboarding new developers?
  • Do we need architecture decision records (ADRs)?
  • How will we document GraphQL schema changes?

11. Budget & Timeline

Cost Considerations

  • What's the total estimated development cost?
  • What are ongoing operational costs (hosting, CDN, monitoring)?
  • Do we need to budget for Graph Commerce support/consulting?
  • What's the cost of third-party services (CMS, analytics, etc.)?
  • Are there license costs for any tools or services?

Project Timeline

  • What's our realistic timeline for MVP launch?
  • How much time for initial setup and configuration?
  • What's the migration strategy if replacing an existing frontend?
  • Do we have buffer time for unexpected challenges?
  • What's our phased rollout plan?

12. Business Requirements

Feature Parity

  • Which existing features are must-haves for launch?
  • What features can be deferred to post-launch?
  • Do we need B2B features (company accounts, quote management)?
  • Are there specific localization requirements?
  • What customer account features are essential?

Success Metrics

  • How will we measure success (conversion rate, page speed, etc.)?
  • What KPIs are we optimizing for?
  • How will we compare against the current solution?
  • What's our A/B testing strategy post-launch?
  • How will we gather and act on user feedback?

13. Risk Assessment

Technical Risks

  • What happens if Graph Commerce development stalls or is abandoned?
  • How dependent are we on Graph Commerce's roadmap?
  • What's our contingency if we can't solve a critical limitation?
  • How will we handle major Next.js breaking changes?
  • What if Magento GraphQL has breaking changes?

Business Risks

  • What's the impact if launch is delayed by 3-6 months?
  • How will we handle competitive pressure during development?
  • What if key team members leave during the project?
  • Do we have stakeholder buy-in for the learning curve?
  • What's the fallback if Graph Commerce doesn't meet needs?

14. Vendor Lock-in & Exit Strategy

Platform Independence

  • How tightly coupled will we be to Graph Commerce?
  • Can we migrate to another framework if needed?
  • What components are reusable outside Graph Commerce?
  • How will we avoid vendor lock-in with hosting providers?
  • What's our strategy if we need to switch commerce backends?

Priority Questions to Ask First

Before diving deep, answer these critical questions:

  1. Do we have a clear business case for using Graph Commerce vs. alternatives?
  2. Does our team have the technical skills, or can we acquire them quickly?
  3. Is our Magento instance ready and optimized for headless commerce?
  4. Do we have realistic timeline and budget expectations?
  5. Are we prepared for the ongoing maintenance burden of a complex stack?

Red Flags to Watch For

  • Team has no Next.js or React Server Components experience
  • Magento instance is heavily customized with old extensions
  • Expecting plug-and-play solution with zero customization
  • Unrealistic timeline (less than 3 months for complex implementations)
  • No plan for handling Graph Commerce updates
  • Unclear ownership between backend and frontend teams
  • No performance monitoring strategy
  • Assuming AI tools will handle most of the development