What is ForkCart?

The only open-source TypeScript e-commerce platform that ships storefront + admin + API + mobile app in one monorepo. Full-stack, plugin-first, AI-ready. No vendor lock-in.

Live Demo (Shop + Admin at /admin)

Quick Start

npx create-forkcart my-shop

Or with a single script:

curl -fsSL https://forkcart.com/install.sh | bash

That’s it. The web installer handles database setup, admin account, and demo data.

Your store runs on one port:

• / — Storefront
• /admin — Admin panel
• /api/* — REST API

Why ForkCart?

Every TypeScript e-commerce is headless-only — API without frontend. ForkCart ships the entire stack:

| | ForkCart | Medusa.js | Vendure | Saleor | Shopware | | ------------------ | ------------------------ | ---------------- | ---------------- | ---------------- | ---------------- | | Language | TypeScript | TypeScript | TypeScript | Python / GraphQL | PHP | | Storefront | ✅ Included | ❌ Headless only | ❌ Headless only | ❌ Headless only | ✅ Twig | | Page Builder | ✅ Drag & Drop | — | — | — | ✅ Shopping Exp. | | AI Built-in | ✅ Native | — | — | — | Via plugins | | Mobile App | ✅ Expo | — | — | — | — | | Plugin System | SDK + Store + Hot Reload | Modules | Plugins | Apps | Plugins | | Plugin Dev CLI | ✅ plugin:dev | — | — | — | — | | CSS Isolation | ✅ Scoped | — | — | — | — | | Self-hosted | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | License | MIT | MIT | MIT | BSD | MIT |

Features

🛍️ Products & Catalog

Variants, options, categories, image galleries, full-text search with CTR/conversion ranking, instant search (Cmd+K), SEO metadata, reviews, wishlists.

🛒 Orders & Checkout

Guest + authenticated checkout, coupon codes (percentage, fixed, free shipping), order lifecycle tracking, customer accounts with order history and address book.

💳 Payments & Email

Plugin-based payment providers (Stripe included). Transactional emails via Mailgun, SMTP, or custom providers. Event-driven: order confirmation, shipping, delivery, password reset.

🤖 AI (Optional)

Product description generation, smart search, storefront chatbot, auto-generated SEO. Provider-agnostic — OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or any compatible API.

🎨 Page Builder

20+ block types. Drag-and-drop editing for every page. Dynamic shop pages with live components. Configurable from admin.

🌍 Internationalization

URL-based locale routing, per-locale product content with fallback, admin translation manager with auto-translate, multi-currency, GDPR cookie consent per locale.

🔌 Plugins

Developer-first plugin system with everything you'd expect — and things you wouldn't:

• definePlugin() — single entry point, full TypeScript autocomplete
• Typed Events — hooks with typed payloads, filters for data transformation
• Storefront Pages — plugins can build their own pages (/ext/blog, /ext/wishlist)
• ScopedDatabase — permission-aware DB access with rate limiting & slow query logging
• CSS Isolation — scoped styles so plugins never break your theme
• Settings Groups — organize complex plugin settings into tabs
• Hot Reload — file watcher in dev, instant feedback
• Plugin Dev CLI — npx forkcart plugin:dev <slug> for watch + build + reload
• Preview Sandbox — inspect slots, blocks, and admin widgets before going live
• Plugin Store — publish, sell, install. You keep 90%, we take 10%.

🔒 Security

bcrypt + SHA-256 migration, rate limiting, Stripe webhook verification, Zod validation (strict), XSS protection, RBAC, encrypted API keys, magic-bytes upload validation.

Tech Stack

| Layer | Technology | Version | | -------- | -------------------- | ------- | | API | Hono | ^4.6 | | Frontend | Next.js | ^16.2 | | Mobile | Expo + React Native | SDK 52 | | Database | PostgreSQL + Drizzle | 16 | | Language | TypeScript (strict) | ^5.7 | | Styling | Tailwind CSS | ^4 | | Build | Turborepo + pnpm | ^2.3 | | Testing | Vitest | ^2.1 |

Plugin System

import { definePlugin } from '@forkcart/plugin-sdk';

export default definePlugin({
  name: 'my-plugin',
  version: '1.0.0',
  type: 'general',

  settings: {
    apiKey: { type: 'string', required: true, secret: true },
  },

  hooks: {
    'order:created': async (event, ctx) => {
      // notify, sync, transform — anything
    },
  },

  filters: {
    'product:price': (price) => price * 0.9, // 10% off everything
  },

  storefrontSlots: [{ slot: 'header-after', content: '<div>Free shipping today!</div>' }],

  storefrontPages: [
    {
      path: '/wishlist',
      title: 'My Wishlist',
      content: '<div id="wishlist">Loading...</div>',
      showInNav: true,
      navIcon: '❤️',
      requireAuth: true,
    },
  ],

  scheduledTasks: [{ name: 'cleanup', schedule: '0 3 * * *', handler: async () => {} }],
});

Plugin types: payment · marketplace · email · shipping · analytics · general

Plugins can also register custom API routes, admin pages, CLI commands, PageBuilder blocks, and database migrations.

📖 Full Plugin Docs → · Architecture →

Plugin Store

Build plugins. Sell them. Keep 90% — only 10% commission.

→ forkcart.com/store

Self-Hosting

Web Installer (recommended)

npx create-forkcart my-shop
# Open localhost:4200 and follow the wizard

Manual

# Prerequisites: Node.js ≥ 22, pnpm ≥ 9, PostgreSQL 16
# Grab the latest release tag:
TAG=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/forkcart/forkcart/releases/latest | grep tag_name | cut -d'"' -f4)
git clone --branch $TAG --depth 1 https://github.com/forkcart/forkcart.git
cd forkcart
pnpm install
pnpm installer

⚠️ Always clone a release tag, not main. The main branch is active development.

Use the included Caddyfile for reverse proxy with auto-SSL.

Project Structure

forkcart/
├── packages/
│   ├── api/            # Hono REST API
│   ├── admin/          # Next.js admin dashboard
│   ├── storefront/     # Next.js storefront + page builder
│   ├── mobile/         # Expo / React Native app
│   ├── core/           # Services, repositories, event bus
│   ├── database/       # Drizzle ORM, 30 migrations, ~33 tables
│   ├── shared/         # Zod schemas, types, error classes
│   ├── ai/             # AI provider registry
│   ├── i18n/           # Locale files + React hooks
│   ├── plugin-sdk/     # Published to npm
│   ├── cli/            # `forkcart` CLI tool
│   └── plugins/        # Stripe, Mailgun, SMTP, marketplaces
├── docker-compose.yml
├── turbo.json
└── Caddyfile

Contributing

Contributions welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

pnpm dev            # Start all services
pnpm build          # Build everything
pnpm test           # Run tests
pnpm format:check   # Check formatting
pnpm lint           # Lint

Community

• 💬 GitHub Discussions
• 🐛 Issues

License

MIT — do whatever you want.