BigCommerce Programming Language: What Developers Need to Know in 2026

What programming language does BigCommerce use? The answer isn’t simple — and that’s a good thing. In 2026, BigCommerce combines Stencil, Catalyst, REST APIs, GraphQL, and modern JavaScript frameworks to support both traditional and headless storefronts. This guide explains the full tech stack and why PIM integration becomes essential for complex ecommerce builds.

What You'll Learn:

BigCommerce’s hybrid architecture combines open-source flexibility with SaaS platform convenience, using standard web languages instead of proprietary ones
Stencil and Catalyst frameworks power both traditional and modern high-performance headless storefronts with extensive customization capabilities
API-First Architecture uses GraphQL for front-end operations and REST Management APIs for back-end data management, enabling powerful automation
Multi-storefront support lets businesses manage multiple localized storefronts from a single backend, serving 60,000 online stores across 120 countries
PIM integration becomes essential for businesses managing complex product listings across BigCommerce’s extensive marketplace ecosystem

When people ask about the BigCommerce programming language, they are really asking how the whole system works. BigCommerce is not built on just one technology. Instead, it uses a mix of tools that give developers flexibility while still being easy to manage as a SaaS platform.

BigCommerce gives developers strong APIs, ready made tools from the BigCommerce app marketplace, and a flexible setup that can grow with a business. For business to business brands that manage large product catalogs across thousands of online stores around the world, understanding how these tools work helps support long term business growth.

1. Understanding BigCommerce's Tech Stack

Why it matters: BigCommerce stands out from other platforms because it is built with an API first design and a hybrid approach. This gives businesses a lot of customization options while still keeping the reliability of a managed platform.

The bottom line: According to BigCommerce’s developer documentation, the platform is known for its high uptime and stability while utilizing standard web languages instead of proprietary ones, giving developers creative freedom without vendor lock-in.

Frontend Technologies

The BigCommerce platform uses several key components for storefront presentation. They are:

Handlebars.js for templating logic in theme files
JavaScript (ES6+) for interactive functionality
YAML used in Stencil for ‘Front Matter’ to define and request specific data for a page
Sass/SCSS for advanced styling

API-First Architecture

The platform’s architecture separates concerns effectively:

GraphQL Storefront API used to query the BigCommerce Storefront API, primarily for front-end operations
REST Store Management APIs for back-end data management, allowing you to automate transactions and make changes to your store’s data programmatically
Webhooks providing real-time notifications on events within your store
Extensive API access and Software Development Kits (SDKs) to extend functionality

BigCommerce APIs provide access to a wide range of store management and customer-facing features, including managing products, orders, customers, carts, and checkouts. The BigCommerce API enables businesses to automate tasks and build custom integrations on the platform, ultimately leading to greater efficiency and flexibility in managing your online business.

For online businesses: Architecture like this means your development team can customize your online store while it maintains a central hub for accurate product data. That’s critical when you’re managing industrial catalogs across multiple stores.

2. Stencil Theme Engine and Development Process

Why it matters: Stencil is BigCommerce’s standard theme engine that determines how developers build and customize storefronts, significantly impacting the development process and customer experience.

The bottom line: Stencil themes use Handlebars.js as the primary templating language, enabling dynamic customization. BigCommerce allows for the design of unique and engaging online stores using drag-and-drop editing tools or customizable templates, making it accessible for both technical and non-technical users.

How Stencil Works

Handlebars.js provides a minimal yet powerful templating system. A basic example:

handlebars

{{#if product.price}}
    <span class="price">{{product.price}}</span>
{{/if}}

This syntax allows developers to embed conditional logic and dynamic content directly into theme files. Handlebars expressions run server-side, generating HTML before reaching customers.

Key Components for BigCommerce Development

Stencil Utils API: This JavaScript library enables dynamic cart operations and product searches as well as AJAX functionality… essential development skills for creating user friendly experiences.

YAML Front Matter: YAML is used in Stencil for ‘Front Matter’ to define and request specific data for a page, improving site speed by loading only necessary customer data. This approach dramatically reduces load times, which is a key factor for business growth.

Design Tools and Organization: BigCommerce’s design tools help organize products into the right categories, making the website easier to navigate. A successful online store is easy to navigate and showcases related products, and BigCommerce emphasizes the importance of a visually appealing store to attract and retain customers.

Drag and Drop Features: BigCommerce allows you to design a unique and engaging online store using drag-and-drop editing tools or customizable templates. Page Builder enables store owners to customize storefront appearance without technical expertise, while allowing developers to focus on complex functionality through source code modifications.

For online businesses: BigCommerce development involves the entire process of setting up your online store, including customization and integration with SEO tools. However, managing product data across listings requires robust infrastructure. Without centralized management, specifications become inconsistent across your ecommerce site.

3. JavaScript and API Development

Why it matters: Modern BigCommerce development relies on JavaScript and the platform’s extensive API ecosystem, enabling developers to create sophisticated customer engagement features and automate critical business processes.

The bottom line: JavaScript powers interactive features through the Stencil Utils API, while BigCommerce APIs help you manage customer data, including creating and updating customer profiles and managing customer groups… all contributing to improved conversion rates.

Stencil Utils and Event Handling

The Stencil Utils API provides methods for cart management, product searches, and content updates:

javascript

utils.api.cart.itemAdd(FormData, (err, response) => {
    if (err) {
        console.error(err);
        return;
    }
    // Update cart display
    updateCartContent(response);
});

This approach enables dynamic shopping experiences without requiring full-page reloads. This is essential for buyers who need efficient purchasing workflows in their online store.

Comprehensive API Access

BigCommerce offers various store APIs designed for tasks such as handling store data, authenticating customers, and making client-side queries for product information. The REST Store Management APIs allow you to automate transactions and make changes to your store’s data programmatically, while BigCommerce provides a wide range of endpoints, webhooks, and essential solutions designed to support the growth of merchant businesses.

The BigCommerce app marketplace offers pre-built integrations and extensions that connect through these APIs, enabling store owners to extend functionality without custom development. This marketplace features hundreds of solutions from payment processors to marketing automation tools, significantly reducing implementation time for common business requirements.

Payment Gateway Integration: BigCommerce supports a wide range of payment gateways, allowing businesses to cater to diverse customer preferences. BigCommerce offers a variety of payment gateway options, which can improve customer satisfaction and increase conversion rates. Multiple payment options integrate through standardized APIs, giving businesses flexibility in payment processing methods.

SEO and Mobile Optimization: BigCommerce provides tools for mobile optimization, which is essential for delivering a smooth user experience on mobile devices. BigCommerce provides a mobile-friendly experience, essential for catering to the growing mobile commerce market. The platform’s integration with SEO tools helps improve website’s SEO performance and visibility in search engines.

Custom Extensions: BigCommerce allows developers to create bespoke integrations and extensions that enhance store functionality. BigCommerce supports a robust webhook system that allows you to receive real-time notifications on events within your store, enabling real-time synchronization with third party services.

BigDesign System: The BigDesign System is an open-source design system based on React for building custom apps in BigCommerce, providing developers with pre-built components and design patterns.

GraphQL and REST APIs

The GraphQL Storefront API enables developers to build headless storefronts and enhanced Stencil themes. For headless implementations, GraphQL is used to query the BigCommerce Storefront API, allowing developers to request precise data structures in single queries. This eliminates multiple API calls required by REST APIs, significantly impacting store’s performance.

AI Capabilities: BigCommerce has integrated Google Cloud AI capabilities for automated content generation and predictive analytics, helping businesses optimize product listings and improve customer experience through data-driven insights.

For ecommerce businesses: API development becomes critical when integrating BigCommerce with ERP systems, but product data synchronization remains challenging. A Best PIM for BigCommerce solution acts as middleware, ensuring accurate information flows between systems.

4. Headless Commerce Development Options

Why it matters: Headless architecture separates the frontend presentation layer from the backend commerce engine, enabling omnichannel commerce experiences and modern development frameworks that support business growth.

The bottom line: BigCommerce provides the Catalyst framework for modern high-performance headless storefronts, representing the platform’s commitment to cutting-edge development approaches. The GraphQL Storefront API enables developers to build headless storefronts and enhanced Stencil themes with superior performance.

Catalyst Framework for Modern Development

BigCommerce provides the Catalyst framework for modern high-performance headless storefronts, marking a significant evolution in the platform’s capabilities. React and Next.js are primary frameworks used in the Catalyst framework for building modular components, combining server-side rendering with static generation for optimal performance.

The Catalyst framework demonstrates BigCommerce’s hybrid approach, providing developers with pre-built, production-ready components while maintaining the flexibility to customize extensively. This framework accelerates development while ensuring store’s performance meets modern standards.

Popular Frameworks for Headless Commerce

Next.js with React: React and Next.js are primary frameworks used in building headless storefronts. The official Next.js Commerce starter demonstrates optimized performance that improves conversion rates.

Vue and Nuxt.js: These frameworks offer reactive data binding and intuitive component architecture for developers familiar with Vue’s ecosystem, providing creative freedom in building unique digital storefronts.

Gatsby: This static site generator excels at creating fast, SEO-optimized storefronts by pre-rendering pages at build time, improving website’s SEO performance.

Headless Development Process

Configure backend: Set up product catalogs, payment gateways, and shipping rules in your BigCommerce store
Generate API credentials: Create authentication tokens for secure API calls
Build custom frontend: Develop using Catalyst or your chosen framework with powerful APIs
Implement checkout: Integrate payment processing through BigCommerce’s Checkout SDK
Deploy and monitor: Use CI/CD pipelines for continuous updates

Multi-Storefront Management

BigCommerce provides multi-storefront support for managing multiple localized storefronts from a single backend. This capability is essential for businesses operating across different regions, languages, or customer segments. The platform serves 60,000 online stores used by businesses in 120 countries, demonstrating its scalability and global reach.

Professional Development Support

Hiring certified BigCommerce developers can make setup, integration, and migration smoother and can help reduce downtime during updates. Choosing the right BigCommerce development company can have a big impact on the success of your online store, especially when building complex headless systems or multi storefront setups. A qualified BigCommerce development company has experience with API integrations, Catalyst framework projects, and PIM system connections.

Working with an experienced BigCommerce development company helps ensure that the store is built with the right architecture from the beginning, which reduces technical debt and lowers future development costs. These specialists also understand how to use the BigCommerce app marketplace and can choose and connect the right third party tools for your business needs.

Benefits for Online Businesses:

Improved Site Speed: Headless storefronts typically load 40-60 percent faster than traditional themes
Mobile Applications: Developers can build native mobile apps using the same backend commerce engine
Creative Freedom: Frontend developers gain complete control over user interface design
Revenue Growth Opportunities: Faster load times and better customer experience translate directly into higher sales

For ecommerce operations: Headless architecture provides flexibility but increases complexity in managing product data across multiple touchpoints. When selling products through web storefronts, mobile applications, and marketplace integrations, maintaining data consistency becomes exponentially more difficult without centralized management.

5. Managing Complex Product Data with PIM Integration

Why it matters: For businesses using the BigCommerce platform to manage industrial catalogs with thousands of SKUs across multiple storefronts, native product management becomes insufficient as business needs scale.

The bottom line: Product Information Management (PIM) systems serve as the single source of truth for customer data and product information, synchronizing across BigCommerce’s multi-storefront architecture, marketplaces, and other sales channels.

The Product Data Challenge

According to BigCommerce’s PIM overview, organizations face significant challenges as catalogs grow, including global scalability:

Manual data entry leads to errors in product listings
Information becomes scattered across systems and multiple stores
Maintaining accuracy across storefronts becomes impossible
Time-to-market for new features and products increases

These challenges intensify for manufacturers managing:

Complex variations with dozens of attributes
Technical specifications requiring precision
Multi-language content for global markets across 120 countries
Product relationships and cross-sell recommendations

How PIM Solves Development Challenges

Centralized Data Management: PIM systems collect product information from ERP systems, vendor portals, and spreadsheets and store it in one place. This removes scattered data problems that often appear as a business grows, especially for companies running multiple localized storefronts.

Automated Synchronization: The best PIM for BigCommerce solutions send updates automatically to all connected stores and sales channels. When you change product details in the PIM system, the updates can appear on your ecommerce store, Amazon, eBay, and other platforms without manual work. This lets developers focus on new features instead of data maintenance.

Data Quality Assurance: PIM platforms include validation rules, checks for completeness, and approval steps. This helps make sure product information meets quality standards before it goes live. It also supports BigCommerce’s focus on clean store design and accurate product listings.

Multi Store Management: BigCommerce provides multi storefront support from a single backend, and PIM systems extend that support to product data. Businesses running multiple BigCommerce stores for different regions or brands can manage all product content from one PIM system while still benefiting from BigCommerce’s strong uptime and stability.

Integration Architecture

The typical integration involves:

Data Collection: PIM ingests product data from source systems
Enrichment: Teams add descriptions, images, and specifications
Workflow Management: Approval processes ensure data quality
API Synchronization: PIM pushes data through API integrations
Continuous Updates: Changes sync automatically, leveraging BigCommerce’s robust webhook system

For developers working with the Catalyst framework or headless commerce, PIM integration becomes even more critical. Your custom frontend applications query product data from the e-commerce platform, but that data originates in the PIM system. This architecture ensures consistency whether customers interact through your main site, mobile applications, or specialized business to business portal.

Development Considerations

API Credential Management: Secure handling of credentials enables PIM systems to authenticate and synchronize data using BigCommerce’s extensive API access and SDKs.

Data Mapping: Product attributes in PIM must map correctly to the BigCommerce platform data structure. This includes custom fields, metafields, and variants supporting complex business to business configurations across multiple storefronts.

Variant Handling: Industrial products often have numerous variants. PIM systems manage these complex structures more effectively than native interfaces, then publish the complete variant matrix to your store.

Digital Asset Management: Many PIM platforms include integrated DAM functionality for managing product images and videos, as well as your technical documentation. These assets automatically associate with the correct products, ensuring consistent visual presentation across all of your storefronts.

Bulk Operations: When launching new product lines or updating specifications across hundreds of SKUs, PIM bulk editing capabilities save hundreds of hours compared to manual updates across multiple stores.

Impact on Business Operations

Platform Reliability: BigCommerce is known for its strong uptime and stability, which makes it a dependable choice for ecommerce businesses. As a SaaS platform, it handles infrastructure, security updates, and performance improvements automatically. When PIM is added, this reliability extends to product data management so information stays consistent and available.

Scalability: BigCommerce offers strong scalability for growing companies. PIM integration makes this even better by allowing businesses to grow their product catalogs without increasing data management work at the same pace.

User Friendly Platform: BigCommerce provides a user friendly platform that manages the technical work behind the scenes so users can focus on selling products. PIM integration keeps this ease of use while adding enterprise level data management features.

Competitive Advantage: BigCommerce is a highly recommended ecommerce platform with a wide range of built in tools. Adding PIM creates an even stronger advantage by improving product data quality and keeping information consistent across multiple channels.

Key Takeaways

BigCommerce provides a hybrid approach combining open-source flexibility with SaaS convenience, using standard web languages and API-First Architecture with GraphQL for front-end and REST for back-end operations
Stencil and Catalyst frameworks enable both traditional theme development and modern high-performance headless storefronts, with drag-and-drop tools for business users and extensive customization for developers
Comprehensive API ecosystem includes REST Store Management APIs, GraphQL Storefront API, webhooks, and SDKs; BigCommerce APIs provide access to managing products, orders, customers, carts, and checkouts
Multi-storefront support enables businesses to manage multiple localized storefronts from a single backend, serving 60,000 online stores across 120 countries with high uptime and stability
PIM integration is essential for businesses managing complex product listings across multiple stores… manual management doesn’t scale and significantly impacts customer experience

For businesses using the BigCommerce platform, the flexible design supports both traditional theme development and modern headless builds. However, the real advantage comes from managing product data well. The best PIM for BigCommerce integration turns product information management from a slow and messy process into a strategic strength. It allows companies to launch products faster, create consistent buying experiences, and achieve the operational efficiency needed to compete in business to business e-commerce.

Frequently Asked Questions

What programming language does BigCommerce use for theme development?

BigCommerce theme development uses Handlebars.js to control how pages are built and JavaScript to add interactive features. The main BigCommerce theme engine is called Stencil, and it uses regular web languages instead of special tools. This gives developers more freedom to customize the store.

Stencil also uses YAML Front Matter to decide what data each page should load. This helps pages load faster because they only pull the information they need. Styling is done with Sass or SCSS, which makes it easier to keep the design consistent across the whole store.

Can backend developers use Python or Node.js with BigCommerce?

Yep, backend developers use Python, Node.js, PHP, or Ruby to build custom integrations. The BigCommerce API enables businesses to automate tasks… and to build custom integrations. BigCommerce offers robust API access and SDKs to extend functionality.

Is the BigCommerce platform ready for headless commerce?

BigCommerce offers the Catalyst framework to help developers build fast and modern headless storefronts. React and Next.js are the main tools used in Catalyst to create flexible parts and pages for a store.

The GraphQL Storefront API lets developers build headless storefronts and upgrade Stencil themes. GraphQL is used to request store data from BigCommerce for front end features, which gives developers more power to customize how the store looks and works.

How does the API-First Architecture work in BigCommerce?

The API first setup in BigCommerce uses GraphQL mainly for front end features and REST management APIs for back end data. The REST Store Management APIs let developers automate transactions and update store data through code. BigCommerce APIs give access to many parts of the store, including products, orders, customers, carts, and checkouts.

Do store owners need technical expertise to use BigCommerce?

BigCommerce provides a user friendly platform that manages the technical parts behind the scenes so store owners can focus on selling products. It also allows people to design unique and engaging online stores using drag and drop tools or customizable templates. However, building custom themes requires development skills. Hiring certified BigCommerce developers can make integration and migration easier.

Tagged B2B eCommerce pim