n-SCAPI vs OCAPI: Salesforce Commerce Cloud's APIs, Explained
SCAPI (Salesforce Commerce API) is Commerce Cloud's current REST API, authenticated through OAuth 2.0 via Salesforce's Account Manager and built for headless, composable storefronts. OCAPI (Open Commerce API) is the older REST API most existing Commerce Cloud integrations were originally built on, dating back to the platform's Demandware roots. OCAPI still works, but Salesforce has been steering new integration work toward SCAPI, so knowing which one you're actually building against matters.
The basics, in plain terms
SCAPI splits into Shopper APIs and Admin APIs. Shopper APIs handle customer-facing actions, browsing, cart, checkout, without needing business manager credentials, which is what a headless storefront like PWA Kit actually calls. Admin APIs handle business-manager-side operations and need proper OAuth client credentials.
OCAPI splits similarly, into Shop API and Data API. Shop API covers the storefront side, Data API covers administrative operations, the same basic split SCAPI inherited, just under the older naming and an older authentication model.
Authentication runs through Account Manager. You register an API client in Salesforce Account Manager, get a client ID and secret, and request scoped OAuth tokens from there rather than managing credentials inside Business Manager directly.
Rate limits and SLAs apply to both. Every API call counts against limits tied to your org and client, which matters for any integration pulling high volumes of order or catalog data on a schedule rather than in response to real events.
Where the API runs out of road
Some Business Manager configuration, certain merchandising rules, specific promotion setups, and anything still running on an older implementation's custom pipeline code, has no clean equivalent in either SCAPI or OCAPI. If a workflow needs one of those actions automated and there's no endpoint for it, the API genuinely can't help.
At that point the fix isn't waiting for Salesforce to expose a new endpoint. It's automating the action directly through Business Manager's own interface with headless-browser automation, the same way a person would click through it, and feeding the result back into whatever system is waiting on it.
What we've built on top of Commerce Cloud's API
Order and inventory sync that runs on the current API
Orders and stock levels move between Commerce Cloud and your ERP or accounting system through SCAPI, built against the current API rather than the legacy one most older integrations still run on.
Automation for the Business Manager actions with no API at all
When a task lives entirely inside Business Manager's interface with no SCAPI or OCAPI endpoint behind it, we build headless-browser automation that performs the action directly, then reports the result back out to whatever's waiting on it.
Still running integrations against OCAPI, or not sure which API you’re on?
Tell us what you're trying to connect or automate. We'll tell you whether it's a straightforward SCAPI build, a migration worth doing, or one of the gaps that needs Business Manager automated directly.
Not sure if your Commerce Cloud integration is running on SCAPI or an aging OCAPI setup?
That distinction matters more the longer an integration's been running, since OCAPI isn't where Salesforce is investing going forward. Tell us what's connected today and what it's missing, and we'll look at what's realistic to move or build fresh. Commerce Cloud's API is one example of this; we connect whatever systems your business actually runs, current API or legacy one.
Let's talk