Executive Summary

eq-marketplace-service is the Equinox platform's integration marketplace — a central place to register, approve, configure, and manage every app (connector) that extends commerce capabilities such as payments, shipping, tax, notifications, and catalog services.

Instead of hard-coding third-party integrations into each part of the platform, the Marketplace provides a single catalogue and control plane. Platform administrators decide which apps are available, which businesses and stores may use them, and how they are configured — with full auditability and lifecycle governance.

The Marketplace does not process customer transactions itself. It ensures the right integration is authorized, configured, and active for each tenant when commerce workflows need it.

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The Business Problem

Modern commerce platforms depend on many integrations — payment gateways, carriers, tax engines, notification providers, identity systems, and more. Without a central marketplace:

Challenge	Impact
Integrations scattered across teams and services	Duplicated effort, inconsistent configuration, higher cost
No standard approval process	Unvetted apps can reach production; compliance risk increases
One-size-fits-all configuration	Cannot tailor integrations per brand, business unit, or store
Difficult change management	Swapping a payment or shipping provider requires code changes and long release cycles
Weak audit trail	Hard to answer who enabled what, when, and with which settings

The Marketplace addresses these challenges by treating integrations as managed apps with a defined lifecycle, tenant-scoped enablement, and organization-level controls.

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What Is eq-marketplace-service?

Think of it as the "app store" inside Equinox — but for enterprise operators, not end shoppers.

Aspect	Description
Role	Central registry and configuration hub for all platform integrations
Scope	Apps that extend commerce capabilities (payment, shipping, tax, catalog, notifications, identity, etc.)
Tenancy	Supports per-business and per-store enablement and configuration
Governance	Approval workflows, versioning, health monitoring, and audit history
Audience	Platform leadership, operations, integration partners, and compliance teams

An app (also called a connector) is a packaged integration — for example, a CyberSource payment connector, a Shippo shipping connector, or an in-house catalog connector. Each app declares what it does (its capability), how it is deployed, and what settings each tenant needs.

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How It Works — Organization View

At the organization level, the flow is straightforward:

1. Register — A provider (in-house team or partner) submits an app to the catalogue with its capability, interfaces, and configuration requirements.
2. Approve — Platform administrators review and move the app through a controlled lifecycle (draft → pending → approved).
3. Configure — Tenant-specific settings are applied at business and store levels (API keys, provider choice, routing rules, notification templates, etc.).
4. Enable — The app is activated for the right business and store, optionally as the default for a capability (e.g. default payment app).
5. Operate — The platform uses the active app configuration when commerce workflows require that capability. Changes, rollbacks, and deprecation are managed through the same marketplace controls.

This model lets the organization add or change integrations without redeploying the entire platform — configuration and enablement drive behavior.

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App Lifecycle

Every app moves through defined states that protect production quality:

State	Meaning
Draft	App is being defined; not visible for enablement
Pending	Submitted for review
Approved	Cleared for enablement on businesses and stores
Deprecated	Still active but scheduled for retirement; migrations should begin
Archived	Retired; no longer available for new enablements
Rejected / Deleted	Not approved or removed from the catalogue

Additional controls support versioning, rollback, and canary rollout so new app versions can be introduced safely with the ability to revert quickly if issues arise.

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Multi-Tenant Model

The Marketplace is built for multi-brand, multi-store commerce:

Organization
└── Business (tenant / brand)
    └── Store (site / channel)
        └── Enabled apps + tenant-specific configuration

Level	What is controlled
Business	Which apps are permitted for the business; business-wide defaults
Store	Which apps are active for a specific store; store-level settings (e.g. payment provider, notification rules)
Configuration layers	Settings can be layered — global app defaults, business overrides, store overrides — so one app serves many tenants with different needs

This structure supports scenarios such as:

• Brand A uses Payment Provider X; Brand B uses Payment Provider Y
• All stores share a catalog connector, but each store configures its own price list and channel settings
• A new integration is piloted on one store before a wider rollout

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Business Value

Capability	Business outcome
Central app registry	One authoritative catalogue — no duplicated or drifting integration metadata
Approval workflow	Only vetted apps reach production; changes are gated and reviewed
Per-business / per-store enablement	Each merchant or brand runs exactly the integrations it needs
Layered configuration	Same connector reused everywhere, tuned per tenant without forking the app
Versioning, rollback, and canary	Safe rollout of new integrations; fast recovery from issues
Payment provider configuration	Merchants configure gateways with primary/secondary failover and weighted routing
Notification configuration	Control which events trigger email, SMS, or push — per store
Health checks	Early detection of failing external integrations
Self-registration (controlled)	Partners can register apps through governed, machine-to-machine flows
Audit history and snapshots	Compliance-ready record of who changed what, when, and what config looked like at any point

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Who Uses It

Persona	Role
Platform / marketplace administrator	Approves apps, manages the catalogue, enables integrations per business and store
App provider / integration partner	Registers and versions apps; maintains app metadata and supported capabilities
Merchant / store operator	Configures payment, notification, and other store-level integration settings via the admin portal
Operations / support	Monitors app health, manages rollouts, troubleshoots enablement and configuration
Compliance / audit	Reviews change history, enablement records, and point-in-time configuration snapshots

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Capability Areas

The Marketplace organizes apps by the commerce capability they provide:

Capability	What the organization gets
Payment	Tokenize, authorize, capture, refund — with multi-provider routing
Shipping	Rates, labels, tracking
Tax	Tax calculation for checkout and orders
Catalog / Pricing	Product and price enrichment
Inventory	Stock availability checks
Order	Order creation and fulfillment handoff
Notification	Email, SMS, and push for user, order, and account events
User Profile	Saved payment profiles and customer context
Address	Address validation and formatting
Identity (IAM)	User pool and authentication integration
Foundation / Account	Cross-service account and foundation data

Each capability can have one default app per store (e.g. default payment app), while the catalogue may list multiple approved alternatives.

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Platform App Catalog

The platform ships a set of pre-approved in-house connectors ready for tenant enablement:

App	Capability	Scope
Equinox IAM Cognito Connector	Identity (IAM)	User authentication
Equinox User Profile Connector	User Profile	Saved cards and profile lookup
Equinox Notification Connector	Notification	Cross-channel messaging
Equinox Catalog Connector	Catalog, Pricing	Product and price data
Equinox Inventory Connector	Inventory	Stock availability
Equinox Order Connector	Order	Order submission
Equinox Payment Connector	Payment	Payment processing
Equinox Tax Connector	Tax	Tax calculation
Equinox Address Connector	Address	Address services
Equinox Shipping Connector	Shipping	Shipping rates and labels
Equinox Account Foundation Connector	Foundation	Account–foundation integration
Equinox Account User Connector	User	Account–user integration

Third-party and partner apps can be added to the same catalogue through the standard registration and approval process.

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Governance and Compliance

The Marketplace is designed for enterprise governance:

Control	Benefit
Approval workflow	No app reaches tenants without explicit approval
Lifecycle states	Clear path from draft to production to retirement
Encrypted secrets	Sensitive credentials (e.g. payment API keys) stored securely
Change audit trail	Full history of app, enablement, and configuration changes
Point-in-time snapshots	Reconstruct what configuration looked like at any moment
Health monitoring	Visibility into integration availability (healthy / degraded / unhealthy)
Webhook and event delivery logs	Traceability for outbound notifications

These controls support internal policy, partner onboarding, and regulatory questions about who authorized which integration and when.

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Core Capabilities

#	Capability	What it means for the organization
1	App registry	Single catalogue of all integrations with metadata, versions, and ownership
2	Approval workflow	Governed path from submission to production
3	Quick create & validation	Streamlined onboarding with deployment checks before approval
4	Interface definitions	Standard contracts so apps declare what they support consistently
5	Business-level enablement	Control which apps a business is allowed to use
6	Store-level enablement	Activate apps per store; set defaults; rollback or drain gracefully
7	Layered configuration	Tenant-specific settings without duplicating apps
8	Payment configuration	Multi-provider setup, failover, and encrypted credentials
9	Notification configuration	Event-to-channel mapping per store
10	Webhooks	Notify external systems when app or config changes occur
11	Mock responses	Test integrations before go-live
12	Routing, hooks, and canary	Controlled traffic shifting for safer rollouts
13	Self-registration & API keys	Partner apps register through governed machine credentials
14	Health checks	Proactive monitoring of integration health
15	Eventing	Platform-wide notifications when apps or configs change
16	Centralized app selection	One place to register, configure, and activate apps for the entire platform

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Revision History

Date	Author	Change
2026-08-12	Platform Engineering	Created executive overview for organization and leadership audience