Aviation Parts Platform
Shopify platform for aviation equipment parts with two custom apps built from scratch
The client manufactures ground support equipment for aviation. Their parts store serves customers worldwide who need to order specific components for critical equipment. With a catalog of nearly one million records, a conventional Shopify store simply wasn't enough. Everything had to be built from scratch.
The theme was built using Dawn as a base — fully customized for the store's needs, with all the frontend logic to communicate with the two custom apps, authenticated user management, and a navigation experience adapted to an enterprise-scale catalog.
The search app is a fully custom API built with Fastify, connected to the theme via Shopify App Proxy. All communication between the frontend and the app is routed through Shopify's proxy, with user verification and HMAC signature validation on every request — ensuring only authenticated users access the data. A public endpoint was developed for the client to submit their catalog to the app's database, enabling efficient management of nearly one million parts records.
The quotes app completely transformed the store's business model. Instead of a conventional purchase flow, users submit quote requests that go through an internal approval process. Admins have a full embedded panel where they can view all quotes, filter by salesperson, review items in each quote, and adjust prices individually — with automatic discount logic to compensate for changes since Shopify doesn't allow modifying a product's price per order. Admin comments are sent by email to the user with a custom template. Automatic emails are triggered at each stage of the process — submission, approval, and comments. On the user side, app extensions allow tracking quote status, managing items, changing quantities, and removing products.
Both apps are RESTful APIs that communicate with Shopify's Storefront API and Admin API via GraphQL — using the Admin API where the Storefront API has limitations. The search app was built with Fastify, the quotes app with Remix. The theme uses Liquid and Alpine.js for all interaction with the apps.
I built the theme, developed both apps from scratch, alone, in approximately 140 hours. Frontend in the theme, backend in Fastify and Remix, Shopify API integrations, email system with custom templates, and full admin panel.