Case Study
Kapiva Checkout
Backend Integration & Automation for Custom BigCommerce Checkout
Project Overview
Kapiva required a custom BigCommerce checkout experience tailored for the Indian market. While the frontend checkout SPA was built by another team member, I developed the backend integration layer and Node-RED automation workflows that powered the checkout's dynamic features.
The backend infrastructure included Node-RED APIs for checkout settings, pincode services, OTP verification, and Google Sheets integration — all connected through AWS API Gateway to the Vue.js checkout SPA and BigCommerce backend.
Engineering Challenges & Solutions
Dynamic Checkout Configuration
Building a system that served dynamic checkout settings — COD charges, store credit caps, online payment discounts, and coupon configurations — without requiring code deploys for every change.
Built a Node-RED backend that served dynamic checkout configuration — COD fees, store credit caps, online payment discounts, and coupon lists — fetched by the checkout SPA on page load.
Pincode-Based Logistics
Creating a reliable pincode-to-city/state lookup service that automatically populated addresses and checked shipping serviceability across thousands of Indian pincodes.
Developed a Node-RED pincode-to-city/state lookup API connected to India Post data, enabling automatic address population and real-time shipping serviceability verification during checkout.
COD Fraud Prevention
Implementing a COD allowance verification system that blocked COD for restricted pincodes while adding OTP verification for high-value orders to reduce fraudulent transactions.
Implemented a two-layer COD protection — pincode-based blocklist for restricted areas plus OTP verification via Firebase Auth for high-value COD orders, triggered through Node-RED workflows.
Multi-Service Integration
Connecting the checkout flow with multiple backend services — BigCommerce API, Node-RED settings, payment gateways, and analytics platforms — without tight coupling.
Used AWS API Gateway to create a unified integration layer that connected the Vue.js checkout SPA with BigCommerce, Node-RED, payment gateways (Juspay, OkCredit), and analytics services.
Real-time Order Tracking
Building real-time order tracking and reporting via Google Sheets API, giving the operations team instant visibility into checkout data without a custom admin panel.
Built a real-time reporting pipeline using Google Sheets API that captured order data, payment status, and customer details for the operations team to monitor without a custom dashboard.
Performance Engineering
API Response Time
Node-RED APIs served checkout configuration in under 200ms through Redis-backed caching of settings and pincode data.
OTP Flow Optimization
Firebase Auth OTP verification completed in under 5 seconds, with parallel API calls reducing the total checkout time impact.
Pincode Lookup Caching
Pincode-to-city/state lookups were cached at the Node-RED level, reducing repeated API calls for returning customers.
Order Confirmation Polling
The order confirmation page polled Juspay and the order API with exponential backoff, reducing server load during payment processing.
Engineering Contributions
Developed Node-RED automation workflows that served dynamic checkout settings — COD charges, store credit caps, online payment discounts, and coupon configurations.
Built a pincode-to-city/state lookup service via Node-RED, enabling automatic address population and shipping serviceability checks during checkout.
Implemented a pincode-based COD allowance verification system that blocked COD for restricted areas, reducing failed deliveries.
Created an OTP send/verify flow via Node-RED and Firebase Auth for COD order confirmation, reducing fraudulent orders.
Integrated Google Sheets API for real-time order tracking and reporting, giving the operations team instant visibility into checkout data.
Connected the checkout flow with multiple backend services — BigCommerce Storefront API, Node-RED settings API, Juspay payment gateway, and OkCredit BNPL.
Configured AWS API Gateway endpoints for Juspay payload generation, COD order creation, and abandoned cart capture.
Business Impact
Dynamic configuration system that enabled the business team to update checkout settings — fees, discounts, coupons — without engineering involvement.
Pincode infrastructure that handled thousands of Indian pincodes for address lookup and shipping serviceability.
COD fraud reduction through pincode-based restrictions and OTP verification for high-value orders.
Automated order tracking pipeline that eliminated manual data entry for the operations team.
Scalable integration architecture connecting BigCommerce, Node-RED, payment gateways, and analytics platforms.
Lessons Learned
Node-RED Is Effective for API Orchestration
Node-RED proved to be an effective low-code platform for building and maintaining the checkout backend — settings APIs, pincode services, OTP flows — without the overhead of a full application framework.
Indian E-commerce Has Unique Requirements
Indian pincode-based logistics, UPI payments, COD dependencies, and regional address formats require infrastructure that standard e-commerce platforms dont provide out of the box.
Decoupled Architecture Enables Flexibility
Keeping the checkout backend as independent Node-RED services decoupled from the Vue.js SPA allowed backend changes without frontend deploys, and vice versa.