OpenCart

OpenCart is an open-source, self-hosted ecommerce platform designed for online merchants. It provides a foundation for building and managing online stores, handling the core requirements of digital commerce through a web-based interface. The software allows merchants to establish a professional presence for selling goods and services online while maintaining full control over their hosting environment.

The software is deployed on a server and is built using PHP, HTML5, and JavaScript. It supports a variety of deployment methods, including a comprehensive Docker-based environment for local development that utilizes Apache and MariaDB. Merchants use the platform to organize product catalogs, manage customer orders, and oversee the general operations of a digital storefront.

Key features

• Support for multiple PHP versions including PHP 8.4
• Docker-based local development environment with Docker Compose
• Integration options for Redis and Memcached caching
• Support for MariaDB and PostgreSQL databases
• Adminer integration for database management
• Modular architecture for payment gateways and shipping modules
• Structured versioning system for core and feature updates
• Automated coding standards via PHPStan and php-cs-fixer

The application follows a specific versioning scheme divided into major, minor, feature, and patch releases to manage compatibility with third party modules. This granular system ensures that merchants can identify which updates are safe to apply and which may require testing of external extensions. It is intended for developers and merchants who require a PHP-based framework to customize their store's functionality and appearance.

For local development, the project provides a make-based workflow to initialize, build, and start services. This environment is optimized for Linux and macOS, with specific recommendations for Windows users to utilize the WSL 2 backend to ensure acceptable file system performance. The architecture allows for the optional activation of services like Redis or PostgreSQL through Docker Compose profiles, depending on the specific needs of the store's infrastructure.

OpenCart is a full-stack ecommerce framework for merchants who prefer a self-hosted solution.