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Orders Architecture Overview

In this document, you’ll learn about the orders architecture, how they’re created, and their relation to other entities.

Overview​

Orders are placed by customers who purchase items from your store. They involve intricate commerce operations related to inventory, fulfillment, payment, and more.

Medusa supports order features such as order editing, creating swaps for orders, returning orders, and more. These features allow merchants to handle and automate Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) flows.

Note

As the Order domain is large in features and details, some features such as Returns or Swaps will not be discussed within this documentation page. Instead, they’ll be discussed in their own documentation pages.

Order Entity Overview​

Some of the attributes of the Order entity include:

  • fulfillment_status: a string indicating the status of the order’s fulfillment. Its possible values can determine whether all items have been fulfilled, shipped, or returned.
  • payment_status: a string indicating the status of the order’s payment. Its possible values can determine whether the payment of the order has been captured or refunded.
  • status: a string indicating the overall status of the order. Its values can be:
    • pending: this is the default status of the order after it has been created.
    • completed: the order is marked as completed. A merchant typically marks the order as completed after the order has been fulfilled and paid.
    • archived: the order is archived. This status can only be attained after the order has been completed or refunded.
    • canceled: the order has been canceled. An order can’t be canceled if it has been refunded or if any of its relations, such as fulfillment or swaps, are not canceled.
  • display_id: a string indicating an incremental ID that can be displayed to the customer or internally to merchants.
  • canceled_at: a date indicating when the order was canceled.
  • no_notification: a boolean value indicating whether the customer should receive notifications when the order is updated.
  • external_id: a string indicating an ID of the order in an external system. This can be useful if you’re migrating your orders from another commerce system or you’re linking your order to a third-party service.

There are other important attributes discussed in later sections. Check out the full Order entity in the entities reference.

How are Orders Created​

You have full freedom in how you create your orders. Within the Medusa backend, there are two defined ways when an order is created:

  1. Using a cart: The customer adds products to their cart and go through the checkout process to place the order. Learn about the cart completion process here.
  2. Using draft orders: the merchant can create draft orders without the customer’s involvement. This includes a very similar process of adding products to the draft order, supplying the shipping and billing addresses, and more. The draft order can later be turned into a regular order.

Payments in Orders​

In the cart completion process, or when you use the OrderService's method createFromCart, the cart’s payment is also associated with the order by setting the order_id of the payment to the newly created order’s ID.

An order can have more than one payment. You can access the order’s payments by expanding the payments relation and accessing order.payments.

By default, the payment will be authorized but not captured. Some payment processor plugins, such as the Stripe plugin, allow changing this behavior to automatically capture the payment. You can also do that within your custom payment processor.

In the default scenario, the merchant would have to capture that payment manually, which would change the payment_status of the order. The payment can be captured using the PaymentService's capture method.

After a payment has been captured, it can be refunded either fully or a specific amount of it. This is useful if items of an order has been returned or swapped, or if an order has been edited. The payment can be refunded using the PaymentService's refund method.

The Medusa backend also provides payment admin APIs that you can use to retrieve, capture, and refund the payment.

Fulfillments in Orders​

After an order is placed, you can create fulfillments for the items in the order. You can fulfill all items or some items. A fulfillment is represented by the Fulfillment entity, and it’s associated with the order through the order_id attribute of the fulfillment.

Creating fulfillments changes the fulfillment_status of the order. If all items were fulfilled, the status changes to fulfilled. If only some items are fulfilled, the status changes to partially_fulfilled.

You can access an order’s fulfillments by expanding the fulfillments relation and accessing order.fulfillments.

After a fulfillment is created, you can mark it as shipped. This would change the fulfillment_status of the order to shipped if all items were shipped, or partially_shipped if only some items were shipped.

A fulfillment can instead be canceled, changing the fulfillment_status to canceled.

If one or some items in an order are returned, the fulfillment_status is set to partially_returned. If all items were returned, the fulfillment_status is set to returned.

The Medusa backend provides these functionalities through the admin APIs. You can also use the OrderService's methods to perform these functionalities in a custom flow, such as the createFulfillment or createShipment methods.

Order Totals Calculations​

By default, the Order entity doesn’t hold any details regarding the totals. These are computed and added to the order instance using the OrderService's decorateTotals method. There's also a dedicated method in the OrderService, retrieveWithTotals, attaching the totals to the order instance automatically. It is recommended to use this method by default when you need to retrieve the order.

The order’s totals are calculated based on the content and context of the order. This includes the order’s region, whether tax-inclusive pricing is enabled, the chosen shipping methods, and more.

The calculated order’s totals include:

  • shipping_total: The total of the chosen shipping methods, with taxes.
  • discount_total: The total of the applied discounts.
  • raw_discount_total: The total of the applied discounts without rounding.
  • item_tax_total: The total applied taxes on the order’s items.
  • gift_card_total: The total gift card amount applied on the order. If there are any taxes applied on the gift cards, they’re deducted from the total.
  • gift_card_tax_total: The total taxes applied on the order’s gift cards.
  • tax_total: The total taxes applied (the sum of shipping_tax_total, item_tax_total, and gift_card_tax_total).
  • subtotal: The total of the items without taxes or discounts.
  • refunded_total: the total amount refunded to the customer, if any.
  • paid_total: the total amount paid by the customer.
  • refundable_amount: the amount that can be refunded to the customer. This would be the subtraction of refunded_total from paid_total.
  • total: The overall total of the order.
Note

If you have tax-inclusive pricing enabled, you can learn about other available total fields here.

The order’s totals are retrieved by default in all the order’s store and admin APIs.

Order Edits​

After an order has been placed, it can be edited to add, remove, or change ordered items.

Tip

Order Edits don't cover edits to other details in the order, such as the shipping address, as these can be done by the admin at any point. This is only focused on the line items in the cart.

Typically, a merchant would edit the order and send the edit request to the customer with the changes being made. Any additional payments required can be made when the customer accepts the order edit.

A merchant may also choose to force the edit on the order, by-passing the customer’s confirmation.

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Although this process is implemented in this flow within the Medusa backend, there is no requirement for you to actually follow it. For example, you can allow the customer or a third-party service to create and manage the order edit.

The Medusa backend provides the order edit admin APIs, but you can also use the OrderEditService to perform the same functionalities in a custom flow.

Order edits are represented by the OrderEdit entity. This entity is linked to the order through the order_id attribute. You can access an order’s edits by expanding the edits relation and accessing order.edits. Notice that an order can have multiple edits during its lifecycle, but it can’t have more than one ongoing edit.

Some of the OrderEdit's other attributes include:

  • internal_note: a string that can hold a note to be visible only internally.
  • created_by: a string that typically should hold the ID of who created the order edit. For example, if the merchant created the order edit, it should hold the ID of a User. There are no restrictions on what this attribute can hold, so you can also add here third-party IDs or names if necessary.
  • requested_by: a string that typically should hold the ID of who requested the order edit. Similar to the created_by attribute, there are no restrictions on what value this attribute can actually hold.
  • confirmed_by: a string that typically should hold the ID of who confirmed the order edit. Similar to the created_by attribute, there are no restrictions on what value this attribute can actually hold.
  • declined_by: a string that typically should hold the ID of who declined the order edit. Similar to the created_by attribute, there are no restrictions on what value this attribute can actually hold.

There are other attributes explained in other sections. You can also check out the full OrderEdit entity in the entities reference.

Item Changes​

Changes to the items in the orders are stored in the OrderItemChange entity. Some of this entity’s attributes include:

  • order_edit_id: The ID of the order edit this item change is linked to. The order edit can also be accessed by expanding the order_edit relation and accessing itemChange.order_edit.
  • type: a string indicating the type of change being made. Its value can be:
    • item_add meaning that a new item is being added to the order.
    • item_remove meaning that an item in the order is being removed.
    • item_update meaning that an item in the order is being updated. For example, its quantity is being changed.
  • original_line_item_id: The ID of the line item that this item change is targeting. This would be the item that should be deleted or updated. If a new item is being added, then this attribute will be null. The line item can also be accessed by expanding the original_line_item relation and accessing itemChange.original_line_item.
  • line_item_id: the ID of the new line item to replace the original one. This line item would hold the changes that should be applied on the original line item. The line item can also be accessed by expanding the line_item relation and accessing itemChange.line_item.

When the order edit is confirmed, the original line items are no longer linked to the order. On the other hand, the new line items are linked to the new order. The items’ history is preserved through the order edits. So, you can access the previous state of an order and its items by accessing order.edits.

PaymentCollection​

If the order edit requires additional payments from the customer, they are stored in a payment collection. A payment collection allows bundling more than one payment related to a single entity or flow. It is represented by the PaymentCollection entity, which has the following relations:

  • payment_sessions: the payment sessions that are linked to the payment collection. Payment sessions are linked to a payment provider and are used to hold the status of a payment in a flow, such as the checkout flow.
  • payments: the payments that are linked to the payment collection. Payments are authorized amounts by the customer that can later be processed. For example, you can capture or refund a payment.

For order edits, you can authorize the entire payment collection that holds additional required payments when the customer confirms the order edit.

Automating RMA Flows​

Medusa provides the necessary infrastructure and tooling that allows automating RMA flows. Entities involved in the RMA flows can include:

  • Returns: Return an item from the customer to the merchant.
  • Swap: Swap an item with another. This involves returning the original item from the customer and shipping a new item to the customer.
  • Claim: Allow a customer to refund or replace an item in their order if it’s faulty or for other reasons.

The Medusa backend facilitates automating these flows by allowing the customer to submit a return or swap requests through the store APIs. The merchant can then review and handle these requests. This eliminates the need for the customer to perform the same action through customer support or other means.

You can also integrate these flows within bigger processes that trigger requesting or creating these flows. It can be done through core APIs, custom API Routes, or custom services. You can also listen to events related to orders such as Order or Swap events with subscribers to perform asynchronous actions.

Relations to Other Entities​

This section includes relations that weren’t mentioned in other sections.

Cart​

An order can be associated with a cart, which is the cart it is created from. A cart is represented by the Cart entity.

You can access the cart’s ID using the cart_id attribute. You can also access the cart by expanding the cart relation and accessing order.cart.

LineItem​

An order has items, which are represented by the LineItem entity. These are typically the same line items created in the cart, with the order_id attribute of the line item set to the ID of the order.

You can access an order’s items by expanding the items relation and accessing order.items.

Customer​

An order is associated with the customer that placed the order. A customer is represented by the Customer entity.

You can access the customer’s ID using the customer_id attribute. You can also access the customer by expanding the customer relation and accessing order.customer.

SalesChannel​

An order can belong to a sales channel. This typically would be the sales channel of the cart the order was created from. A sales channel is represented by the SalesChannel entity.

The sales channel’s ID is stored in the sales_channel_id attribute of the order. You can also access the sales channel by expanding the sales_channel relation and accessing order.sales_channel.

Region​

An order belongs to a region. Typically, this would be the region of the cart the order is created from. A region is represented by the Region entity.

You can access the region’s ID using the region_id attribute. You can also access the region by expanding the region relation and accessing order.region.

Currency​

An order is associated to a currency. Typically, this would be the currency of the region the order belongs to. A currency is represented by the Currency entity.

You can access the currency code using the currency_code attribute. You can also access the currency by expanding the currency relation and accessing order.currency.

Billing Address​

An order can have a billing address, which is represented by the Address entity.

You can access the billing address’s ID using the billing_address_id attribute. You can also access the billing address by expanding the billing_address relation and accessing order.billing_address.

Shipping Address​

An order can have a shipping address, which is represented by the Address entity.

You can access the shipping address’s ID using the shipping_address_id attribute. You can also access the shipping address by expanding the shipping_address relation and accessing order.shipping_address.

Discount​

Discounts can be applied on an order. Typically, these would be the discounts that were applied on the cart associated with the order. A discount is represented by the Discount entity.

You can access the order’s discounts by expanding the discounts relation and accessing order.discounts.

GiftCard​

Gift cards can be applied on an order. Typically, these would be the gift cards that were applied on the cart associated with the order. A gift card is represented by the GiftCard entity.

You can access the order’s gift cards by expanding the gift_cards relation and accessing order.gift_cards.

GiftCardTransaction​

A gift card transaction is created when a gift card is used on the cart. It is used to deduct an amount from the original balance of the gift card after the order is placed, and to keep track of the history of a gift card’s transactions. It’s represented by the GiftCardTransaction entity and it’s associated with the order’s ID using the order_id attribute on the entity.

You can access an order’s gift card transactions by expanding the gift_card_transactions relation and accessing order.gift_card_transactions.

ShippingMethod​

An order is associated with shipping methods. Typically, these would be the shipping methods chosen during checkout. An order can have more than one shipping method. A shipping method is represented by the ShippingMethod entity.

You can access the order’s shipping method by expanding the shipping_methods relation and accessing order.shipping_methods.

Returns​

An order can be associated with more than one return. For example, a customer may request to return items separately or gradually. A return is represented by the Return entity.

You can access the order’s returns by expanding the returns relation and accessing order.returns.

ClaimOrder​

An order can be associated with more than one claim. A claim is represented by the ClaimOrder entity.

You can access the order’s claims by expanding the claims relation and accessing order.claims.

Refund​

An order can be associated with more than one refund. A refund is represented by the Refund entity.

You can access the order’s refunds by expanding the refunds relation and accessing order.refunds.

Swap​

An order can be associated with more than one swap. A swap is represented by the Swap entity.

You can access the order’s swaps by expanding the swap relation and accessing order.swap.

DraftOrder​

An order can be associated with a draft order. This would be the draft order that the order was created from.

The draft order’s ID is stored in the draft_order_id attribute. You can also access the draft order by expanding the draft_order relation and accessing order.draft_order.

See Also​

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