Abstract The Provider

Abstract The Provider

A hard swap locks you to the new vendor. An agnostic layer with a default lets you swap again without a rewrite. The default means you ship now; the abstraction means you're not stuck.

When to abstract

• The user asks to replace a vendor ("is there an open-source alternative to Shopify?").
• The feature could plausibly need a second provider later (commerce, payments, email, auth, LLM, search).
• You're choosing between a paid and an open-source option and the user prefers optionality.
• The integration is non-trivial — a hard swap would mean a future hard swap too.

Don't abstract when:

• The integration is one function call — abstraction is more code than the call.
• The provider is genuinely irreplaceable (a specific data source only one vendor offers).
• YAGNI is clear — one provider, no realistic second, and the abstraction adds complexity.

The shape

<feature>/provider.ts        # the interface (methods, types)
<feature>/providers/
  medusa.ts                  # default implementation
  shopify.ts                 # the old one, kept or removed
<feature>/config.ts          # picks the provider, default = "medusa"

Rules:

• The interface is the stable surface. Callers depend on the interface, never on a provider.
• A default is chosen, not a wiring puzzle. COMMERCE_PROVIDER=medusa (default) — ship now, no config required.
• Each provider implements the same interface. No provider-specific methods leak into callers.
• The old provider is either kept (for migration) or removed (if fully replaced) — don't leave it half-wired.

Example (commerce)

// commerce/provider.ts
export interface CommerceProvider {
  listProducts(): Promise<Product[]>;
  createCheckout(items: CartItem[]): Promise<CheckoutUrl>;
}

// commerce/providers/medusa.ts  (default)
export const medusa: CommerceProvider = { /* ... */ };

// commerce/config.ts
const name = process.env.COMMERCE_PROVIDER ?? "medusa";
export const commerce = providers[name];

Callers import commerce from config.ts — they never import medusa directly.

Why this beats a hard swap

• Ship now, swap later. The default gets you working today; a future swap is a new provider file + a config flip, not a rewrite.
• Open-source by default, paid as escape hatch. You can default to Medusa and add Shopify later if a paid feature is needed.
• Test surface is the interface. Mock the interface in tests; don't mock each provider.
• The "swap" decision is reversible. A hard swap is a one-way door; an abstraction is a two-way door.

Anti-patterns

• Hard swap "to keep it simple". Simpler now; the next swap is a full rewrite.
• Provider methods leak into callers. if (provider === "medusa") ... in a page — the abstraction is broken.
• No default. Forces config to ship; the default is what makes it shippable today.
• Abstracting a one-call integration. An interface for getUnixTime() is more code than the call.
• Keeping the old provider half-wired. Pick: migrate-then-remove, or keep-both-supported. Don't leave it dangling.

Pair with

• dependency-hygiene — the new provider's pins should be an opt-in extra if it's heavy.
• match-conventions — mirror the existing provider's interface shape if one already exists.
• validate-gate — the interface is the test surface; mock it, don't mock the provider.

Include the go-live handoff for the default provider

After the abstraction lands, the default provider still has to be stood up. Hand off the provider-specific go-live steps so the user can take it to production without re-discovering them:

"For Medusa go-live you'll need to: stand up a Medusa backend (npx create-medusa-app@latest), create …"

The abstraction is the wiring; the go-live is the runtime. The handoff closes the loop — without it, the user has a clean interface and no running provider. This belongs in the readiness-report's "next steps" or a follow-up message, not buried in a commit message.