I’m excited to share something I’ve been working on: BigCommerce Toolkit, a command-line interface (CLI) for working with the BigCommerce API. It’s built for developers and store managers who prefer the command line — especially those who appreciate tools that feel Unix-native: composable, scriptable, and transparent.
Why I Built It
Anyone who’s tried to work directly with the BigCommerce API knows that curl and ad-hoc scripts can get messy fast. I wanted something that made those interactions feel natural — a tool that let me think in terms of resources and actions rather than endpoints and payloads.
BigCommerce Toolkit was built to fill that gap. It’s designed to make common API tasks simple, secure, and automatable right from your terminal.
What It Does
BigCommerce Toolkit gives you:
- A Unix-like command structure (pipe in data, chain commands, combine with
jq, etc.) - Direct access to API parameters as command-line arguments
- Secure credential storage through environment variables
- Broad API coverage, with easy ways to extend it for new endpoints
In short: it’s the missing bridge between curl and a full SDK.
How It Helps
With this CLI, you can script and automate BigCommerce tasks that used to require custom scripts or manual dashboard work:
- Fetch and format product data in seconds
- Perform bulk updates without opening a spreadsheet
- Export JSON or CSV data for reporting
- Automate order retrieval and content management tasks
I’ve used this tool to script data workflows for multiple clients—automating page and category creation, sync product data from CSV files, and streamline eCommerce operations. It’s saved hours of manual work and made the processes far less error-prone.
Designed for Integration
Because it follows Unix principles, BigCommerce Toolkit plays nicely with other tools. Want to parse JSON output? Pipe it through jq. Need a CSV view? Use csvlook. It’s all about combining small, powerful tools in flexible ways.
Installation is simple: it’s available on PyPI, so just run:
pip install bigcommerce-toolkit
Open Source and Extensible
BigCommerce Toolkit is open source and available on GitHub. If you’d like to contribute, extend it with new endpoints, or adapt it for your own workflows, I’d love to collaborate.
Final Thoughts
BigCommerce Toolkit is my attempt to bring a bit of Unix philosophy into eCommerce development — tools that do one thing well, and can be combined to do anything.
If you work with BigCommerce, give it a try and let me know what you think. I’m always open to feedback and ideas for how to make it even better.