Interspire Cart Upgrade

This project brought a classic Interspire Shopping Cart codebase back into active use with modern integration points, safer secret handling patterns, Composer-managed SDKs, API token tooling, CJ Dropshipping catalogue workflows and a clearer production hardening path.

Challenge

The original store was a legacy PHP ecommerce system with older front controllers, bundled libraries and long-lived operational code. The goal was to keep the cart usable while adding modern API, supplier and deployment capabilities without replacing the whole platform in one risky rebuild.

Modernisation Work

The upgrade added Composer-managed services for payment, Google, Facebook, TikTok and mail integrations, plus Node-based tooling for Tailwind CSS builds, CSS coverage, PurgeCSS, asset minification, image optimisation and Puppeteer-driven checks.

REST API Layer

A JSON API now runs alongside the legacy XML API. It uses bearer tokens, hashed token storage, scoped access and endpoints for health checks, profile data, products, categories and orders, with CLI scripts for creating, listing and revoking API tokens.

CJ Dropshipping Bridge

The CJ bridge adds catalogue search, product variants, stock tools, tracking sync, order pipeline support, webhook handling and admin-side workflows for supplier catalogue browsing and fulfilment operations.

Hardening Review

The project includes secret helper patterns, web-root blocking rules, security headers and deployment notes. The audit also identified follow-up production work: remove direct credentials from legacy config, move backups outside the document root, lock down tooling directories and finish legacy PHP compatibility cleanup.

Outcome

The cart is no longer just an old storefront. It has a practical route into modern ecommerce operations: API access, supplier automation, external service integrations, build tooling and a focused hardening checklist for safer production use.