Commercetools Troubleshooting Overview | Blue Frog Docs

Commercetools Troubleshooting Overview

Common issues and debugging strategies for Commercetools performance and tracking problems

Commercetools Troubleshooting Overview

Commercetools-specific troubleshooting for performance issues, tracking problems, and integration challenges. As a headless platform, most issues occur in your frontend implementation or API integration layer.

Common Commercetools Issues

Performance Problems

Performance in Commercetools storefronts depends heavily on your frontend implementation and API usage:

See:

Tracking and Analytics Issues

Headless architecture creates unique tracking challenges:

  • Events not firing - React hydration issues, async data loading, JavaScript errors
  • Missing e-commerce data - API response timing, data formatting issues
  • Duplicate tracking - SPA navigation, component re-renders
  • Server-side tracking failures - Subscription errors, webhook issues

See:

Debugging Tools

Browser Developer Tools

Essential for diagnosing client-side issues:

Console (JavaScript Errors):

// Check tracking libraries are loaded
console.log(window.gtag);       // GA4
console.log(window.dataLayer);  // GTM data layer
console.log(window.fbq);        // Meta Pixel

// Check Commercetools SDK
console.log(window.commercetools); // If exposed globally

Network Tab:

  • Filter by commercetools.com to see API calls
  • Check response times for slow endpoints
  • Verify tracking hits reach analytics servers

Performance Tab:

  • Record page load
  • Identify slow API calls blocking render
  • Check JavaScript execution time

Commercetools-Specific Debugging

Merchant Center:

  • API Playground for testing queries
  • Logs for subscription/webhook debugging
  • Product data verification

API Logging:

// Enable detailed SDK logging
import { createApiBuilderFromCtpClient } from '@commercetools/platform-sdk';

const ctpClient = new ClientBuilder()
  .withLoggerMiddleware({
    logLevel: 'debug',
    logger: console,
  })
  .build();

Common Issues

API Response Delays

Symptoms:

  • Slow page loads
  • Tracking fires with incomplete data
  • Loading states persist too long

Diagnosis:

// Measure API response times
const start = performance.now();
const response = await apiRoot.products().get().execute();
console.log(`API call took ${performance.now() - start}ms`);

Solutions:

  1. Implement response caching
  2. Use GraphQL to reduce payload size
  3. Optimize queries (projections, pagination)
  4. Pre-fetch data during SSR/SSG

Data Layer Timing Issues

Symptoms:

  • E-commerce events fire before data is available
  • Empty or undefined values in tracking
  • Missing product information

Diagnosis:

// Check data availability before tracking
console.log('Product data:', product);
console.log('Data layer:', window.dataLayer);

Solution:

// Wait for data before tracking
useEffect(() => {
  if (product?.id && product?.masterData?.current) {
    trackViewItem(product);
  }
}, [product]);

Subscription/Webhook Failures

Symptoms:

  • Server-side events not firing
  • Missing purchase tracking in GA4/Meta
  • Inconsistent conversion data

Diagnosis:

  • Check Merchant Center → Develop → Subscriptions
  • View CloudWatch/Stackdriver logs
  • Test webhook endpoints directly

Common Causes:

  1. Invalid subscription destination
  2. Message parsing errors
  3. Authentication failures
  4. Timeout issues

Testing Strategies

Local Development

Set up a local environment that mimics production:

# Use Commercetools staging project
export CTP_PROJECT_KEY=your-staging-project
export CTP_CLIENT_ID=staging-client-id
export CTP_CLIENT_SECRET=staging-secret

Staging Environment

Always test tracking in staging before production:

  • Use separate GA4/GTM/Meta containers for staging
  • Verify all e-commerce events fire correctly
  • Test full purchase flow end-to-end

Validation Checklist

Before deploying tracking changes:

  1. Product List Pages

    • view_item_list fires with correct items
    • Items have required fields (id, name, price)

  2. Product Detail Pages

    • view_item fires on load
    • Data matches Commercetools product

  3. Cart Actions

    • add_to_cart fires with correct quantity
    • remove_from_cart fires when items removed
    • view_cart fires on cart page

  4. Checkout Flow

    • begin_checkout fires at checkout start
    • add_shipping_info fires after shipping selected
    • add_payment_info fires after payment entered

  5. Purchase

    • purchase fires once only
    • Transaction ID is unique
    • Revenue matches order total

Performance Optimization

API Call Optimization

Reduce API calls and response sizes:

// Use projections to limit fields
const product = await apiRoot
  .productProjections()
  .withId({ ID: productId })
  .get({
    queryArgs: {
      expand: ['categories[*]'],
      // Only request needed fields via projection
    }
  })
  .execute();

// Batch requests where possible
const [products, categories] = await Promise.all([
  fetchProducts(),
  fetchCategories()
]);

Caching Strategies

Implement caching at multiple levels:

// In-memory cache for repeated requests
const cache = new Map();

async function getCachedProduct(id: string) {
  if (cache.has(id)) {
    return cache.get(id);
  }

  const product = await fetchProduct(id);
  cache.set(id, product);
  return product;
}

// HTTP caching headers
export async function generateStaticParams() {
  // Pre-render product pages at build time
  const products = await fetchAllProducts();
  return products.map(p => ({ id: p.id }));
}

SSR/SSG Optimization

Use server-side rendering for critical data:

// Next.js App Router - Server Component
async function ProductPage({ params }: { params: { id: string } }) {
  const product = await fetchProduct(params.id);

  return (
    <>
      <ProductDisplay product={product} />
      <ProductTracking product={product} />
    </>
  );
}

Getting Help

Commercetools Resources

Framework-Specific Support

Next Steps

Dive into specific troubleshooting areas:

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