Case Study
Wooden Street Website & App
A large-scale e-commerce platform migrated from legacy PHP to a modern Next.js and Node.js architecture.
Overview
Modernizing an existing production platform.
The project involved working with an existing production ecosystem rather than building a completely new application.
The Project
Building a production-ready product.
Worked on the migration and development of the Wooden Street website and mobile application APIs, moving the platform from a legacy PHP architecture to a modern Next.js and Node.js stack.
The Challenge
What made the project difficult?
The interesting engineering problems usually appeared around existing systems, scale, integrations and real-world constraints.
My Role
Working across the stack.
My responsibilities covered multiple parts of the application rather than a single isolated feature.
Architecture
How the system fits together.
The architecture separates the client, backend, database and external services into clear responsibilities.
Features
Features I worked on.
Important functionality implemented as part of the product experience.
Payments
Connecting the checkout experience.
The application depended on external payment providers as part of the checkout workflow.
Integrations
The application wasn't working alone.
External services can become an important part of a production system.
Mobile APIs
One backend, multiple clients.
The backend was also used to support the mobile application.
The backend APIs allowed core business functionality to be consumed outside the website while keeping important business workflows reusable.
Database
Data behind the application.
MySQL was used for structured product, customer and application data.
Features such as product discovery, wishlist, comparison and customer workflows depend on the backend correctly retrieving and updating related data.
Engineering
What made the project challenging?
The engineering decisions behind the final implementation.
Contributions
A quick summary.
Worked on customer-facing e-commerce functionality using Next.js.
Developed backend APIs using Node.js and Express.js.
Worked with MySQL-backed application functionality.
Implemented wishlist and recently viewed functionality.
Worked on product comparison and filtering.
Integrated Razorpay and Snapmint.
Worked with WebEngage and VMO integrations.
Supported mobile application APIs.
Worked within an existing production system.
13 / Takeaway
More than just building features.
Working on a production e-commerce platform changed the way I think about development.
Does the new functionality work with the existing system?
What happens when an external service fails?
Will the change affect existing functionality?
Can another developer maintain the implementation later?
Working on a production e-commerce platform provided practical exposure to the complexity of real-world software systems and changed how I approach development.
Technology
Technology used.
Impact
What changed.