Contact form API in Go

What it does

Configuration

Nothing is required. Set the announcement address in Config, which the reference binary reads from CONTACT_EMAIL, or on the Plugins screen, which wins. The form’s wording and the enquiry switch are on the Plugins screen only.

The module reads its Config struct, not the environment. The variable names are the ones the package’s own example or the reference binary uses; in your own main() you choose where each value comes from. Where a setting has a panel label, the admin’s settings drawer can hold it too, and a value typed there wins over Config.

Setting it up

1. Install the modulePass contact.New to gocommerce.New, as below, or start the reference binary with -contact and CONTACT_EMAIL set. The Contact form plugin starts switched on.
2. Say where to announceSet “Announce new messages to” on the Plugins screen, or NotifyEmail in Config. Each announcement goes through the store’s email provider and is on the Notifications screen too.
3. Post from the storefrontPOST /x/contact/messages with a name, an email and the message; POST /x/contact/enquiries with the same and a product_id or product_slug. Leave the website field empty: it is the honeypot.
4. Answer from the inboxCustomers › Contact messages lists both kinds, with filters for status and kind. Reply in the drawer, or with POST /api/admin/x/contact/messages/{id}/reply.

import (
	"os"

	"github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/core"
	"github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/ext/contact"
)

app, err := gocommerce.New(cfg,
	contact.New(contact.Config{
		NotifyEmail: os.Getenv("CONTACT_EMAIL"),
	}),
)

How it works

• One inbox, two kinds

  The list filters by status and by kind, message or enquiry. Search matches a fragment of the name, email, subject or product asked about, and an order number exactly, so “42” does not sweep in every order with a 42 in it.

• The product as it was

  An enquiry keeps the product’s id, title and slug, and the variant’s name, as they were when the shopper asked, with no foreign key onto the catalogue. A product renamed or deleted since leaves the record as it was. A draft or archived product answers “that product is not on sale here”.

• Sent first, recorded after

  A reply goes to the provider before anything is written. Only once the provider takes it is the reply stored and the message marked replied, in one transaction. With no provider the answer is 409, with a refusal 422 and the provider’s words, and the drawer keeps the text.

• A honeypot and a shared limit

  A form with the hidden website field filled answers 201 and keeps nothing. Both forms share one limit per store and peer address, ten a minute by default, and every attempt counts, valid or not; past it the answer is 429 with Retry-After.

• Three rights

  Reading the inbox needs contact.read, held by managers and staff. Replying needs contact.reply, held by managers. Marking and deleting need contact.write, which no role holds by default, so only owners.

• Masked where it should be

  On a public demo store, and for an AI agent’s key, the sender’s email and phone and the replying operator’s address are masked, and search skips the email so it cannot be read back a character at a time.

What it does not do

Read these before an order depends on it. No store is known to run GoCommerce in production yet, so these come from the code, not from anyone’s experience.

• The shopper’s answer goes to your mailA reply carries the provider’s reply-to address. When the shopper writes back, it lands in that mailbox, not in the message’s thread.
• Announcements are best effortThe email to the store’s address does not hold up the form: if the mail backend is down, the message is kept and the shopper is told it was sent, but nobody may hear of it until they open the inbox.
• A limit, not a captchaThe limit is held in memory, so each replica counts on its own. It counts the connection’s peer address and never X-Forwarded-For, so behind a reverse proxy every shopper shares the proxy’s allowance. The package says it is no substitute for a captcha on a form that draws real abuse.
• The order number is not checkedThe contact form’s order number is free text. It is kept and searchable, and not looked up or linked to an order.
• No replies from a demoA store marked as a public demo refuses every reply with 403 demo_frozen, because anybody may sign in to one and anybody may type an address into its storefront.
• Deleting takes the threadDeleting a message deletes its replies with it. There is no undo.
• A link to the product needs PanelURLThe enquiry email links to the product in the admin only when the engine’s PanelURL is set. Without it the email names the product and carries no link.

Related modules

Each is a directory under ext/, imported the same way. Where this one fits in the store: How modules extend GoCommerce.

• Ecommerce FAQ API in Go Give a GoCommerce store a page of questions and answers: grouped into sections, ordered by hand, draft or published, served whole at /x/faq.
• Customer accounts and login in Go Add shopper accounts to a GoCommerce store: sign-up, sign-in, saved addresses, password reset and order history by claim. Guest checkout keeps working.
• Order and GST tax invoices in Go A numbered invoice for every paid GoCommerce order and, for Indian stores, a GST tax invoice with HSN codes and the tax split, exported to TallyPrime.
• Open-source ecommerce MCP server in Go Let an AI agent operate a GoCommerce store over the Model Context Protocol: 19 tools, per-tool rights, read-only agent keys, a read-only mode and an audit log.