Ecommerce FAQ API in Go

What it does

Configuration

Two settings, both optional. The heading can be set in Config or on the Plugins screen, which wins; the line under it is set 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 faq.New to gocommerce.New, as below, or start the reference binary with -faq. The FAQ plugin starts switched on.
2. Write the questionsOn the FAQ screen, or POST /api/admin/x/faq with a question, an answer and a section. An entry is published unless the request says published is false.
3. Put them in orderDrag them on the FAQ screen, which saves the whole list with PUT /api/admin/x/faq/order: every entry’s id and section, in the order they should read.
4. Read them from the storefrontGET /x/faq answers with the heading, the line under it, and the published entries grouped by section.

import (
	"github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/core"
	"github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/ext/faq"
)

app, err := gocommerce.New(cfg, faq.New(faq.Config{}))

How it works

• Ordered by hand

  A new entry goes last in its own section, not last overall, which is where it belongs until somebody drags it. Within a section the order is the shop’s, never the alphabet’s.

• The whole order at once

  A reorder names every entry with the section it now belongs to, the way the Menus screen saves a tree. One that leaves an entry out, or names one the store does not hold, is refused whole in one transaction: a half-sorted list is worse than one that did not move.

• Drafts stay in the admin

  An entry saved with published false is on the FAQ screen and the admin list, and absent from /x/faq until it is published.

• The switch gates the storefront only

  With the FAQ plugin off, GET /x/faq answers 404, “this store has no FAQ”. The admin routes still answer, because the screen is where it is switched back on.

• Rights of its own

  Seeing the FAQ in the admin needs faq.read, held by managers and staff by default. Writing, ordering and removing entries need faq.write, held by managers.

• Sample questions

  The sample shop adds five questions in Orders, Delivery and Returns. A question the shop already asks is skipped, and erasing the sample shop removes only the entries it added.

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.

• Sections sort by nameEntries are read sorted by section, then position, so sections reach the storefront in alphabetical order, the ungrouped set first. The reorder sets the order within each section; it does not store an order for the sections themselves.
• One languageAn entry has no language. A store selling in several languages gets one FAQ, in whatever language it was written.
• An update rewrites the entryPATCH /api/admin/x/faq/{id} takes the question, the answer and the section every time. A request that leaves out published publishes the entry, and a changed section keeps the old position, so place it with a reorder.
• Length is counted in bytesA question is at most 300 and an answer at most 8,000, counted in bytes. Text in a script that takes several bytes a character, such as Devanagari, reaches the limit sooner.
• Plain text, all at onceThe answer is text from a textarea, stored and served as written; the module does not render or clean it. Every entry is returned in one response, with no paging.

Related modules

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

• 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.
• Storefront menus API in Go Keep a GoCommerce storefront’s menus as trees of links by handle, saved whole, resolved to storefront paths, and moved in and out as a CSV file.