API-First CPQ
Integration spec required configure, price, and quote APIs. Vendor documentation covered quote creation only. Mercura admin screens and REST endpoints share one service layer so architects sign off on parity.
The challenge
Integration spec required configure, price, and quote APIs. Vendor documentation covered quote creation only.
A maker of precision weighing systems for industrial and laboratory use planned a microservices rollout: dealer configurator for load-cell kits, SAP order API, and a field-service portal for calibration contracts. Architecture review listed configure, price, and quote as REST dependencies. The incumbent CPQ vendor shared OpenAPI docs that stopped at quote PDF and line items. Configuration rules, option filtering, and constraint validation were available only through the admin UI.
Integration teams built middleware that replayed browser sessions or scraped admin screens to obtain valid configurations. Every CPQ upgrade broke parsers. ERP received quotes that did not match what reps configured on screen. Security rejected storing admin credentials in integration jobs. Production launch waited on a vendor roadmap item labeled API parity.
Headless CPQ runs Mercura logic behind your own UI through stateful API sessions. Composable CPQ swaps config, price, quote, and checkout layers on separate timelines. The CPQ SDK wraps auth and pagination in typed clients. Developer tools provide sandbox and debug consoles. API-first CPQ is different: Mercura built the REST surface and admin UI on the same service layer, so every constraint check, price calculation, and quote step your product team configures in admin is callable from integration code with matching behavior.
Inquiry to config to price to approval to order should not depend on screen scraping because your architecture team already committed to services, not manual UI operations.
How it works
How Mercura API-first CPQ works
Mercura exposes configuration, pricing, quote, and order operations as versioned REST endpoints documented in OpenAPI. The admin UI calls the same services your integration code calls, so option lists, constraint errors, and price results match between screen and API. OAuth scopes limit which operations each client may run. A developer sandbox mirrors production rules with isolated data. Webhooks emit the same events whether the trigger came from UI or API. Your team designs service boundaries, maps endpoints to ERP and portal flows, and tests edge cases before production cutover. Mercura does not replace enterprise integration patterns or API gateway policy.
What's included
What API-first CPQ covers
- REST endpoints for configuration sessions, validation, and price calculation
- OpenAPI specification with request and response examples
- Shared service layer between Mercura admin UI and public API
- Versioned API with advance notice on breaking changes
- OAuth 2.0 scopes for least-privilege integration clients
- Developer sandbox with production-equivalent rule behavior
- Webhooks for quote ready, approval, and order events
- Idempotent write endpoints for safe retries in distributed flows
The difference
CPQ integration before and after API-first parity
- Configuration logic trapped in admin UI, not in REST docs
- Middleware scrapes screens or replays browser sessions
- ERP quotes diverge from what reps configured on screen
- Every vendor upgrade breaks integration parsers
- Architect review blocks production launch pending API roadmap
- Configure, price, and quote callable from documented endpoints
- Admin UI and API return the same validation and price results
- OpenAPI and sandbox let integration start before UI customisation
- Versioning and scopes reduce surprise breaks in production
- Microservices connect dealer portal, ERP, and service apps to one rule set
Real-world application
Example workflow: load-cell kit config across three services
A precision weighing OEM needed dealer kit configuration, SAP order lines, and calibration contract quotes on one rule set. The previous vendor API covered quote PDF only. After Mercura, the integration team opened configuration sessions from the dealer microservice, posted priced lines to SAP from the same API responses reps saw in admin, and subscribed the field-service portal to quote-ready webhooks. Screen scraping middleware was retired. Architecture sign-off passed because OpenAPI listed every step in the integration spec.
Business impact
Why API-first CPQ is architectural parity, not a SDK shortcut
API-first CPQ treats REST as a first-class product surface alongside admin screens so integration teams build on contracts, not workarounds. It complements headless UI deployment, composable layer migration, SDK clients, and developer sandbox tooling. Mercura does not replace your API gateway, event bus design, or ERP field mapping workshops. Someone must own service boundaries and regression tests. If the pain is "our spec lists configure and price endpoints but vendor docs stop at quote", API-first CPQ aligns inquiry, configuration, price, approval, and order with the same engine your product team already operates in admin.
Walk OpenAPI configure, price, and quote endpoints that match what your product team sets up in admin
Book a demo and compare admin behavior with REST responses in the sandbox until your integration spec can be implemented without UI workarounds.
Let’s build together.
We empower manufacturers to master product modeling, streamline quoting process, reduce errors, and ultimately deliver the tailored solutions that customers demand.