---
title: Headless for commerce
slug: o52e9091
canonical_url: https://docs.coveo.com/en/o52e9091/
collection: coveo-for-commerce
source_format: adoc
---
# Headless for commerce
## What's Coveo Headless for commerce?

_[Coveo Headless](https://docs.coveo.com/en/lcdf0493/)_ is a library for developing Coveo-powered UI components. It works as a middle layer for applications, opening a line of communication between the UI elements and Coveo.

In the context of {coveo-for-commerce}, Headless is used in conjunction with the [Coveo Merchandising Hub (CMH)](https://docs.coveo.com/en/o5290573/) to power your product discovery interfaces.
For commerce, Headless exposes the Commerce Engine, which uses the [Commerce API](https://docs.coveo.com/en/103/) to query products from Coveo, and the [Event Protocol](https://docs.coveo.com/en/o1n91230/) to send analytics events to Coveo.

> **Notes**
>
> * Because Headless for commerce is commerce-specific, don't expect a one-to-one match with the generic [Headless library](https://docs.coveo.com/en/headless/latest/).
> 
> * As Headless wraps around the Commerce API, it's also descriptive in nature.
> See [How the Commerce API interacts with the CMH](https://docs.coveo.com/en/o6od0220/) for more information.

## When should I use Headless?

The Headless library wraps the complexity of the Coveo APIs without sacrificing flexibility.
It's usable with any web development framework and it manages the state of your page for you.
Rather than prebuilt UI components in [Atomic](https://docs.coveo.com/en/atomic/latest/), it provides an extendable set of reducers and controllers that allow you to connect your own product discovery UI components to the Coveo APIs.

If you want to use Coveo to power your own UI component library, then you should definitely consider using Headless.

## Where to start?

To learn the basics of Headless, depending on your use case, see:

* [Usage: client-side rendering](https://docs.coveo.com/en/o6r70022/)

* [Usage: server-side rendering](https://docs.coveo.com/en/obif0156/)

To learn how to build a product discovery interface with Headless, refer to the following articles:

* [Build search pages](https://docs.coveo.com/en/o4ue0200/)

* [Build product listing pages](https://docs.coveo.com/en/o4ue0471/)

* [Build recommendation interfaces](https://docs.coveo.com/en/o4ue0204/)

You may also want to check out the Headless Commerce engine [reference documentation](https://docs.coveo.com/en/headless/latest/reference/modules/Commerce.html).