Introduction
Stoa is an open-source commerce engine built for the modern web. It is designed to be fast, lightweight, and simple to self-host — while being powerful enough to run real production shops.
The name comes from the ancient Greek stoa — the covered walkway where merchants and citizens gathered to trade. Today, Stoa is where developers, businesses, and AI agents come together to build the next generation of commerce.
Why Stoa?
Most commerce systems are either too heavy (Magento, WooCommerce), too opinionated (Shopify), or too expensive to run at scale. Stoa is different:
- Single binary — no runtime dependencies, no complex setup
- API first — build any frontend you want, or use the included Svelte demo shop
- Plugin system — extend anything without forking the core
- MCP built-in — AI agents can shop natively, no custom integration needed
Core Features
Go-powered Performance
Stoa is written entirely in Go. It starts in milliseconds, uses a tiny amount of RAM, and handles thousands of concurrent requests without breaking a sweat.
REST API
A clean, fully documented REST API is the heart of Stoa. Every action you can take in the admin panel, you can also do via the API.
Svelte Storefront
A beautiful, fast demo storefront built with Svelte is included. Use it as-is or as a starting point for your own frontend.
Admin Panel
A full-featured admin panel for managing products, orders, customers, and settings — included out of the box.
Plugin System
Stoa's plugin API lets you hook into every part of the system. Build payment providers, shipping integrations, custom webhooks, or anything else you need.
MCP Server
Stoa ships with a built-in Model Context Protocol server. This means any MCP-compatible AI agent (Claude, GPT, etc.) can browse your catalog, add items to a cart, and complete purchases — without any custom code.
What Stoa is not
- Not a hosted SaaS — you run it yourself
- Not a page builder — it's an engine, not a website builder
- Not a monolith — the API, storefront, and admin are decoupled
Next Steps
- Quick Start — get Stoa running in 5 minutes
- Architecture — understand how the pieces fit together
- MCP Overview — learn how agents interact with Stoa