Backend extensions let you customize Wix backend behavior. Where site and dashboard extensions add UI to a site or the Wix dashboard, backend extensions hook into platform systems behind the scenes.
Wix supports the following backend extension types:
- Service plugins: Custom implementations of Wix platform interfaces, where the platform calls your code at specified points in a flow. Often used for custom shipping providers, payment providers, and tax calculators.
- Event extensions: Code that runs in response to platform events. Often used for sending confirmation emails when a booking is created, syncing changes to an external system when a Stores order is placed, or triggering downstream logic when a contact is updated.
- Data collections: Custom CMS data collections automatically created with a defined schema when an app is installed. Often used for storing app-specific data that Wix users can manage through the CMS.
- Schema plugins: Custom fields added to existing Wix data schemas like contacts or orders. Often used for tracking app-specific data alongside platform entities.
- Notification extensions: Custom notification types that appear in the Wix notification system. Often used for alerting Wix users about app-specific events like social media mentions or inventory alerts.
- Automations: Custom triggers, actions, and pre-installed automations that Wix users can use in their no-code automation workflows. Often used for surfacing app-specific events that other automations can react to or for shipping ready-to-run automations alongside an app. Unlike other types in this list, automations aren't registered through the standard extension framework.
- HTTP endpoints: File-based backend routes that handle HTTP requests, serve data to frontend extensions, and integrate with external services. Often used for receiving webhooks, exposing APIs to external systems, and serving dynamic content. Unlike other types in this list, HTTP endpoints aren't registered through the standard extension framework.
Backend extensions can be built across multiple development paths, and which paths support each type varies. See each extension type's article for where and how it's built across paths.