medusa-store/www/apps/book/app/cheatsheet/page.mdx

import { Table } from "docs-ui"

export const metadata = {
  title: `${pageNumber} Cheat sheet`,
}

# {metadata.title}

This chapter provides a cheat sheet for Medusa's resources on when to use or not use them.

<Table>
  <Table.Header>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.HeaderCell>Name</Table.HeaderCell>
      <Table.HeaderCell>Use if</Table.HeaderCell>
      <Table.HeaderCell>Don't use if</Table.HeaderCell>
    </Table.Row>
  </Table.Header>
  <Table.Body className="[&_td]:align-top [&_td]:pt-1 [&_td:first-child]:font-bold">
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>API Routes</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You're exposing custom functionality to be used in the admin dashboard or an external application, such as a storefront.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      \-

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Modules</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You're implementing a custom commerce feature. For example, you're implementing digital products.
      - You want to extend data models in other commerce modules, such as adding a field or a relation to the Product model.
      - You want to re-use your custom commerce functionalities across Medusa applications or use them in other environments, such as Edge functions and Next.js apps.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      \-

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Module Links</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to create a relation between data models from different modules.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to create a relationship between data models in the same module. Use data model relationships instead.

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Data Models</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to store data related to your customization in the database.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to store simple key-value pairs related to a Medusa data model. Instead, use the `metadata` field that models have, which is an object of custom key-value pairs.

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Data Model Relationships</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to create a relation between data models in the same module.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to create a relationship between data models in different modules. Use module links instead.

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Loaders</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You're performing an action at application start-up.
      - You're establishing a one-time connection with an external system.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to perform an action continuously or at a set time pattern in the application. Use scheduled jobs instead.

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Subscribers</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to perform an action everytime a specific event is emitted in the Medusa application.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      \-

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Scheduled Jobs</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You're executing an action at a specified time interval during application runtime.
      - The action must be executed automatically.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want the action to execute at a specified time interval while the Medusa application **isn't** running. Instead, use the operating system's equivalent of a cron job.
      - You want to execute the action once. Use loaders instead.
      - You want to execute the action if an event occurs. Use subscribers instead.

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Workflows</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You're defining a flow with interactions across multiple systems and services.
      - You're defining flows to be used across different resources. For example, if you want to invoke the flow manually through an API Router, but also want to automate its running through a scheduled job.
      - You want to define how the series of actions are rolled-back when an error occurs.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      \-

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
    <Table.Row>
      <Table.Cell>Middlewares</Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      - You want to protect API routes by a custom condition.
      - You're modifying the request body.
      
      </Table.Cell>
      <Table.Cell>
      
      \-

      </Table.Cell>
    </Table.Row>
  </Table.Body>
</Table>