Spree Data Model

A relationship map for the most-asked-about Spree models. Field-level documentation lives in the installed @spree/docs package at node_modules/@spree/docs/dist/developer/core-concepts/.

The catalog → cart pipeline

Product → Variant → LineItem → Order

• Product is the brand-level entity (name, slug, description, category).
• Variant is the sellable SKU. Every Product has at least one Variant. Variants carry SKU, prices, dimensions, and link to inventory.
• LineItem links a Variant to an Order with quantity and price frozen at add-time.
• Order is the customer’s transaction — the cart-in-progress and, after checkout, the completed transaction (same record, different state).

Variants relate to stock via StockItem (one per Variant per StockLocation) and the StockMovement history.

Master vs default variant

A Product has a master variant (legacy concept, is_master: true) and a computed default_variant method: when Spree::Config[:track_inventory_levels] is on, the first purchasable variant; otherwise the first non-master variant by position; master is only the fallback when the product has no other variants. product.default_variant_id just returns that computed variant’s id. Neither is a database column in 5.5 — don’t query or migrate against default_variant_id (a default_variant_id FK on spree_products is planned for 6.0, implementation not started; see docs/plans/6.0-remove-master-variant.md). Use product.variants for the non-master sellable variants and product.variants_including_master only when you genuinely need the master row included.

The multi-channel / multi-store axis

Store → Channel → ProductPublication → Product

Available since Spree 5.5.

• Store is the top-level brand (one organization = one Store, typically).
• Channel is a selling surface within a Store: the online storefront, in-person POS, marketplace integrations (Amazon, eBay), B2B wholesale, mobile apps. Every Store has at least a default Channel named “Online Store”.
• ProductPublication is the join: which Products are visible on which Channel, with optional published_at / unpublished_at windows for scheduling.
• Order has channel_id so revenue can be attributed per channel.

The Store API resolves a channel per request from the X-Spree-Channel header (matched against channels.code or a ch_… prefixed ID); without it the store’s default channel is used. The Admin API does not consume X-Spree-Channel — admin queries return data across all channels for the current store.

Markets (regional config)

Market has_many :countries
Market  columns:  currency (string), default_locale (string)
Order belongs_to :market

A Market is a regional configuration: its set of countries, currency, and default locale. Stores typically get a default Market created automatically (when a default country is known at creation), but markets are optional — check store.has_markets?; currency and locale fall back to store-level defaults when no market exists. Orders are placed in a Market — that’s what controls the currency the customer sees and what tax rules apply.

For full Market documentation see node_modules/@spree/docs/dist/developer/core-concepts/markets.md.

Cart vs Order

In Spree, Spree::Order is both the in-progress cart and the completed transaction. The state column tracks which phase: cart, address, delivery, payment, confirm, complete. Filter on state to distinguish:

Spree::Order.where(state: 'cart')      # in-progress carts
Spree::Order.where(state: 'complete')  # finalized orders
Spree::Order.complete                  # named scope — NOT equivalent: defined as where.not(completed_at: nil), so it matches any order that ever completed checkout, including ones later canceled or returned

Order#token (has_secure_token :token, length: 35) identifies an anonymous cart across requests. Logged-in carts are owned via the user_id FK.

Checkout-side models

Order → Payment → PaymentMethod
Order → Shipment → ShippingRate → ShippingMethod
Order → Address (bill_address, ship_address)

• Payment has its own state machine (checkout → processing → pending → completed, plus failed, void, and invalid). Column is state.
• Shipment has its own state machine (pending → ready → shipped with canceled). Column is state.
• ShippingRate is a per-Shipment offer (e.g. UPS Ground $5.99, USPS Priority $8.99). The customer picks one.

Customer / User

Spree.user_class (typically Spree::User)
  ↓
Address (many, via spree_addresses)
CreditCard (many)
GiftCard (many)
StoreCredit (many)

Use Spree.user_class and Spree.admin_user_class to reference user models — never Spree::User directly. Apps can swap in their own user model via configuration.

Adjustments (polymorphic)

Adjustable (Order, LineItem, Shipment) ← Adjustment

Adjustment is polymorphic — it attaches to any Order, LineItem, or Shipment via adjustable_type + adjustable_id. Each Adjustment has a source (the thing that created it: a TaxRate, PromotionAction, ReturnAuthorization, etc.) and built-in scopes to filter by source type:

order.adjustments.tax                     # source_type: 'Spree::TaxRate'
order.adjustments.promotion               # source_type: 'Spree::PromotionAction'
order.adjustments.return_authorization
order.all_adjustments                     # adjustments on order + its line_items + shipments

Prefixed IDs

Every Spree model exposed via the v3 API has a Stripe-style prefixed ID:

product.prefixed_id  # => "prod_86Rf07xd4z"
order.prefixed_id    # => "or_m3Rp9wXz"
variant.prefixed_id  # => "variant_k5nR8xLq"

IDs are computed from the integer PK via Sqids — no database column. The prefix is declared per-class via has_prefix_id :<prefix> on the model. The v3 API accepts and emits prefixed IDs everywhere; find_by_prefix_id! resolves them back to integer PKs.

Conventions for the prefix:

• Long form for some resources: prod (Product), variant (Variant)
• Short codes for most others: or (Order), py (Payment, Stripe parity), adj (Adjustment), li (LineItem), ctg (Category/Taxon), cus (customer, Stripe parity), ch (Channel), mkt (Market)

Never expose raw integer PKs in API responses.

state vs status (mixed on 5.5)

Different models use different column names depending on when they were introduced:

• Order.state, Payment.state, Shipment.state — older state machines
• OrderApproval.status — newer status column
• Channel doesn’t use a state machine — it has an active boolean instead

When writing model code, follow the convention of the column the model actually has. When querying, check the model’s source if you’re not sure.

Spree::Current (per-request context)

Avoid passing store / currency / locale around as arguments. Use the ambient context:

Spree::Current.store      # The store handling this request
Spree::Current.currency   # The currency to display prices in
Spree::Current.locale     # The locale for translations
Spree::Current.channel    # The resolved sales channel (falls back to the store's default channel)
Spree::Current.market     # The resolved market (falls back to the store's default market)

Available in models, controllers, jobs, and services. Set automatically by controller before_actions on the API (with built-in fallbacks to store defaults inside Spree::Current); you set it manually in jobs and rake tasks that need to address a specific store.

When to read further

• Field-level docs: node_modules/@spree/docs/dist/developer/core-concepts/<topic>.md for each model.
• OpenAPI spec: node_modules/@spree/docs/dist/api-reference/store.yaml lists every API field and its type — better than guessing from the model source.
• Adding new models / API resources: use the spree-resource skill.
• Extending existing Spree models (add an association, validation, scope, method via decorator): use the spree-decorators skill.