# Degraded-mode experience

`Type:` grilling (HITL)
`Status:` open

Part of [the map](../map.md).

## Question

When Shopify is unreachable, what does a buyer actually get?

The Storefront currently falls back to the Editorial catalog, which is display-only and whose prices can drift from commerce truth. We decided that stale **real** data beats fabricated data, with buying disabled. This ticket settles what that means concretely:

- When is degraded mode entered, and how is it detected — a failed Cart call, a failed product fetch, or both?
- What does a buyer see? Does a notice appear, what does it say, and is it brand-appropriate for a luxury storefront?
- Is stale data served transparently, or is the page visibly marked as out of date?
- What exactly is disabled — the add-to-cart control, the Cart itself, or the route to Checkout?
- What happens to an existing Cart mid-session when the API drops?

## Answer

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