What is Whisker?
WhiskerPlatform is the full toolchain Nike’s retail store organization uses to build, run, observe, and govern micro-frontend modules and the backend services behind them. It is not “just a host app” — it is the shell, the scaffolder, the kits, the shared UI library, the manifest pipeline, the service runtime, the test orchestration, and the AI-context layer that together let many squads ship into one product without coordinating through a single core team.
Who this is for
Section titled “Who this is for”- Module teams building a new retail experience that needs to live inside the in-store shell — start with Quick start.
- Consumer teams with an existing app that just needs to be embedded — see Federation vs. iframe.
- Anyone evaluating or debugging the platform — the Architecture section is a self-contained reference for how every piece fits together.
The pieces at a glance
Section titled “The pieces at a glance”| Capability | Where it lives |
|---|---|
| Runtime shell that aggregates modules | whisker-host (always port 3001) |
| Front-of-platform CLI (scaffold + AI context + audits) | @nike/whisker-cli (binary: thundercats) |
| Day-to-day dev CLI for modules | @nike/whisker-module-kit |
| Day-to-day dev CLI for services | @nike/whisker-service-kit |
| Shared retail components | @nike/whisker-component-library |
| Automated module registration | whisker-manifest-publisher (Lambda) + DynamoDB |
See WhiskerPlatform Architecture for the full system diagram and status of every piece.
Operating model in one sentence
Section titled “Operating model in one sentence”Module teams own a
module-manifest.jsonfile, ship their code on their own cadence, and the platform’s runtime + pipeline glue them into a coherent shell without any coordinated release with the host.