Production vs Demo: What’s Real
The honest inventory: SuiteCentral 2.0 has a dual-mode architecture where production AI and connectors coexist with demo/fixture modes. Here’s what’s real, what’s demo, and why the dual-mode design is a strength, not a weakness.
Why this page exists
The #1 question any technical evaluator asks: “Is this real production software, or is it a demo that looks like production software?” The answer for SuiteCentral 2.0 is: both, intentionally, and here’s the transparent breakdown.
Per tier1-repo-evaluation-batch (PRODUCTION-VS-DEMO-GUIDE.md, April 9 2026):
“The presence of demo/fixture modes is NOT a sign of incomplete implementation. It is a production-grade architectural pattern designed for enterprise flexibility.”
The dual-mode design enables: immediate exploration without API keys, cost-effective demos for sales/training, offline/air-gapped deployments, graceful degradation when services are unavailable, and A/B testing between providers.
AI providers — all production-ready
| Provider | Production Status | Demo Available | Badge Color |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI GPT-4o / GPT-4o-mini | ✅ Production | Yes (mock sim) | 🟢 Green |
| Claude 4.5 Sonnet | ✅ Production | Yes (mock sim) | 🟢 Green |
| OpenRouter (multi-model) | ✅ Production | N/A | 🟢 Green |
| LMStudio (local) | ✅ Production | N/A (always local) | 🟢 Green |
| Rule-Based Engine | ✅ Always available | N/A | 🔵 Blue |
| Mock providers | Demo only | Always available | 🟡 Yellow |
Claude model update: the production environment shows claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 — this is Claude 4.5 Sonnet, not the Claude 3.5 Sonnet cited in earlier sources. Model upgrade.
Connectors — the honest inventory
| Connector | Status | Auth | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NetSuite | ✅ Sandbox-Tested | OAuth 1.0a | Full CRUD, Squire sandbox TSTDRV2698307 verified |
| Salesforce | ✅ Production | OAuth 2.0 | Full CRUD (leads, accounts, contacts, opportunities, cases) |
| Business Central | ✅ Production | OAuth 2.0 | OData v4 with metadata-driven field catalog |
| HubSpot CRM | ✅ Production | OAuth 2.0 | Contacts, Companies, Deals, Tickets (Phase 3, Jan 2026) |
| ShipStation 3PL | ✅ Production | API key | Order fulfillment, shipments, tracking (Phase 3, Jan 2026) |
| Oracle ERP | ⚠️ Beta | Basic Auth, ORDS | Basic CRUD only; needs production hardening |
| 20+ more | 🏗️ Fixture-Based | Varies | Real API implementations exist; expose test data when DEMO_MODE=1 |
Important: the canonical wording says “6 production connectors” but CONNECTOR_STATUS.md marks Oracle as Beta, not production. Honest count: 5 production + 1 beta + 10 fixture-based + 200+ planned. The “6 production connectors demonstrated” phrasing in canonical-metrics overstates Oracle’s readiness. Flagged.
“Fixture-based” ≠ “not implemented”: every fixture-based connector has a real API implementation. The fixture mode activates only when DEMO_MODE=1. In production mode, the same code calls the real API.
Features — what’s production-ready
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AI Field Mapping | ✅ Production | Real AI with OpenAI/Claude/OpenRouter/LMStudio OR rule-based fallback |
| Integration Wizard | ✅ Production | Orchestrates real connectors OR fixtures |
| AI Configuration Dashboard | ✅ Production | Manages real AI provider credentials |
| Enterprise Features (BC Metadata, Delta Sync, etc.) | ✅ Production | Real implementations |
| RAG Knowledge Base | ✅ Production | 7,415 chunks indexed in real vector store |
| Help Chat Widget | ✅ Production | Real RAG-powered assistance |
| Telemetry & Monitoring | ✅ Production | Real metrics collection |
| Mock Dashboard APIs | 🧪 Demo Only | src/routes/mockDashboardAPIs.ts |
Why this matters for the evaluation
A CTO (Reuben Cook) evaluating the repo will see fixture files, mock providers, and demo-mode flags in the code. Without this document, those artifacts look like “it’s not real.” WITH this document, they’re understood as a deliberate enterprise pattern: the same codebase serves both production customers and zero-cost demo environments, controlled by environment flags, with color-coded badges so users always know which mode they’re in.
This is the document Reuben should read FIRST, before opening any source file.
Sources
- tier1-repo-evaluation-batch — PRODUCTION-VS-DEMO-GUIDE.md and CONNECTOR_STATUS.md