A channel adapter is the component that receives submitted product data from PDX and delivers it to the target system. All adapters integrate with PDX through the Adapter Gateway over HTTPS; there are two supported ways to build one:

Adapter SDK — a Java/Spring Boot library (com.stibo.leap:adapter-sdk). The SDK is a client of the Adapter Gateway that manages the integration for you: it polls for events, dispatches them to handler beans you implement (authentication, submission, deletion), and provides typed object models for products and datastandards.
Adapter Gateway REST API — the same HTTP API (/external/*), called directly. Your adapter can be written in any language; you implement the event polling, data fetching, and status reporting yourself.

Both paths produce a fully functional channel: the channel and its datastandard are registered the same way, the same events are available, and PDX users see no difference.

Which one should I choose?

	Adapter SDK	Adapter Gateway REST API
Language / framework	Java + Spring Boot	Any language
Programming model	Implement handler beans; the SDK polls for events, dispatches to your handlers, and provides typed models	Call the REST endpoints directly; you write the polling loop and data handling yourself
Dependencies	`adapter-sdk` from the PDX Maven repository (credentials provided during onboarding)	None

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Rule of thumb
If you are building on Java/Spring and want event handling and object models managed for you, use the Adapter SDK. If you are building in another language, or want full control over the integration, use the Adapter Gateway REST API directly.

Where to go next

Adapter SDK: start with Adapter Development with Adapter SDK.
Adapter Gateway REST API: start with Adapter Development with Gateway API.
Concepts shared by both paths — channel processes, submission modes, status handling, and channel configuration — are described in Channel Processes and Channel Configuration.