How do I configure api & integrations for a larger community?

This matches my experience exactly. The hard part is staying consistent once the initial novelty wears off.

Great point. I had not considered the angle you raised in the second paragraph — it reframes the whole thing for me.

Following this thread closely. We are about to face the exact same decision and the replies here are gold.

For what it is worth, the same approach works with the PMPro adapter — the membership side is identical from here.