The customer-supplier pattern represents the relationship between two bounded contexts, when the output of one bounded context is required for the other bounded context. That is, one supplies the information to the other (known as the customer), who consumes the information. The supplier provides the output; the customer consumes the output.

In a real-world example, a car dealer cannot sell cars until the car manufacturer delivers them. Hence, in this domain model, the car manufacturer is the supplier and the dealer is the customer. This relationship establishes a customer-supplier relationship, because the output (car) of one bounded context (car-manufacturer) is required by the other bounded context (dealer).

Here, both customer and supplier teams should meet regularly to establish a contract and form the right protocol to communicate with each other.