A technique is presented for integrating software components. The technique includes providing an application integration model capable of adapting to different environments by dynamically using different software components at application runtime. The software components are categorized into different stages, with the stages being indicative of when the software components are to be loaded and executed within an application by the application integration model. The technique further includes employing the application integration model to assemble software components into the application within a runtime environment. The application integration model includes an application runtime driver (ARD), which drives work flows of the application integration model through multiple predefined application stages, and a component runtime integration box (CRIB), which includes multiple common data structures employed by the software components during integration into the application.