New GraphQL Voyager plugin, Azure DevOps multi-project

This week I’m presenting you the oven-fresh GraphQL Voyager plugin and support for multi-project discovery in Azure DevOps through a wildcard. Coincidentally, both of these contributions come from the Netherlands 🧡!

Next Backend teasers, new GitLab plugin

This week I’m bringing you some spoilers on what the next Backend System will look like, an explanation of the current state of the GitLab Backstage plugin, and a new search feature.

Markdown in Scaffolder actions, reusable components

Get ready to beat the so-called “blue Monday” with some good Backstage news. This week I’m highlighting that you can now use markdown in Scaffolder action descriptions, import Scaffolder’s reusable components, and customize the shell app in which you preview TechDocs while writing them.

Entity peek-ahead, GitHub webhooks support for Users and Groups

This week I’m highlighting a new component to preview entities before clicking on them, new support for Users and Groups event-based updated from GitHub, and a new option for customizing the Search page when there are no results.

Custom field explorer, standardized AWS access, 10x growth

Welcome to 2023! Since the last newsletter, Backstage 1.9 dropped, and the project wrapped a calendar year with nearly 10x growth in adopters. Let’s start by reviewing some highlights of the latest release, a packed one for sure.

1.10 release, embedded Scaffolder

We’ve got a new release with lots of improvements on the Scaffolder, a guide to all the incident management plugins available on Backstage, and an upcoming feature that lets you embed Scaffolder templates right into an entity page to let teams act in context.

RCE vulnerability, Events API, incremental entities, security

Alright, y’all, buckle up! I’m bringing you huge news this week. First is an invitation to upgrade past Backstage 1.5 (if you haven’t), then I’ll review the new exciting Events API, and finally introduce the new incremental entity provider.

Backstage 1.7, import emails from GitHub

The newsletter highlights the most recent Backstage 1.7, the upcoming ability to import users’ emails from GitHub, and the new meta-issue that makes it easier to contribute to the Catalog.

New LF course, Scaffolder resources

I highlight the new Linux Foundation course and resources for writing scaffolder templates. Bonus: there’s a new GroupListPicker UI element in Backstage.

BackstageCon recordings, KubeCon wrap up

In this newsletter, I share my favorite talks and experiences last week in Detroit at BackstageCon and KubeCon.

Breaking change in the permissions framework, per-page Search

This week, the newsletter highlights an improvement in the permissions framework that introduces a breaking change and a new UI component available in the Search plugin to let the user decide how many items they want to see per page.

Upcoming Backstage talks!

We’re two weeks away from the very first BackstageCon in Detroit. The featured talks will give you a chance to learn directly from the maintainers, do more with Backstage, and get adoption tips. If you’re not attending this time, don’t worry! All talks will be recorded and made available shortly after the conference.

Scaffolder custom functions and links in your templates

Recently, I’ve noticed a general uptick in the Scaffolder’s usage both at Roadie and other adopters. This week, I highlight two new contributions to the Scaffolder: the ability to define custom functions for your templates and adding links to them. Both of these will prove handy for everyone using software templates!

Backstage 1.6, entities playlists, Azure resources

The new version of Backstage is out and brings exciting new features and a security fix in the Scaffolder. You can now create collections of entities with the Playlist plugin. There’s also a new Azure plugin and an interesting case study about SoundCloud’s adoption journey.

Filter GitHub repos, entity validation, OSS Summit

This week features contributions from the community in the Catalog to mitigate the rate-limits problem by filtering repositories, and an entity validator in the Catalog Client. If you are attending OSS Summit Europe this week, don’t miss out on Backstage at the event.

Backstage Security audit, upcoming events, paginated Pull Requests hub

The CNCF sponsored a security audit of the framework, and its results are out! This week, the third Backstage Users Unconference will take place virtually, and BackstageCon Detroit agenda is confirmed! The contribution highlight of the week is the ability to show more than 10 PRs in the Pull Requests Hub plugin.

Upcoming BackstageCon agenda and CFP results

This week's newsletter spotlights a recent cleaning up we’ve noticed in Backstage, invites you to tune in on Wednesday for BackstageCon schedule announcement, and invites you to the Backstage Users Unconference next week.

New Backstage 1.5 is out!

New Backstage is out! Upgrade to 1.5 to use the new GithHub Entity provider, try out the experimental plugin reconfiguration and backend system evolution, and profit from three recent plugins.

community milestone, new Github issues plugin

This week’s newsletter features a new plugin for Github issues, a new guide for customizing icons in your instance, and a milestone for converting discovery processors into entity providers.

improved Tech Docs for monorepos, multiple SonarQube instances

This week’s newsletter highlights contributions to simplifying setting up documentation for monorepos and to configure multiple SonarQube instances. We also share a 20% discount on KubeCon on-site tickets.

New Backstage Users Unconference, active page in TechDocs

In this week’s newsletter, we announce the new Backstage Users Unconference, highlight a UX improvement, and take a sneak peek into the new Scaffolder Wizard.

new version, Search v1, new Apollo plugin, CFP deadline

This week’s newsletter goes through the highlights that come with the new Backstage release, including Search V1 and the new Apollo Explorer plugin.

Upcoming Backstage backend APIs, EKS Clusters in the Catalog

This week’s newsletter introduces the state of Backstage’s Backend system evolution regarding plugins, announces a new way of ingesting infrastructure into the Catalog, and shares Roadie’s new security certification.

Backstage in VSCode, search highlights, advanced filtering

This week’s newsletter highlights the new Backstage Support VSCode extension and brings spoilers of what Backstage 1.4 has in store for us: highlighting in the search page and advanced filters for orphan entities or with errors.

OpenAPI $ref, node support, new plugins

This week’s newsletter features the latest developments on the support for OpenAPI $ref in the Catalog, the recently added node support policy, two new integration plugins, and Backstage’s vacation schedule.

gRPC improvements

Backstage keeps evolving to support a wider array of teams. This week, we’ve seen two exciting new features for those using gRPC—the modern open source high performance Remote Procedure Call framework—: support for API Docs and a live playground. Before we get there, let me celebrate how fast Backstage is growing!

1.3.0's new features

The new Backstage version is full of exciting features including Scaffolder dry-runs, a template editor, new plugins, and more!

4 Huge Milestones Achieved

4 big milestones were achieved in the past week. A birthday, a 1.0 release, 100 public adopters and CNCF Incubation.

Tons of TechDocs improvements

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of activity around TechDocs. These changes make TechDocs more readable and easier to use.

The Ultimate Guide to Backstage

This week, we published a 2,000+ word, ultimate guide to Backstage. Plus, Spotify publish an awesome looking CI/CD statistics plugin.

The Backstage Unconference returns

The Backstage Users Unconference returns on March 3rd. Plus, we announce our Backstage Bites video series.

New Year, New Roadmap

It’s that time of year where we’re all making resolutions and Backstage is no different. The official roadmap has been updated to make the short term priorities clear.

Backstage by the numbers in 2021

6 numbers which sum up Backstage in 2021

Backstage for monorepos

Plus the latest great features released... a search modal and steps towards Tech Insights.

Backstage Unconference tomorrow!

Also, work has started on Tech Insights and TechDocs is now slightly easier to set up.

Join us at the first Backstage Unconference

A look at the upcoming Backstage events for your calendar. Plus, learn about the new Prometheus plugin, Bugsnag plugin and dependency mapping plugins.

The first ever Backstage job post?

Multiple companies demo their internal Backstage deployments and we round up the PRs merged in the past few weeks.

TechDocs search is here

Backstage now supports searching TechDocs in three different search engines. Learn about the pros and cons of each.

July community contributions recap

The Backstage maintainers were on summer vacation for the month of July, but this didn't stop the contributions from flowing. 200 pull requests were merged during this holiday month.

Search V1 release & easier plugin maintenance

Backstage search reaches the v1 alpha milestone and plugin maintenance is about to get a whole lot easier.

A guide to adopting Backstage

Plus... a recap of community session 4 and a look at the new Backstage catalog UI.

Expedia Case Study

Spotify's product story

View your org chart inside Backstage

How Spotify use Backstage to form a collective knowledge graph and control cloud costs.

Code coverage plugin and growing Backstage team

Code coverage plugin, use cases for security and compliance, and both the Spotify and Roadie teams are growing.

Plugin composability update

The last pieces are in place for the new Backstage plugin composability API. All the links you need are below. We also have a technical TechDocs deep dive. Try saying that 10 times fast!

Progress made on Backstage search

Search begins its migration to the backend, read only mode and some catalog importer improvements.

Spotify story - Why OSS Backstage succeeded

Backstage was announced 1 year ago. We look at how Spotify developed the internal skills required to launch Backstage to its current heights.

Upcoming meetups and Kubernetes CRD support

Heads up on two upcoming Backstage meetups and a roundup of the latest merged pull requests.

Custom actions for the scaffolder

The latest beta of the scaffolder opens up a world of potential for templating applications. We run through an example below.

How Spotify drove Backstage adoption

A recap of the first Backstage community session and a look at some new features which dropped last week.

Next steps for the scaffolder

A look at Spotify's plans for the scaffolder in the early part of 2021.

Upcoming Backstage community meetup 👯

Make sure you don't miss the first community meetup of 2021. Also, get a preview of an upcoming Roadie feature.

Happy 1 year anniversary to Backstage 🎂

Three new plugins were launched in the last week. Plus, 3 great features have kicked off.

3 high potential internal Backstage features

So much has happened in the year since Backstage was released. Let's look forward to see what the future might have in store.

Updated roadmap for 2021

A look forward at the Backstage roadmap in H1 2021 and backwards to the merges that happened in December.

Pagerduty plugin, Org plugin and external TechDocs storage

The Pagerduty plugin, API graphs and an update to the Sentry plugin also included.

TechDocs Production Architecture

When to use various TechDocs architectures and a look at their roadmap for the next 6 months. 🛣

Easier service onboarding

Onboard your services to Backstage by using the GitHub repo importer that Roadie has developed and contributed.

The search for search is almost over

Lots of potential building up as we near year's end. The Backstage search plugin is nearly ready.

Open Governance

Backstage joins Kubernetes and other notable projects in adopting an open governance model. 🤝

Backstage Kubernetes Plugin

The Backstage Kubernetes plguin - What it does and how it can help you.

Backstage for websites

The fifth edition of the Roadie Backstage Weekly newsletter. Tracking website performance over time with Backstage.

Cost Insights

The fourth edition of the Roadie Backstage Weekly newsletter. Managing cloud costs by shifting left with Backstage.

CNCF Sandbox

The third edition of the Roadie Backstage Weekly newsletter. Backstage has been donated to the CNCF.

Roadie Rundown 2 - New Backstage version released

The first edition of the Roadie Newsletter. The pieces are starting to come together.

Roadie Rundown 1 - Docs in Backstage

The first edition of the Roadie Newsletter. Find service documentation without NSA-level discovery skills.