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Add custom plugins in IDP

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This feature is in BETA and is available behind the feature flag IDP_ENABLE_CUSTOM_PLUGINS. If you want to try out this feature, please reach out to the IDP team. We would love to work with you and take feedback.

Introduction​

In IDP we allow addition of, backstage frontend plugins, created by you as a custom plugin. Following are the step-by-step instructions to add your custom plugins in IDP.

  1. Go to Plugins under Admin section.
  2. Now you could find the Custom Plugins tab on the Plugins page.
  3. Start by creating a New Custom Plugin

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As the feature is in beta we don't have proper error handling in place yet, so for all the steps below please make sure all your entires are correct for the plugin.

Add/Upload a New Plugin​

  1. Now add the URL for your plugin public npm package.

eg,. https://www.npmjs.com/package/@parsifal-m/plugin-dev-quotes-homepage, https://www.npmjs.com/package/backstage-plugin-should-i-deploy

Plugin Metadata​

  1. Now Click Next and start adding the Plugin Metadata. You have to fill the following fields

    • Plugin Name : Add a name for your Plugin
    • Package name : This will be same as your plugin package present in your plugin's package.json file. Make sure the name is exactly similar to what's mentioned in the package.json including @, eg: @parsifal-m/plugin-dev-quotes-homepage
    • Description : Add an apt description for your plugin, especially the function of the plugin.
    • Category : Add an functional category for your plugin like Monitoring, Observability, CI/CD etc.
    • Created By : Add the User Group you belong to from the dropdown.
    • Plugin applies to entity : Add the software components to which your plugin applies to usually it's Service.
    • Add Plugin Screenshots (optional) : Not available yet
    • Additional fields : Fill it as shown in the image below.

Layout​

  1. Now click next and Add Layout for your plugin. You have 3 categories in this and the layout is sourced from packages/app/src/components/Catalog/EntityPage.tsx. Below are the examples.

  • Card: Here's an example EntityLinksCard of Links card on Overview page.

  • Tab: Here's an example EntityHarnessCiCdContent of Harness CI/CD tab.

  • Menu Item in SideNav: Here's an example of TODO plugin in side nav.

  • Conditional: Here's an example of the Harness CI/CD plugin, also conditional is required if you want to check for the annotations in catalog-info.yaml in case of absence of adequate annotation required the plugin won't show up for the particular software component.

Configurations​

  1. Now Click Next and go to the Configurations Page by default configuration is disabled.

  2. If your plugin doesn't require any configuration settings like Proxy or authentication for API you can go ahead and enable the plugin directly.

  3. If you require app-config.yaml for your plugin, then enable configuration.

  4. Now add the proxy part here, as given below in the example,

proxy:
  /mynewplugin:
    target: https://somerandomapi.com/api/v2
    pathRewrite:
      /api/proxy/mynewplugin/?: /
    headers:
      Authorization: "Api-Token ${SECRET_TOKEN}"
  1. Now in the above proxy authorization is added as a variable SECRET_TOKEN and the secret is stored in Harness Secret manager.

  1. You can as well access any private URLs/PORT if required by your plugin and that is behind any firewalls using Harness Delegate.

  1. Now Enable the Plugin.
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Once you enable the PLugin it will approximately take around 30 minutes for the plugin to be enabled as we rebuild the IDP image with your plugin.

  1. Once the plugin is Enabled, to add it in your sidenav as shown in the image go to the Layout under Admin.

  1. For card based plugin update for Service under the overview and add the components for the custom plugin under contents as shown below.
page:
  name: EntityLayout
  tabs:
    - name: Overview
      path: /
      title: Overview
      contents:
        - component: EntityOrphanWarning
        - component: EntityProcessingErrorsPanel
        - component: EntityAboutCard
          specs:
            props:
              variant: gridItem
            gridProps:
              md: 6

  • For tab based plugin you can update the component name under Service or any other pages.

  • For Full Page Plugin Under the Sidenav configuration, add the plugin name as a SidebarItem with reference to your plugin to: component name under props. Read more about [Configuring Layout of IDP Catalog pages](Configuring Layout of IDP Catalog pages).

Edit/Delete Plugin​

Once your Plugin is enabled you can find the plugin under Enabled Plugin tab as well as under Custom Plugin tab with Enabled tag, but you can edit or delete plugin only under custom plugins tab. Now click on the 3 dots at top of the Plugin card to edit or delete plugin.