TeraSky's Backstage Plugins

These plugins are built and tested against Backstage version 1.41.1

Plugin overviews

There are 31 plugins currently:

1. Kubernetes Ingestor - - this plugin is a catalog entity provider which creates catalog entities directly from kubernetes resources. it has the ability to ingest by default all standard k8s workload types, allows supplying custom GVKs, and has the ability to auto-ingest all crossplane claims and KRO instances automatically as components. There are numerous annotations which can be put on the kubernetes workloads to influence the creation of the component in backstage. It also supports creating backstage templates and registers them in the catalog for every XRD in your cluster for the Claim resource type. currently this supports adding via a PR to a GitHub repo or providing a download link to the generated yaml without pushing to git.
2. Crossplane Resource Frontend - - this is a frontend plugin which provides visibility into the crossplane claim, composite resource and managed resources associated with a component. This relies heavily on system generated annotations from the Kubernetes Ingestor but technically does not require it if you add all the needed annotations manually. The plugin exposes general data, provides a YAML viewer for each resource including the ability to copy to clipboard the content or download the yaml file. It also supports viewing the events related to a specific resource. It also includes a graph view of the resources related to a claim.
3. Crossplane Backend - - This plugin implements the permission framework elements for the crossplane frontend plugin. This is needed as only backend plugins can add permissions in backstage. the plugin has no functionality beyond registering the permissions which are themselves configured in the common plugin as the definitions are also needed in the frontend where we enforce the permissions.
4. Crossplane Common - - This is a shared common library between the frontend and backend crossplane plugins where the permission definitions reside. This is not added into a backstage instance directly, rather it is a dependency of both of the other plugins.
5. ScaleOps Frontend Plugin - - this is a frontend plugin which displays basic data from scaleops regarding kubernetes entities on you component. it shows potential and realized savings, and can provide a link to the scaleops dashboard for more specific and broader data points. This plugin supports a single ScaleOps endpoint but does support multiCluster features in scaleops allowing for end to end visibility.
6. Entity Scaffolder Plugin - - This allows embedding a tab with scaffolder templates on a component. this can also populate the list of templates and data in the templates based on the context from which it is run.
7. Devpod plugin - - this plugin adds a grid item on the overview tab of components allowing for a "Open in Devpod" button. it supports allowing the user to choose the IDE it should open with, and also provides the CLI command the user could run to open it up from the command line.
8. scaffolder actions - - this is a package of multiple scaffolder actions:

• terasky:claim-template - This action converts input parameters into a kubernetes yaml manifest for the crossplane claim and writes it to the filesystem of the action based on the format "<cluster>/<namespace>/<kind>/<name>.yaml"
• terasky:crd-template - This action converts input parameters into a kubernetes yaml manifest for the Kubernetes Custom Resource and writes it to the filesystem of the action based on the format "<cluster>/<namespace>/<kind>/<name>.yaml"
• terasky:catalog-info-cleaner - This action takes a backstage entity and cleans up runtime information and then outputs as a catalog-info.yaml file on the filesystem of the action the cleaned up manifest. This is usefull for auto ingested components that you want to enable a push to git of the manifest to allow for a full git based catalog management when needed.

9. Kyverno Policy Reports - - this is a frontend plugin which displays policy report results for kubernetes workloads related to a catalog entity

10. Kyverno Permissions Backend - - this is a backend plugin which registers the permissions for the kyverno policy reports plugin.

11. Kyverno Common - - this is a common library between the frontend and backend kyverno plugins where the permission definitions reside. This is not added into a backstage instance directly, rather it is a dependency of both of the other plugins.

12. GitOps Manifest Updater (formerly Crossplane Claim Updater) - - this is a frontend plugin which allows for updating the gitops manifest of a component residing in a git repository. It supports updating the manifest in the repository and creating a PR with the update. The manifest can be provided in an entity annotations (terasky.backstage.io/source-manifest-url) or by providing a URL to the manifest in the repository within the form. The plugin has support for crossplane based workloads as well as generic kubernetes CRD based workloads that are registered in the system via the Kubernetes Ingestor plugin.

13. Kubernetes Resources Frontend - - this plugin provides a visual graph representation of Kubernetes resources and their dependencies within your clusters. It shows the hierarchical relationships between resources, allows viewing YAML manifests and events for each resource, and supports downloading resource configurations.

14. Kubernetes Resources Backend - - this is a backend plugin which implements the permission framework elements for the kubernetes resources frontend plugin. It registers the permissions which are defined in the common plugin.

15. Kubernetes Resources Common - - this is a shared library between the frontend and backend kubernetes resources plugins where the permission definitions reside. This is not added into a backstage instance directly, rather it is a dependency of both of the other plugins.

16. VCF Automation Frontend - - this plugin provides visibility into VCF deployments, resources, and projects. It offers detailed views of deployment operations, resource states, and project configurations, with support for VSphere VM management, deployment operations tracking, and project administration.

17. VCF Automation Backend - - this backend plugin provides the API integration with VCF services, manages permissions, and processes deployment and resource operations for the VCF Automation frontend plugin.

18. VCF Automation Common - - this is a shared library between the frontend and backend VCF Automation plugins that provides permission definitions and shared functionalities. It is not added directly to a Backstage instance but serves as a dependency for the other VCF plugins.

19. VCF Automation Ingestor - - this plugin ingests VCF Automation deployments into the Backstage catalog, creating system entities from deployments, component entities from VSphere VMs, resource entities from other VCF resource types, and domain entities from VCF projects.

20. Educates Frontend - - this plugin provides a user interface for browsing and accessing Educates training workshops. It displays available workshops with detailed information including descriptions, difficulty levels, durations, and capacity status. Users can start workshop sessions directly from the interface, with support for multiple training portals.

21. Educates Backend - - this backend plugin handles the integration with Educates training portals, manages workshop session requests, and implements permission controls for workshop access. It provides APIs for fetching workshop catalogs and managing workshop sessions.

22. Educates Common - - this is a shared library between the frontend and backend Educates plugins that provides permission definitions, shared types, and common utilities. It is not added directly to a Backstage instance but serves as a dependency for the other Educates plugins.

23. AI Rules Plugin - - this frontend plugin provides comprehensive visualization and management of AI coding rules from various sources including Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Cline, and Claude Code. It displays AI coding guidelines with filtering capabilities, statistics overview, expandable rule cards with metadata, and clickable links to open rule files directly in their git repositories. The plugin automatically discovers rules from git repositories and supports multiple AI tool formats with modern UI components.

24. AI Rules Backend - - this backend plugin provides server-side functionality for the AI Rules frontend plugin. It integrates with Backstage's SCM integrations to fetch and parse AI coding rules from git repositories, handles various rule file formats (Cursor .cursorrules/.mdc files, GitHub Copilot instructions, Cline .md files, and Claude Code CLAUDE.md files), and exposes REST API endpoints with comprehensive content processing capabilities including frontmatter parsing and multi-provider git support.

25. VCF Operations Frontend - - this plugin provides visibility into VCF Operations metrics for VCF Automation backed resources in Backstage. It offers detailed views of metrics for these resources in an intuitive clean UI.

26. VCF Operations Backend - - this backend plugin provides the API integration with VCF operations, manages permissions, and processes resource operations for the VCF operations frontend plugin.

27. VCF Operations Common - - this is a shared library between the frontend and backend VCF operations plugins that provides permission definitions and shared functionalities. It is not added directly to a Backstage instance but serves as a dependency for the other VCF operations plugins.

28. Terraform Scaffolder - - this frontend plugin provides a custom field type for Software Templates that enables discovering and configuring Terraform modules directly within the Backstage interface. It supports automatic form generation based on module variables, handles complex variable types (maps, lists, objects), provides validation, and supports both local and remote module sources. The plugin integrates seamlessly with the Software Templates system and supports the new frontend system through its /alpha export.

29. KRO Resources Frontend - - this plugin provides visibility into KRO RGDs, instances, and managed resources associated with a component. It relies on system-generated annotations from the Kubernetes Ingestor but can work with manually added annotations. The plugin shows general data, provides YAML viewing and event monitoring capabilities, and includes a graph view of resource relationships.

30. KRO Permissions Backend - - this plugin implements the permission framework elements for the KRO frontend plugin. It registers permissions defined in the common plugin and is required as only backend plugins can add permissions in Backstage.

31. KRO Common - - this is a shared library between the frontend and backend KRO plugins that provides permission definitions and shared functionalities. It is not added directly to a Backstage instance but serves as a dependency for the other KRO plugins.