Backstage Weekly 82 - DevTools plugin, deprecating React 16, CNCF Platforms survey

Hi y’all! There are so many things happening lately it’s hard to choose a few things!

• New DevTools 🧰 plugin - everything you need to know about your instance without leaving Backstage
• Deprecating React 16 in Backstage
• White paper: Managed Backstage vs self-hosted Backstage
• CNCF Platforms Survey - let’s represent Backstage here!
• AVIV Group is looking for an engineer to take their Backstage IDP to the next level

Backstage DevTools 🧰 Plugin

Backstage regular awanlin is back at it! This time, Andre is bringing us a plugin that showcases key information about your instance in a nifty UI. The plugin is meant to open a world of new features to help Backstage Adopters who run the Ops side of things

The plugin can also render your current configs, and brings in an optional tab where you can keep track of external dependencies. The plugin is designed to be extensible with more tabs too.

The DevTools 🧰 Plugin will be released with Backstage 1.14, scheduled for May 16th. You could start using the plugin tho, check out the README for more details.

🧡 Roadie is hiring 🧡 If you’re a Product Manager with experience in dev tooling and want to work with Backstage, Roadie is looking for you! Apply now!

Deprecating React 16

In order to move Backstage’s dependencies to rely on React 18 and migrate to Material-UI v5, maintainer Rugvip registered the deprecation of React 16. After Backstage 1.14, if you’re using React 16, you’ll get the following warning:

If you have custom React code in your Backstage instance, via plugins, extensions or customizations, make sure to review which APIs have changed by checking React’s Blog.

Whitepaper: Managed Backstage vs self-hosted Backstage

To adopt Backstage you can either set up and maintain Backstage on your own and then build an IDP on top of your self-hosted instance. Or, defer ownership of the instance to Roadie and only focus on building your IDP. However, what do you gain and lose in each alternative?

We’ve put together a white paper with considerations across 6 dimensions from deployment and security to support and customizability. Check out the whitepaper [walled]

CNCF Platforms: a survey

Some of you may have read the great paper published by the the CNCF Platforms WG. The most refreshing thing about this working group is that it’s working towards a vendor-neutral perspective on Platforms. Now, the group is looking to gauge the community to get more data for their next paper. You’re welcome to fill this survey whether you’re a platform builder or a platform consumer. Help the Platforms Working Group bring vendor-neutral insights about Platforms by taking the survey now.