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Chapter 1. Installing dynamic plugins in Red Hat Developer Hub

The dynamic plugin support is based on the backend plugin manager package, which is a service that scans a configured root directory (dynamicPlugins.rootDirectory in the app-config.yaml file) for dynamic plugin packages and loads them dynamically.

You can use the dynamic plugins that come preinstalled with Red Hat Developer Hub or install external dynamic plugins from a public NPM registry.

1.1. Installing dynamic plugins with the Red Hat Developer Hub Operator

You can store the configuration for dynamic plugins in a ConfigMap object that your Backstage custom resource (CR) can reference.

Note

If the pluginConfig field references environment variables, you must define the variables in your <my_product_secrets> secret.

Procedure

  1. From the OpenShift Container Platform web console, select the ConfigMaps tab.
  2. Click Create ConfigMap.

  3. From the Create ConfigMap page, select the YAML view option in Configure via and edit the file, if needed.

    Example ConfigMap object using the GitHub dynamic plugin

    kind: ConfigMap
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: dynamic-plugins-rhdh
data:
  dynamic-plugins.yaml: |
    includes:
      - dynamic-plugins.default.yaml
    plugins:
      - package: './dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-github-dynamic'
        disabled: false
        pluginConfig:
          catalog:
            providers:
              github:
                organization: "${GITHUB_ORG}"
                schedule:
                  frequency: { minutes: 1 }
                  timeout: { minutes: 1 }
                  initialDelay: { seconds: 100 }
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  4. Click Create.
  5. Go to the Topology view.

  6. Click on the overflow menu for the Red Hat Developer Hub instance that you want to use and select Edit Backstage to load the YAML view of the Red Hat Developer Hub instance.

    operator install 2

  7. Add the dynamicPluginsConfigMapName field to your Backstage CR. For example: 

    apiVersion: rhdh.redhat.com/v1alpha3
kind: Backstage
metadata:
  name: my-rhdh
spec:
  application:
# ...
    dynamicPluginsConfigMapName: dynamic-plugins-rhdh
# ...
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  8. Click Save.
  9. Navigate back to the Topology view and wait for the Red Hat Developer Hub pod to start.
  10. Click the Open URL icon to start using the Red Hat Developer Hub platform with the new configuration changes.

Verification

  • Ensure that the dynamic plugins configuration has been loaded, by appending /api/dynamic-plugins-info/loaded-plugins to your Red Hat Developer Hub root URL and checking the list of plugins:

    Example list of plugins

    [
  {
    "name": "backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-github-dynamic",
    "version": "0.5.2",
    "platform": "node",
    "role": "backend-plugin-module"
  },
  {
    "name": "backstage-plugin-techdocs",
    "version": "1.10.0",
    "role": "frontend-plugin",
    "platform": "web"
  },
  {
    "name": "backstage-plugin-techdocs-backend-dynamic",
    "version": "1.9.5",
    "platform": "node",
    "role": "backend-plugin"
  },
]
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1.2. Installing dynamic plugins using the Helm chart

You can deploy a Developer Hub instance using a Helm chart, which is a flexible installation method. With the Helm chart, you can sideload dynamic plugins into your Developer Hub instance without having to recompile your code or rebuild the container.

To install dynamic plugins in Developer Hub using Helm, add the following global.dynamic parameters in your Helm chart:

  • plugins: the dynamic plugins list intended for installation. By default, the list is empty. You can populate the plugins list with the following fields:

    • package: a package specification for the dynamic plugin package that you want to install. You can use a package for either a local or an external dynamic plugin installation. For a local installation, use a path to the local folder containing the dynamic plugin. For an external installation, use a package specification from a public NPM repository.
    • integrity (required for external packages): an integrity checksum in the form of <alg>-<digest> specific to the package. Supported algorithms include sha256, sha384 and sha512.
    • pluginConfig: an optional plugin-specific app-config.yaml YAML fragment. See plugin configuration for more information.
    • disabled: disables the dynamic plugin if set to true. Default: false.
  • includes: a list of YAML files utilizing the same syntax.
Note

The plugins list in the includes file is merged with the plugins list in the main Helm values. If a plugin package is mentioned in both plugins lists, the plugins fields in the main Helm values override the plugins fields in the includes file. The default configuration includes the dynamic-plugins.default.yaml file, which contains all of the dynamic plugins preinstalled in Developer Hub, whether enabled or disabled by default.

1.2.1. Example Helm chart configurations for dynamic plugin installations

The following examples demonstrate how to configure the Helm chart for specific types of dynamic plugin installations.

Configuring a local plugin and an external plugin when the external plugin requires a specific configuration

global:
  dynamic:
    plugins:
      - package: <alocal package-spec used by npm pack>
      - package: <external package-spec used by npm pack>
        integrity: sha512-<some hash>
        pluginConfig: ...
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Disabling a plugin from an included file

global:
  dynamic:
    includes:
      - dynamic-plugins.default.yaml
    plugins:
      - package: <some imported plugins listed in dynamic-plugins.default.yaml>
        disabled: true
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Enabling a plugin from an included file

global:
  dynamic:
    includes:
      - dynamic-plugins.default.yaml
    plugins:
      - package: <some imported plugins listed in dynamic-plugins.custom.yaml>
        disabled: false
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Enabling a plugin that is disabled in an included file

global:
  dynamic:
    includes:
      - dynamic-plugins.default.yaml
    plugins:
      - package: <some imported plugins listed in dynamic-plugins.custom.yaml>
        disabled: false
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1.3. Installing dynamic plugins in an air-gapped environment

You can install external plugins in an air-gapped environment by setting up a custom NPM registry.

You can configure the NPM registry URL and authentication information for dynamic plugin packages using a Helm chart. For dynamic plugin packages obtained through npm pack, you can use a .npmrc file.

Using the Helm chart, add the .npmrc file to the NPM registry by creating a secret. For example: 

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: <release_name>-dynamic-plugins-npmrc
1 

type: Opaque
stringData:
  .npmrc: |
    registry=<registry-url>
    //<registry-url>:_authToken=<auth-token>
          ...
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1
Replace <release_name> with your Helm release name. This name is a unique identifier for each chart installation in the Kubernetes cluster.
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