Chapter 1. New features

Developer Hub introduces the techdocsAddons configuration option for a dynamic plugin’s front-end configuration. This feature allows dynamic plugins to export one or more components as TechDocs add-ons, enhancing the TechDocs experience. Add-ons can be configured using props to modify their behavior, such as manipulating a TechDocs site’s Document Object Model (DOM).

For more information, see TechDocs for Red Hat Developer Hub.

With this update, Developer Hub introduces a new global header plugin, providing a configurable and extendable header in RHDH. You can use the default header with key RHDH components or fully customize it by enabling, disabling, or extending its functionality through the dynamic plugin system.

The key features and enhancements include:

The global header plugin also introduces new mount points in the dynamic plugin system, offering enhanced flexibility in positioning, styling, and extending the header, enabling a fully customizable experience in RHDH.

For more information about global header, see Configuring the global header in Red Hat Developer Hub.

RHDH now supports adding plugins or external links as floating actions on Red Hat Developer Hub. This feature allows you to configure commonly used plugins as floating buttons, providing quick access and improving navigation by centralizing essential plugins on a single page.

For more information, see Configuring a floating action button in Red Hat Developer Hub.

Red Hat Developer Hub now supports high availability setups in OpenShift Container Platform. This enhancement allows the deployment to scale beyond a single replica, ensuring the application remains operational and accessible even in the event of failures or disruptions.

For more information, see Configuring high availability in Red Hat Developer Hub.

With RHDH 1.5, two new cards are available for the customizable home page:

These cards track visited pages for each user within their browser and can be configured in the dynamic home page as follows:

- mountPoint: home.page/cards
 importName: TopVisitedCard
 config:
   layouts:
     xl: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     lg: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     md: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     sm: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     xs: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     xxs: { w: 6, h: 4 }


- mountPoint: home.page/cards
 importName: RecentlyVisitedCard
 config:
   layouts:
     xl: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     lg: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     md: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     sm: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     xs: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     xxs: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }

- mountPoint: home.page/cards
 importName: TopVisitedCard
 config:
   layouts:
     xl: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     lg: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     md: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     sm: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     xs: { w: 6, h: 4 }
     xxs: { w: 6, h: 4 }


- mountPoint: home.page/cards
 importName: RecentlyVisitedCard
 config:
   layouts:
     xl: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     lg: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     md: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     sm: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     xs: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }
     xxs: { w: 6, h: 4, x: 6 }

The new cards enhance the user experience by providing quick access to frequently used and recently viewed content.

The GitHub organization entity provider now manages both primary and secondary GitHub rate limits. It automatically pauses operations when these limits are reached, ensuring greater reliability, especially when ingesting large GitHub organizations.

A new catalog.disableRelationsCompatibility configuration option has been introduced. Enabling this option enhances catalog performance and reduces memory usage. However, it may impact consumers that depend on the target field in relation objects.

The scaffolder.template.management permission has been introduced to restrict access to front-end template management features, ensuring better control over template modifications. For more information, see Permission policies reference.

Previously, running multi-replica RHDH with a persistent volume for the dynamic plugins cache was not possible due to potential write conflicts. RHDH 1.5 mitigates that risk, allowing for better scalability and stability.

Previously, the default Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) could only be mounted to the Backstage container. With this update, you can now configure which container(s) the PVC must be mounted to, providing greater flexibility in storage management.

This update enhances the status conditions in the Backstage custom resource(s) managed by the Developer Hub Operator, providing clearer insights into application availability.

A new DeployInProgress reason has been introduced under the Deployed condition. It appears when the application is still starting up and not fully available. The Deployed reason now only reflects when the Developer Hub application is fully up and running with the desired number of replicas, improving visibility during deployment. For example:

Status:
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time: 2025-03-10T17:09:22Z
    Message: Deployment status: Available: Deployment does not have minimum availability. Progressing: ReplicaSet "backstage-bs1-674476fd67" is progressing.
    Reason: DeployInProgress
    Status: False
    Type: Deployed

...
Status:
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time: 2025-03-10T17:14:43Z
    Message:
    Reason: Deployed
    Status: True
    Type: Deployed

Status:
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time: 2025-03-10T17:09:22Z
    Message: Deployment status: Available: Deployment does not have minimum availability. Progressing: ReplicaSet "backstage-bs1-674476fd67" is progressing.
    Reason: DeployInProgress
    Status: False
    Type: Deployed

...
Status:
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time: 2025-03-10T17:14:43Z
    Message:
    Reason: Deployed
    Status: True
    Type: Deployed

The RHDH Operator now introduces the ability to configure multiple secrets within a single YAML file, similar to PVCs. Additionally, it allows annotations to specify:

This enhancement provides greater flexibility in managing secrets across different containers.

The home page plugin now provides more ways to customize and personalize the title. If your user catalog entity includes a displayName, the title can dynamically display your first name or display name for a more personalized experience.

In this update, the Developer Hub Operator has been enhanced to automatically detect the platform it is running on (such as EKS, AKS, or GKE) and apply the necessary patches to the fsGroup field in the security contexts of the containers.

This enhancement removes the need for manual updates to the Operator default configuration, simplifying the installation process and eliminating some post-installation steps.

The installation script for the Developer Hub Operator has been improved to support all supported platforms. Additionally, it now works seamlessly in both partially disconnected and fully disconnected environments, making the setup process more versatile and accessible.

For more information, see Installing Red Hat Developer Hub in an air-gapped environment with the Operator.

This release introduces significant enhancements to the RBAC plugin, allowing administrators to select multiple users, groups, plugins, and their associated permissions at once when creating a role. Previously, this process was done individually, which could be time-consuming. Now, administrators can quickly select multiple items in a single action, simplifying and speeding up role and permission configuration.

Additionally, resource-based permissions now display more intuitive names, showing associated CRUD actions rather than just resource types, which improves visibility and usability.

These updates reduce manual effort, increase efficiency, and enhance the overall user experience when managing access control.

For more information, see Authorization document.

Developer Hub introduces the @backstage-community/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-kubernetes plugin as a dynamic plugin, enabling Backstage template actions for Kubernetes. Currently, it includes the create-namespace action. The plugin for Kubernetes scaffolder actions is disabled by default.

For more information, see Kubernetes custom actions in Red Hat Developer Hub.