What is
Backstage
?
Most platform initiatives fail the same way: they start too big, get funded like projects instead of products, build for too long without testing with users, and confuse renaming an infrastructure team with building a platform team. Instead, start small, learn fast and scale deliberately.
At a glance
Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
Primary use case | Finding casting calls and creative jobs, applying for roles, and recruiting talent |
Deployment type | SaaS with web access and an iOS app |
Pricing model | Subscription membership; free talent profile available |
Source type | Open |
Ideal team size | Individual creatives and production teams |
Required skills | Acting, modeling, voiceover, content creation, or production skills, depending on the role |
AEP branch | Tooling |
AEP category | Developer Control Plane |
AEP subcategory | Portal & Catalog |
Profile
Portal & Catalog is Backstage’s most specific AEP level. Backstage is an open platform developed by Spotify for building developer portals, with a centralized software catalog at its core.
The framework brings information and tools into a portal that can be extended with plugins. Its TechDocs feature presents Markdown documentation within the portal, and the documentation describes using MkDocs configuration and catalog metadata to publish documentation for catalog entities.
Focus
Backstage is aimed at developers and teams building developer portals. It addresses fragmented software information by providing a centralized catalog for discovering software and its associated documentation.
Background
Backstage was developed by Spotify and is available as an open-source project in the Backstage GitHub repository. The supplied company-background research reports that the repository had over 500 contributors in a 2022 contributor profile. The available research does not establish a founding date or funding history.
Features
Centralized software catalog
The catalog provides a central place to discover software and its related information. Catalog entities can be registered with metadata files such as catalog-info.yaml.
TechDocs
TechDocs displays documentation alongside software information in the portal. Teams can write documentation in Markdown and use MkDocs configuration, including mkdocs.yml, to create and publish docs for catalog entities.
Plugin-based portal
Plugins let teams extend the portal with additional functionality. Backstage includes frontend plugins, and its open-source repository provides the framework and project code for building and customizing developer portals.
Pros and cons
Pros
The open-source framework can be customized to build developer portals around a centralized software catalog.
TechDocs supports documentation written in Markdown and displayed alongside catalog entities.
The plugin architecture provides a way to extend the portal, with community contributions available through the project repository.
Cons
Backstage is a framework for building a portal, so teams need to configure and customize the portal and its catalog rather than use a finished, universally configured product.
A Backstage GitHub issue describes onboarding as complicated. The framework’s flexibility across different company environments, infrastructure, and source control systems can make setup more involved.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
How does Backstage organize software information?
Backstage uses a centralized software catalog to organize information about software and its ownership; catalog entities can be registered with metadata files such as catalog-info.yaml.
Is Backstage open source?
Backstage is an open-source framework developed by Spotify for building developer portals.
Can Backstage display software documentation?
Backstage TechDocs presents Markdown documentation alongside software information in the portal, using MkDocs configuration to publish documentation for catalog entities.
Can teams customize Backstage?
Backstage can be customized with plugins that extend its portal with additional functionality. The framework includes frontend plugins.
What are Backstage's limitations?
Backstage requires teams to configure and customize the portal and its catalog rather than use a finished, universally configured product; a GitHub issue describes onboarding as complicated.
