Spotify this week added additional plugins for its open source Backstage platform that is used to build developer portals. The new plugins make it simpler to address role-based access and access Insights, a tool from Spotify that tracks Backstage usage trends.
In addition, Spotify is also enhancing a Soundcheck plugin for Backstage that is used to visualize and track development of software components. Forthcoming capabilities include a no-code interface that makes it possible to programmatically create checks of code without writing any code.
DevOps teams will also be able to view, export and understand how teams and components are doing compared to established best practices and monitor trends, graphs and historical views, and receive notifications when levels change.
Finally, Spotify is committing to adding additional integrations with third-party tools and platforms such as Snyk, Sonarqube and the open source Argo continuous delivery (CD) platform.
There are now five plugins available via a Spotify Plugins for Backstage subscription service, and Spotify said more are planned.
Meg Watson, a group product manager at Spotify, said Backstage has been gaining traction in cloud-native application environments that are especially challenging to develop using multiple tools. Because of Backstage, developers are not only more productive but turnover has also been reduced because developers are provided with a better experience, she noted.
There’s a lot more focus than ever on developer productivity, which Backstage addresses by creating a catalog of blueprints that developers can readily consume rather than requiring them to build these capabilities themselves multiple times over. The goal is to create scaffolds that developers can consistently reuse across multiple application development projects.
Backstage was donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and is now being advanced by contributions from multiple vendors. Much of that focus is on lowering the barrier of adoption for the platform, said Watson. Specifically, Spotify is working on a QuickStart for Backstage edition of the platform that is simpler to install, she said.
In general, Spotify is trying to strike a balance between centralizing the management of DevOps workflows and the need to enable developers to define workflows that are natural to them versus ones that have been imposed on them, added Watson.
It’s not clear to what degree Backstage will help fuel the adoption of a shift toward platform engineering to centralize the management of DevOps tools and platforms. The concept of a portal through which developers can self-service their own needs may not be new, but as an open source project, Backstage has made it simpler for many organizations to achieve that goal.
Just about every DevOps team is now being asked to find ways to help improve developer productivity at a time when many organizations are trying to do more with fewer resources. Regardless of the motivation, however, it’s apparent that DevOps workflows are continuing to evolve and mature.
In the meantime, DevOps teams would be well-advised to eliminate as many bottlenecks as possible before they negatively impact developer productivity.