Platform Engineering and Developer Experience 2025 | IDP Guide

# Install Backstage CLI
npx @backstage/create-app@latest

# Structure:
backstage-app/
├── app/           # React frontend
├── backend/       # Node.js backend
├── packages/      # Custom plugins
└── app-config.yaml  # Configuration

# app-config.yaml - base setup
app:
  title: Company Platform
  baseUrl: http://localhost:3000

backend:
  baseUrl: http://localhost:7007
  database:
    client: pg
    connection:
      host: ${POSTGRES_HOST}
      port: 5432
      user: ${POSTGRES_USER}
      password: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}

catalog:
  rules:
    - allow: [Component, API, Resource, System, Domain, Location]
  locations:
    # GitHub organization discovery
    - type: github-discovery
      target: https://github.com/your-org

integrations:
  github:
    - host: github.com
      token: ${GITHUB_TOKEN}

auth:
  providers:
    github:
      development:
        clientId: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_ID}
        clientSecret: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET}

kubernetes:
  serviceLocatorMethod:
    type: multiTenant
  clusterLocatorMethods:
    - type: config
      clusters:
        - name: production
          url: https://k8s.prod.company.com
          authProvider: serviceAccount
          serviceAccountToken: ${K8S_TOKEN}

# template.yaml in templates/nodejs-microservice/
apiVersion: scaffolder.backstage.io/v1beta3
kind: Template
metadata:
  name: nodejs-microservice
  title: Node.js Microservice
  description: Production-ready Node.js API with K8s, CI/CD, monitoring
spec:
  owner: platform-team
  type: service

  parameters:
    - title: Service Information
      required:
        - name
        - owner
      properties:
        name:
          title: Service Name
          type: string
          description: Unique service identifier
          pattern: '^[a-z0-9-]+$'
        description:
          title: Description
          type: string
        owner:
          title: Team Owner
          type: string
          ui:field: OwnerPicker
        system:
          title: System
          type: string
          ui:field: EntityPicker
          ui:options:
            catalogFilter:
              kind: System

  steps:
    # 1. Fetch template skeleton
    - id: fetch
      name: Fetch Template
      action: fetch:template
      input:
        url: ./skeleton
        values:
          name: ${{ parameters.name }}
          description: ${{ parameters.description }}
          owner: ${{ parameters.owner }}

    # 2. Create GitHub repository
    - id: publish
      name: Create GitHub Repository
      action: publish:github
      input:
        allowedHosts: ['github.com']
        description: ${{ parameters.description }}
        repoUrl: github.com?owner=your-org&repo=${{ parameters.name }}
        defaultBranch: main

    # 3. Create Azure DevOps Pipeline
    - id: azure-pipeline
      name: Setup CI/CD Pipeline
      action: azure:pipeline:create
      input:
        organization: your-org
        project: ${{ parameters.name }}
        pipelineYaml: azure-pipelines.yml
        repositoryId: ${{ steps.publish.output.repositoryId }}

    # 4. Provision Kubernetes Namespace
    - id: k8s-namespace
      name: Create Kubernetes Namespace
      action: kubernetes:create:namespace
      input:
        cluster: production
        namespace: ${{ parameters.name }}
        labels:
          team: ${{ parameters.owner }}
          managed-by: backstage

    # 5. Create PostgreSQL Database
    - id: database
      name: Provision Database
      action: database:postgres:create
      input:
        name: ${{ parameters.name }}-db
        size: small
        backups: enabled

    # 6. Setup Monitoring
    - id: monitoring
      name: Configure Monitoring
      action: datadog:service:register
      input:
        serviceName: ${{ parameters.name }}
        team: ${{ parameters.owner }}

    # 7. Register in Catalog
    - id: register
      name: Register in Catalog
      action: catalog:register
      input:
        repoContentsUrl: ${{ steps.publish.output.repoContentsUrl }}
        catalogInfoPath: '/catalog-info.yaml'

  output:
    links:
      - title: Repository
        url: ${{ steps.publish.output.remoteUrl }}
      - title: Pipeline
        url: ${{ steps.azure-pipeline.output.pipelineUrl }}
      - title: Kubernetes
        url: https://k8s.company.com/namespace/${{ parameters.name }}
      - title: Catalog
        icon: catalog
        entityRef: ${{ steps.register.output.entityRef }}