Files
backstage/plugins/techdocs-backend
blam 101978963d Merge branch 'master' of github.com:spotify/backstage into migrate-to-msw
* 'master' of github.com:spotify/backstage: (139 commits)
  Cleanup
  Update PinButton.test.tsx
  feat: update github insights plugin version (#2973)
  Ignore IntelliJ *.iml files (#2971)
  chore(deps): bump rollup-plugin-dts from 1.4.11 to 1.4.13
  fix the plugin card on plugins page
  align 'Add to Marketplace' button on plugins page
  fix the PluginGrid on mobiles sizes
  use getBy query instead of queryBy when asserting for elements present in document (#2951)
  Update PinButton.tsx
  Add test case for Progress component (#2953)
  fix the styling of footer copy on mobile
  add changeset
  handle the case where no entities are available to show
  core-api: work around issue with ApiRef export const declarations
  core-api: move utility api system implementation into apis/system
  Update docs regarding npm config ignore-scripts flag
  Another try
  Fix Core Features configuration id (#2948)
  Fix test?
  ...
2020-10-19 23:57:40 +02:00
..
2020-08-07 18:51:08 +02:00

techdocs-backend

This is the backend part of the techdocs plugin.

Getting Started

This backend plugin can be started in a standalone mode from directly in this package with yarn start. However, it will have limited functionality and that process is most convenient when developing the techdocs backend plugin itself.

To evaluate TechDocs and have a greater amount of functionality available, instead do

# in one terminal window, run this from from the very root of the Backstage project
cd packages/backend
yarn start

What techdocs-backend does

This plugin is the backend part of the techdocs plugin. It provides building and serving of your docs without having to use another service and hosting provider. To use it set your techdocs storageUrl in your app-config.yml to http://localhost:7000/api/techdocs/static/docs.

techdocs:
  storageUrl: http://localhost:7000/api/techdocs/static/docs

Extending techdocs-backend

Currently the build process of techdocs-backend is split up in these three stages.

  • Preparers
  • Generators
  • Publishers

Preparers read your entity data and creates a working directory with your documentation source code. For example if you have set your backstage.io/techdocs-ref to github:https://github.com/spotify/backstage.git it will clone that repository to a temp folder and pass that on to the generator.

Generators takes the prepared source and runs the techdocs-container on it. It then passes on the output folder of that build to the publisher.

Publishers gets a folder path from the generator and publish it to your storage solution. Currently the only built in storage solution is a folder called static/docs inside the techdocs-backend plugin.

Any of these can be extended. If we want to publish to a external static file server using rsync for example that can be done by creating a rsync publisher. (Keep in mind that if you want techdocs-backend to initiate a build this would also require techdocs-backend to act as a proxy, which is not yet implemented.)