Microcks Backstage provider

This is a plugin for synchronizing Microcks content into Backstage.io catalog.

The microcks-backstage-provider has a special entity provider for discovering catalog API entities defined in one or many Microcks instances. If you're using Microcks to discover APIs from your Git repositories, auto-publish smart mock endpoints and realize contract testing of your components, this provider can synchronize the API definitions from Microcks into your Backstage intance.

Screenshots

Your Services and API from different Microcks instances can be discovered and imported into your Backstage catalog.

Labels on your API in Microcks are be translated onto Backstage systems and owners. The plugin add links to access the API mock endpoints and conformance tests results.

Install

After having created a new backstage app like described in Backstage.io' Getting Started, enter the app directory and run this command to add the Microcks Entity provider as a new backend plugin:

yarn add --cwd packages/backend @microcks/microcks-backstage-provider@^0.0.5

Configure

Microcks Backstage provider allows configuration of one or many providers using the app-config.yaml configuration file of Backstage. Use a microcksApiEntity marker to start configuring them.

Each children key (here dev in the following sample) configures a provider for a specific lifecyle phase of your Entities so you may discover API entities from different Microcks instances.

At your configuration, you add a provider config per liefcycle:

# app-config.yaml

catalog:
  providers:
    microcksApiEntity:
      dev:
        baseUrl: https://microcks.acme.com
        serviceAccount: microcks-serviceaccount
        serviceAccountCredentials: ab54d329-e435-41ae-a900-ec6b3fe15c54
        systemLabel: domain
        ownerLabel: team 
        addLabels: false # optional; copy any other labels from Microcks in Backstage catalog - default is true
        addOpenAPIServerUrl: true # optional; add a server in OpenAPI spec to point to Microcks sandbox URL - default is false
        schedule: # optional; same options as in TaskScheduleDefinition
          # supports cron, ISO duration, "human duration" as used in code
          frequency: { minutes: 2 }
          # supports ISO duration, "human duration" as used in code
          timeout: { minutes: 1 }  

Configuration is pretty straightforward but your may check Microcks documentation on Service Accounts for details.

Once you've done that, you'll also need to declare the Microcks as a backend module or an available entity provider. This operation differs depending on the version of Backstage you're using.

For Backstage versions with the new Backend system

Typically for application created via the CLI starting with Backstage 1.24

You'll need to add the Microcks backend module in the packages/backend/src/index.ts file, before the backend.start() directive. Use this snippet below:

// microcks catalog provider
backend.add(import('@microcks/microcks-backstage-provider'));

For Backstage versions with the old Backend plugin system

You need add the segment below to packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts:

/* packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts */

import { MicrocksApiEntityProvider } from '@microcks/microcks-backstage-provider';

[...]
  const builder = await CatalogBuilder.create(env);

  /** ... other processors and/or providers ... */
  builder.addEntityProvider(
    MicrocksApiEntityProvider.fromConfig(env.config, {
      logger: env.logger,
      scheduler: env.scheduler
    }),
  );

  const { processingEngine, router } = await builder.build();
[...]

Troubleshoot

After having started your Backstage app, you should see some lines like those below in logs:

[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.630Z catalog info Keycloak authentication is not enabled, using a fake token. type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev
[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.699Z catalog info Discovered ApiEntity API Pastry - 2.0 - 2.0.0 type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev
[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.708Z catalog info Discovered ApiEntity Account Service - 1.1.0 type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev
[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.712Z catalog info Discovered ApiEntity HelloService - v1 type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev
[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.728Z catalog info Discovered ApiEntity User signed-up API - 0.1.1 type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev
[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.734Z catalog info Discovered ApiEntity User signed-up API - 0.1.20 type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev
[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.740Z catalog info Discovered ApiEntity User signed-up API - 0.1.30 type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev
[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.745Z catalog info Discovered ApiEntity User signed-up Avro API - 0.1.2 type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev
[1] 2023-01-04T16:07:47.749Z catalog info Applying the mutation with 7 entities type=plugin target=MicrocksApiEntityProvider:dev

Build and release

After a fresh git clone, you can install dependencies, compile typescript and build a new distribution with those commands:

$ yarn install && yarn export-dynamic && yarn tsc && yarn run build

Once happy with result, just push versioned package on npmjs.com with:

$ npm publish

Develop locally

After having created a new backstage app like described in Backstage.io' Getting Started, just edit the packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts file and apply same configuration as above insdtallation directive but with relative path to your local clone of this repository:

/* packages/backend/src/plugins/catalog.ts */

import { MicrocksApiEntityProvider } from '../../../../../github/microcks-backstage-provider';

Just launch your local backstage app using yarn dev at the root folder level.