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Builtin actions

The scaffolder comes with several built-in actions for fetching content, registering in the catalog and of course actions for creating and publishing a git repository.

Action Modules​

There are also several modules available for various SCM tools:

  • Azure DevOps: @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-azure
  • Bitbucket Cloud: @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-bitbucket-cloud
  • Bitbucket Server: @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-bitbucket-server
  • Gerrit: @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gerrit
  • Gitea: @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gitea
  • GitHub: @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-github
  • GitLab: @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab

Installing Action Modules​

Here's how to add an action module, first you need to run this command:

From your Backstage root directory
yarn --cwd packages/backend add @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-github

Then you need to add it to your backend, this is a simplified new backend system for example purposes:

/packages/backend/src/index.ts
import { createBackend } from '@backstage/backend-defaults';

const backend = createBackend();

backend.add(import('@backstage/plugin-app-backend'));

// catalog plugin
backend.add(import('@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend'));
backend.add(
  import('@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-scaffolder-entity-model'),
);

// scaffolder plugin
backend.add(import('@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend'));
backend.add(import('@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-github'));

backend.start();
Note

This is a simplified example of what your backend may look like, you may have more code in here then this.

Listing Actions​

A list of all registered actions can be found under /create/actions. For local development you should be able to reach them at http://localhost:3000/create/actions.

Migrating from fetch:cookiecutter to fetch:template​

The fetch:template action is a new action with a similar API to fetch:cookiecutter but no dependency on cookiecutter. There are two options for migrating templates that use fetch:cookiecutter to use fetch:template:

Using cookiecutterCompat mode​

The new fetch:template action has a cookiecutterCompat flag which should allow most templates built for fetch:cookiecutter to work without any changes.

  1. Update action name in template.yaml. The name should be changed from fetch:cookiecutter to fetch:template.
  2. Set cookiecutterCompat to true in the fetch:template step input in template.yaml.
template.yaml
steps:
   - id: fetch-base
     name: Fetch Base
     action: fetch:cookiecutter
     action: fetch:template
     input:
        url: ./skeleton
        cookiecutterCompat: true
        values:

Manual migration​

If you prefer, you can manually migrate your templates to avoid the need for enabling cookiecutter compatibility mode, which will result in slightly less verbose template variables expressions.

  1. Update action name in template.yaml. The name should be changed from fetch:cookiecutter to fetch:template.
  2. Update variable syntax in file names and content. fetch:cookiecutter expects variables to be enclosed in {{ }} and prefixed with cookiecutter., while fetch:template expects variables to be enclosed in ${{ }} and prefixed with values.. For example, a reference to variable myInputVariable would need to be migrated from {{ cookiecutter.myInputVariable }} to ${{ values.myInputVariable }}.
  3. Replace uses of jsonify with dump. The jsonify filter is built in to cookiecutter, and is not available by default when using fetch:template. The dump filter is the equivalent filter in nunjucks, so an expression like {{ cookiecutter.myAwesomeList | jsonify }} should be migrated to ${{ values.myAwesomeList | dump }}.