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TechDocs Backend Extensions

The TechDocs backend plugin provides the following extension points:

  • techdocsPreparerExtensionPoint
    • Register a custom docs PreparerBase extension
    • Ideal for when you want a custom type of docs created for a specific entity type
  • techdocsBuildsExtensionPoint
    • Allows overriding the build phase Winston log transport (by default does not log to console)
    • Allows overriding the DocsBuildStrategy
  • techdocsPublisherExtensionPoint
    • Register a custom docs publisher
  • techdocsGeneratorExtensionPoint

Extension points are exported from @backstage/plugin-techdocs-backend.

Examples​

Log TechDocs Build phase details to console​

By default, the TechDocs build phase logs to the UI, but does not log to the console. However, the techdocsBuildsExtensionPoint can be used to setup a custom Winston transport for TechDocs build logs.

Here is an example of logging to console:

packages/backend/src/extensions/techDocsExtension.ts
import { techdocsBuildsExtensionPoint } from '@backstage/plugin-techdocs-backend';
import { createBackendModule } from '@backstage/backend-plugin-api';
import { transports } from 'winston';

export const techDocsExtension = createBackendModule({
  pluginId: 'techdocs',
  moduleId: 'techdocs-build-log-transport-extension',
  register(env) {
    env.registerInit({
      deps: {
        build: techdocsBuildsExtensionPoint,
      },
      async init({ build }) {
        // You can obviously use any custom transport here...
        build.setBuildLogTransport(new transports.Console());
      },
    });
  },
});

And then of course register this extension with the backend:

packages/backend/src/index.ts
import {techDocsExtension} from "./extensions/techDocsExtension";
...
backend.add(techDocsExtension);