Catalog Customization
The Backstage software catalog comes with a default CatalogIndexPage to filter and find catalog entities. This is already set up by default by @backstage/create-app. If you want to change the default index page - to set the initially selected filter, adjust columns, add actions, or to add a custom filter to the catalog - the following sections will show you how.
Pagination
Initial support for pagination of the CatalogIndexPage was added in v1.21.0 of Backstage, so make sure you are on that version or newer to use this feature. To enable pagination you simply need to pass in the pagination prop like this:
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage pagination />} />
Initially Selected Filter
By default the initially selected filter defaults to Owned. If you are still building up your catalog this may show an empty list to start. If you would prefer this to show All as the default, here's how you can make that change:
<Route
path="/catalog"
element={<CatalogIndexPage initiallySelectedFilter="all" />}
/>
Possible options are: owned, starred, or all
Initially Selected Kind
By default the initially selected Kind when viewing the Catalog is Component, but you may have reasons that you want this to be different. Let's say at your Organization they would like it to always default to Domain, here's how you would do that:
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage initialKind="domain" />} />
Possible options are all the default Kinds as well as any custom Kinds that you have added.
Owner Picker Mode
The Owner filter by default will only contain a list of Users and/or Groups that actually own an entity in the Catalog, now you may have reason to change this. Here's how:
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage ownerPickerMode="all" />} />
Possible options are: owners-only or all
Table Options
The tables used within Backstage are built on top of @material-table/core and the CatalogIndexPage has a tableOptions prop that allows you to customize the underlying table to a certain extent, but there are some hard coded Backstage settings that can't be changed. Here's an example of how to use this prop to disable the search filter field in the table's header:
<Route
path="/catalog"
element={<CatalogIndexPage tableOptions={{ search: false }} />}
/>
There are many options that can be set using tableOptions, the full list of settings can be found in the @material-table/core Options interface (this link goes to v3.1.0 of @material-table/core as that is the version currently used by Backstage).
Customize Columns
The columns you see in the CatalogIndexPage were selected to be a good starting point for most, but there may be cases where you would like to add or remove columns from existing or custom Kinds.
Adding a column to an existing Kind
Suppose we want to add a new User Email column to the User kind in the Catalog. We can do this by overriding the columns that we pass into the CatalogIndexPage component in our App.tsx. First, we need to match the entity kind that we want to override, and then define the columns to show:
{
}
const myColumnsFunc: CatalogTableColumnsFunc = entityListContext => {
if (entityListContext.filters.kind?.value === 'user') {
return [
// Render existing columns
...CatalogTable.defaultColumnsFunc(entityListContext),
// Add new columns here
];
}
return CatalogTable.defaultColumnsFunc(entityListContext);
};
{
}
Then, we can implement the createUserEmailColumn function and add it to the list of columns. field is used to access the data from the entity, while render lets us customize how we display the data:
const createUserEmailColumn = (): TableColumn<CatalogTableRow> => ({
title: 'User Email',
field: 'entity.spec.profile.email',
render: ({ entity }) => (
<OverflowTooltip
text={entity.spec?.profile?.['email'] || 'N/A'}
placement="bottom-start"
/>
),
});
const myColumnsFunc: CatalogTableColumnsFunc = entityListContext => {
if (entityListContext.filters.kind?.value === 'user') {
return [
return [
// Render existing columns
...CatalogTable.defaultColumnsFunc(entityListContext),
// Add new columns here
createUserEmailColumn(),
];
}
return CatalogTable.defaultColumnsFunc(entityListContext);
};
Finally, we can pass the myColumnsFunc to the CatalogIndexPage component:
const routes = (
<FlatRoutes>
<Route
path="/catalog"
element={
<CatalogIndexPage
pagination={{ mode: 'offset', limit: 20 }}
columns={myColumnsFunc}
/>
}
/>
{/* Other routes */}
</FlatRoutes>
)
Adding columns to a custom or specific Kind
Another use case for customization is when adding a custom Kind. This feature is available in Backstage >= v1.23.0. For example:
import {
CatalogEntityPage,
CatalogIndexPage,
catalogPlugin,
CatalogTable,
CatalogTableColumnsFunc,
} from '@backstage/plugin-catalog';
const myColumnsFunc: CatalogTableColumnsFunc = entityListContext => {
if (entityListContext.filters.kind?.value === 'MyKind') {
return [
CatalogTable.columns.createNameColumn(),
CatalogTable.columns.createOwnerColumn(),
];
}
return CatalogTable.defaultColumnsFunc(entityListContext);
};
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage />} />
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage columns={myColumnsFunc} />} />
In the examples above, the contents of the files have been shortened for simplicity.
Customize Actions
The CatalogIndexPage comes with three default actions - view, edit, and star. You might want to add more.
To do this, first you'll need to add @mui/utils to your packages/app/package.json:
yarn --cwd packages/app add @mui/utils
Then you'll do the following:
import {
AlertDisplay,
OAuthRequestDialog,
SignInPage,
TableProps,
} from '@backstage/core-components';
import {
CatalogEntityPage,
CatalogIndexPage,
CatalogTableRow,
catalogPlugin,
} from '@backstage/plugin-catalog';
import { Typography } from '@material-ui/core';
import OpenInNew from '@material-ui/icons/OpenInNew';
import { visuallyHidden } from '@mui/utils';
const customActions: TableProps<CatalogTableRow>['actions'] = [
({ entity }) => {
const url = 'https://backstage.io/';
const title = `View - ${entity.metadata.name}`;
return {
icon: () => (
<>
<Typography style={visuallyHidden}>{title}</Typography>
<OpenInNew fontSize="small" />
</>
),
tooltip: title,
disabled: !url,
onClick: () => {
if (!url) return;
window.open(url, '_blank');
},
};
},
];
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage />} />
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage actions={customActions} />} />
In the example above, the contents of App.tsx has been shortened for simplicity.
The above customization will override the existing actions. Currently, the only way to keep them and add your own is to also include the existing actions in your array by copying them from the defaultActions.
Customize Filters
There are various ways to customize filters: adjusting the existing filters with props, adding or removing default filters, creating brand-new custom filters, etc. The following sections cover these cases:
Default Filter Props
There are a set of default filters that you can use, which surface all the props mentioned earlier in this document. Here's how they can be used:
import { DefaultFilters } from '@backstage/plugin-catalog-react';
<Route
path="/catalog"
element={
<CatalogIndexPage
filters={
<>
<DefaultFilters
initialKind="Domain"
initiallySelectedFilter="all"
ownerPickerMode="all"
/>
</>
}
/>
}
/>;
Removing Default Filters
If you have reasons not to use the Lifecycle, Tag, and Processing Status filters, here's an example of how to remove them:
import {
EntityKindPicker,
EntityTypePicker,
UserListPicker,
EntityOwnerPicker,
EntityNamespacePicker,
} from '@backstage/plugin-catalog-react';
<Route
path="/catalog"
element={
<CatalogIndexPage
filters={
<>
<EntityKindPicker />
<EntityTypePicker />
<UserListPicker />
<EntityOwnerPicker />
<EntityNamespacePicker />
</>
}
/>
}
/>;
Custom Filters
You can add custom filters. For example, suppose that we want to allow filtering by a custom annotation added to entities, company.com/security-tier. Here is how we can build a filter to support that need.
First we need to create a new filter that implements the EntityFilter interface:
import { EntityFilter } from '@backstage/plugin-catalog-react';
import { Entity } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
class EntitySecurityTierFilter implements EntityFilter {
constructor(readonly values: string[]) {}
filterEntity(entity: Entity): boolean {
const tier = entity.metadata.annotations?.['company.com/security-tier'];
return tier !== undefined && this.values.includes(tier);
}
}
The EntityFilter interface permits backend filters, which are passed along to the catalog-backend - or frontend filters, which are applied after entities are loaded from the backend.
We'll use this filter to extend the default filters in a type-safe way. Let's create the custom filter shape extending the default somewhere alongside this filter:
export type CustomFilters = DefaultEntityFilters & {
securityTiers?: EntitySecurityTierFilter;
};
To control this filter, we can create a React component that shows checkboxes for the security tiers. This component will make use of the useEntityList hook, which accepts this extended filter type as a generic parameter:
export const EntitySecurityTierPicker = () => {
// The securityTiers key is recognized due to the CustomFilter generic
const {
filters: { securityTiers },
updateFilters,
} = useEntityList<CustomFilters>();
// Toggles the value, depending on whether it's already selected
function onChange(value: string) {
const newTiers = securityTiers?.values.includes(value)
? securityTiers.values.filter(tier => tier !== value)
: [...(securityTiers?.values ?? []), value];
updateFilters({
securityTiers: newTiers.length
? new EntitySecurityTierFilter(newTiers)
: undefined,
});
}
const tierOptions = ['1', '2', '3'];
return (
<FormControl component="fieldset">
<Typography variant="button">Security Tier</Typography>
<FormGroup>
{tierOptions.map(tier => (
<FormControlLabel
key={tier}
control={
<Checkbox
checked={securityTiers?.values.includes(tier)}
onChange={() => onChange(tier)}
/>
}
label={`Tier ${tier}`}
/>
))}
</FormGroup>
</FormControl>
);
};
Now we can add the component to CatalogIndexPage:
{
}
import { DefaultFilters } from '@backstage/plugin-catalog-react';
{
}
const routes = (
<FlatRoutes>
<Navigate key="/" to="catalog" />
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage />} />
<Route
path="/catalog"
element={
<CatalogIndexPage
filters={
<>
<DefaultFilters />
<EntitySecurityTierPicker />
</>
}
/>
}
/>
{/* ... */}
</FlatRoutes>
);
The same method can be used to customize the default filters with a different interface - for such usage, the generic argument isn't needed since the filter shape remains the same as the default.
Advanced Customization
For those where none of the above fits their needs you can take the option of creating a fully custom CatalogIndexPage.
import {
PageWithHeader,
Content,
ContentHeader,
SupportButton,
} from '@backstage/core-components';
import { useApi, configApiRef } from '@backstage/core-plugin-api';
import { CatalogTable } from '@backstage/plugin-catalog';
import {
EntityListProvider,
CatalogFilterLayout,
EntityKindPicker,
EntityLifecyclePicker,
EntityNamespacePicker,
EntityOwnerPicker,
EntityProcessingStatusPicker,
EntityTagPicker,
EntityTypePicker,
UserListPicker,
} from '@backstage/plugin-catalog-react';
import React from 'react';
export const CustomCatalogPage = () => {
const orgName =
useApi(configApiRef).getOptionalString('organization.name') ?? 'Backstage';
return (
<PageWithHeader title={orgName} themeId="home">
<Content>
<ContentHeader title="">
<SupportButton>All your software catalog entities</SupportButton>
</ContentHeader>
<EntityListProvider pagination>
<CatalogFilterLayout>
<CatalogFilterLayout.Filters>
<EntityKindPicker />
<EntityTypePicker />
<UserListPicker />
<EntityOwnerPicker />
<EntityLifecyclePicker />
<EntityTagPicker />
<EntityProcessingStatusPicker />
<EntityNamespacePicker />
</CatalogFilterLayout.Filters>
<CatalogFilterLayout.Content>
<CatalogTable />
</CatalogFilterLayout.Content>
</CatalogFilterLayout>
</EntityListProvider>
</Content>
</PageWithHeader>
);
};
The above is a very basic version of a fully custom CatalogIndexPage, you'll want to explore the various props to see what you can all do with them. This was built off the building blocks seen in the DefaultCatalogPage
The catalog index page is designed to have a minimal code footprint to support easy customization, but creating a replica does introduce a possibility of drifting out of date over time. Be sure to check the catalog CHANGELOG periodically.
To use this custom CatalogIndexPage which we called CustomCatalogPage, you'll need to make the following change:
const routes = (
<FlatRoutes>
<Navigate key="/" to="catalog" />
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage />} />
<Route path="/catalog" element={<CatalogIndexPage />}>
<CustomCatalogPage />
</Route>
{/* ... */}
</FlatRoutes>
);