Backstage Glossary

The Backstage Glossary lists terms, abbreviations, and phrases used in Backstage, together with their explanations. We encourage you to use the terminology below for clarity and consistency when discussing Backstage.

See also Authentication Glossary, a separate glossary of terms and phrases specifically related to the authentication and identity section of Backstage.

Backstage User Profiles

There are three main user profiles for Backstage: the integrator, the contributor, and the end user (typically a software engineer).

Term	Explanation
Integrator	The integrator hosts the Backstage app and configures which plugins are available to use in the app.
Contributor	The contributor adds functionality to the app by writing plugins.
End user	The end user uses the app's functionality and interacts with its plugins. This profile covers the various roles that help deliver software. The typical end user is a software engineer, but users might also consider themselves designers, data scientists, product owners, engineering managers, technical writers, and so on.
Software engineer	The software engineer is an end user who uses the app's functionality and interacts with its plugins in the course of writing and documenting code. This user is more likely to embed documentation in the code files they produce, and create rough drafts of conceptual pages in collaboration with a technical writer or technical editor.
Technical writer	The technical writer is an end user who uses the app's functionality and interacts with its plugins in the course of writing and editing documentation. This user is more likely to produce and customize templates and produce conceptual pages to supplement documentation embedded in code files.