rhdh-openshift-ai-connector

name	rhdh-openshift-ai-connector
metadata	{"author":"rhoai3-coding-demo","version":"1.0.0","platform-family":"rhdh","platform-baseline":"repo","ocp-baseline":"repo","skill-group":"Developer Hub"}
description	Use when installing, configuring, or troubleshooting OpenShift AI Connector for Red Hat Developer Hub to accelerate AI development. Covers AI asset mapping (InferenceService to Component, Model Registry to Resource, API specs, TechDocs model cards), RBAC setup, sidecar containers, dynamic plugin installation, metadata enrichment, and diagnostic procedures. Do NOT use for model serving itself (use rhoai-model-serving-platform). Do NOT use for RHDH installation or Git integration.

RHDH OpenShift AI Connector

Install and configure the OpenShift AI Connector for Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10 to automatically discover and surface AI models, model servers, and APIs from Red Hat OpenShift AI in the RHDH Software Catalog.

When to Use

• Installing the OpenShift AI Connector dynamic plugins
• Configuring ServiceAccount and RBAC for RHOAI access
• Setting up sidecar containers (rhoai-normalizer, storage-rest, location)
• Mapping RHOAI artifacts to Backstage entity kinds
• Enriching AI model metadata (API spec, owner, lifecycle, TechDocs)
• Troubleshooting connector data sync issues
• Configuring entity provider in catalog.providers.modelCatalog

Key Concepts

Support Status

• Developer Preview — not production-ready, not supported by Red Hat SLA
• Requires RHOAI 2.25 for model card TechDocs propagation
• RHOAI 2.20+ for other features

RHOAI-to-Backstage Entity Mapping

RHOAI Artifact	Backstage Kind	Type	Purpose
InferenceService	Component	model-server	Running AI model endpoint
Model Registry Version	Resource	ai-model	AI model artifact
Model Server API	API	openapi	REST endpoint specification
Model Cards	TechDocs	N/A	Model documentation

Architecture

Three sidecar containers alongside backstage-backend:

• rhoai-normalizer: Kubernetes controller normalizing RHOAI metadata
• storage-rest: ConfigMap-based storage bridge
• location: Location service providing data to RHDH Entity Provider

Prerequisites

• RHDH 1.10 deployed (Helm)
• RHOAI 2.25 (recommended) or 2.20+ on same cluster
• Model Registry enabled in RHOAI
• Cluster administrator privileges

Validation

# Verify dynamic plugins installed
oc logs -c install-dynamic-plugins deployment/<rhdh> | grep "model-catalog"

# Check sidecar containers running
oc get pod -l app=backstage -o jsonpath='{.items[*].spec.containers[*].name}'

# Verify location service
oc rsh -c backstage-backend deployment/<rhdh> curl http://localhost:9090/list

# Check ConfigMap with cached data
oc get configmap bac-import-model -o json | jq '.binaryData | keys'

# Check backstage-backend logs for entity provider
oc logs deployment/<rhdh> -c backstage-backend | grep "ModelCatalog"

Boundaries

• Developer Preview — not for production workloads
• Model cards from RHOAI < 2.25 registrations do not transfer as TechDocs
• Helm-based deployment only (sidecar container approach)
• baseUrl: http://localhost:9090 is the only supported value for Developer Preview
• API spec must be manually populated via Model Registry Properties

References

• references/source-capture.md — source ledger
• references/official-doc-extraction.md — extracted procedures and config