rhdh-dynamic-plugins-install

name	rhdh-dynamic-plugins-install
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 and viewing plugins in Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10, including Operator-based and Helm-based dynamic plugin installation, OCI registry configuration, custom certificates, air-gapped mirroring, dependency management, custom plugin export/packaging/loading, front-end wiring, Extensions UI management, and troubleshooting pod startup failures. Do NOT use for developing new plugins from scratch (use rhdh-dynamic-plugins-develop) or for using already-installed plugins (use rhdh-dynamic-plugins-usage).

RHDH Dynamic Plugins: Install and View

Use this skill to install, configure, and view dynamic plugins in Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10.

Source Grounding

Read references/source-capture.md before using product behavior. Official Red Hat documentation is product authority. This skill covers Operator and Helm plugin installation, OCI/TGZ/NPM plugin loading, custom certificates, air-gapped mirroring, dependency management, custom plugin export and packaging, front-end wiring, Extensions UI, and troubleshooting.

Installation Methods

Operator-Based

Store plugin config in a ConfigMap (dynamic-plugins.yaml key) and reference it from the Backstage CR via spec.application.dynamicPluginsConfigMapName. The CR apiVersion is rhdh.redhat.com/v1alpha5, kind Backstage.

Helm-Based

Use global.dynamic.plugins in Helm values. Plugin merging: main values override includes file entries for matching packages.

See references/official-doc-extraction.md for full YAML examples of both methods.

Plugin Loading Formats

Format	package value	Integrity required
OCI image	oci://quay.io/example/image:v1.0.0	No (digest optional)
OCI digest	oci://quay.io/example/image@sha256:...	Implicit
TGZ	https://example.com/plugin-1.0.0.tgz	Yes (integrity:)
NPM	@example/plugin@1.0.0	Yes (integrity:)
Local dir	./dynamic-plugins/dist/plugin-name	No

Version inheritance from base config: use {{inherit}} placeholder.

Plugin Dependencies

Dependencies are Kubernetes resources created alongside the Backstage CR:

• Cluster-level: manifests in /config/profile/{PROFILE}/plugin-deps/
• Infrastructure: /config/profile/{PROFILE}/plugin-infra/ (use make plugin-infra with caution)
• Referenced via dependencies[].ref in plugin configuration

Air-Gapped / Disconnected Environments

• NPM registry — create .npmrc Secret, mount into install-dynamic-plugins init container via extraFiles.secrets
• OCI mirroring — use mirror-plugins.sh script with --plugin-index, --to-registry, --to-dir/--from-dir for two-phase disconnect

See references/official-doc-extraction.md for full YAML and commands.

Custom Certificates for OCI Registries

Three approaches:

1. Per-registry TLS — mount CA cert ConfigMap at /etc/containers/certs.d/<registry>:<port>
2. CA bundle — mount at /etc/pki/tls/certs/
3. OpenShift cluster-wide — use config.openshift.io/inject-trusted-cabundle label on empty ConfigMap, mount at /etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem

Extensions UI (Tech Preview)

• View available plugins: Administration > Extensions > Catalog
• View installed plugins: Administration > Extensions > Installed
• Search by name, filter by category/author/support
• Install plugins (Developer Preview, development environments only)
• RBAC permissions: extensions.install.create, extensions.install.read

Front-End Plugin Wiring

Key configuration sections under pluginConfig.dynamicPlugins.frontend:

• dynamicRoutes — pages and sidebar menu items
• mountPoints — inject components into entity pages
• entityTabs — add/customize entity view tabs
• appIcons — register custom icons
• menuItems — sidebar navigation
• routeBindings — link routes between plugins
• apiFactories — custom utility API implementations
• scaffolderFieldExtensions — Scaffolder custom fields
• techdocsAddons — TechDocs add-ons
• translationResources — localization overrides

Enabling Pre-Installed Plugins

Since RHDH 1.10, dynamic-plugins.default.yaml exists in the plugin catalog index image. Retrieve with:

unpack registry.access.redhat.com/rhdh/plugin-catalog-index:1.10 \
  dynamic-plugins.default.yaml

Or use {{inherit}} tag for automatic version resolution:

plugins:
  - package: oci://registry.access.redhat.com/rhdh/backstage-community-plugin-analytics-provider-segment:{{inherit}}
    disabled: false

Troubleshooting Pod Startup

If RHDH pod fails after enabling a plugin, check logs for missing env vars:

oc logs -c install-dynamic-plugins deploy/backstage-my-rhdh

Set missing variables via a Secret mounted with extraEnvs.secrets (Operator) or extraEnvVarsSecrets (Helm).

Verification

# Loaded plugins API
curl <RHDH_URL>/api/dynamic-plugins-info/loaded-plugins | jq .

# Init container logs
oc logs -c install-dynamic-plugins deploy/backstage-<name>

Related Skills

• rhdh-dynamic-plugins-develop — developing custom dynamic plugins
• rhdh-dynamic-plugins-usage — using installed plugins

References

• references/source-capture.md
• references/official-doc-extraction.md