rhdh-dynamic-plugins-develop

name	rhdh-dynamic-plugins-develop
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 developing and deploying custom dynamic plugins for Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10, from development environment setup through plugin creation, conversion, packaging, deployment, and local verification with RHDH Local. Do NOT use for installing pre-built or shipped plugins (use rhdh-dynamic-plugins-install) or for using already-installed plugins (use rhdh-dynamic-plugins-usage).

RHDH Dynamic Plugins: Develop and Deploy

Use this skill to develop, convert, package, and deploy custom dynamic plugins for 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 the full plugin development lifecycle: environment setup, plugin creation, implementation, local testing, front-end wiring, conversion to dynamic format, OCI/TGZ/NPM packaging, and RHDH Local verification.

Key Concepts

1. Dynamic plugin system — RHDH loads plugins at runtime from NPM, tarballs, or OCI container images via dynamic-plugins.yaml. No application rebuild needed; only a restart.
2. RHDH compatibility matrix — RHDH 1.10 maps to Backstage 1.49.1 and create-app version 0.8.1. Plugins must use compatible Backstage versions.
3. Development toolchain — Node.js v22 (via NVM), Yarn 4, Docker/Podman, and @red-hat-developer-hub/cli (rhdh-cli).
4. Plugin types — frontend-plugin, backend-plugin, backend-plugin-module, plugin-web-library, plugin-node-library, plugin-common-library.
5. Dynamic export — npx @red-hat-developer-hub/cli@latest plugin export converts standard Backstage plugins into the dynamic plugin format, producing dist-dynamic/ with dist-scalprum/ (frontend) or bundled backend code.
6. Packaging formats — OCI image (recommended), TGZ file, or JavaScript package (private NPM registry only).
7. RHDH Local — Local testing environment that reads dynamic-plugins.override.yaml and mounts local-plugins/ directory.

Development Workflow

1. Create workspace — npx @backstage/create-app@0.8.1 --path .
2. Create plugin — yarn new (select frontend-plugin or backend-plugin)
3. Implement components — React components, entity cards, pages in src/components/; register in src/plugin.ts and export from src/index.ts
4. Test locally — yarn start in plugin directory, or use RHDH Local with dist-dynamic/ copied to local-plugins/
5. Configure front-end wiring — dynamic-plugins.yaml with dynamicRoutes, mountPoints, appIcons, menuItem entries
6. Convert to dynamic — npx @red-hat-developer-hub/cli@latest plugin export
7. Package as OCI — npx @red-hat-developer-hub/cli@latest plugin package --tag <registry>/<image>:<tag>
8. Push to registry — podman push <registry>/<image>:<tag>
9. Deploy to RHDH — Add oci://<registry>/<image>:<tag> to dynamic-plugins.yaml and restart

Front-End Wiring

Frontend plugins require pluginConfig.dynamicPlugins.frontend in dynamic-plugins.yaml:

• dynamicRoutes — register pages with sidebar menu items
• mountPoints — inject components into entity pages (e.g., entity.page.overview/cards)
• appIcons — register custom icons
• menuItem — sidebar navigation entries

The importName must match the export name in src/index.ts.

Backend Plugin Export

Backend plugins must be compatible with the new Backstage backend system (createBackendPlugin() / createBackendModule()). Key flags:

• --shared-package — mark dependencies provided by RHDH (default: @backstage scoped); use ! prefix for exceptions
• --embed-package — bundle specific workspace packages (default: -node and -common suffix packages)

Plugin Packaging

Format	Command	Notes
OCI image	rhdh-cli plugin package --tag	Recommended; push with podman/docker
TGZ	npm pack from dist-dynamic/	Host on HTTP server; include integrity hash
NPM	npm publish --registry	Private registry only

RHDH Local Verification

1. Export plugin: npx @red-hat-developer-hub/cli@latest plugin export
2. Copy dist-dynamic/ to <RHDH_LOCAL>/local-plugins/<plugin-name>/
3. Configure in dynamic-plugins.override.yaml
4. Restart RHDH Local

Dynamic Plugin Factory

The RHDH Dynamic Plugin Factory automates conversion and packaging of standard Backstage plugins. Red Hat maintains it as open source but does not support it under any SLA.

Validation

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

# Verify plugin appears in Extensions UI
# Administration > Extensions > Installed tab

Related Skills

• rhdh-dynamic-plugins-install — installing and viewing plugins
• rhdh-dynamic-plugins-usage — using installed plugins

References

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