Backstage website screenshot

Backstage

Backstage is an open-source developer portal platform created by Spotify. It provides a centralized software catalog, software templates (scaffolder), TechDocs, and a plugin ecosystem for building customizable developer portals. Backstage helps organizations manage their software ecosystem by cataloging services, APIs, resources, and infrastructure, and provides tooling for creating new projects from templates.

Backstage publishes 13 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Events System, Actions API, Authentication API, and 10 more. Tagged areas include Developer Portal, Internal Developer Platform, Software Catalog, and Open Source.

The Backstage catalog on APIs.io includes 1 event-driven AsyncAPI specification, 1 JSON-LD context, and 3 Spectral governance rulesets.

Backstage’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, getting-started guide, engineering blog, changelog, and 12 more developer resources.

53.3/100 developing ▼ -5.1 Agent 43/100 agent ready Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try
13 APIs 7 Features 4 Use Cases
Developer PortalInternal Developer PlatformSoftware CatalogOpen Source

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
Composite quality — 53.3/100 · developing
Contract Quality 17.4 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 7.4 / 20
Commercial Clarity 7.9 / 20
Operational Transparency 6.8 / 13
Governance 8.3 / 12
Discoverability 5.6 / 10
Agent readiness — 43/100 · agent ready
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 7 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 6 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 4 / 4
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/backstage: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 13

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Backstage Events System

The Backstage Events system provides a publish-subscribe mechanism for broadcasting and consuming events within a Backstage instance. It enables plugins to emit events when sign...

Backstage Actions API

Endpoints for listing available scaffolder actions.

Backstage Authentication API

The Authentication API from Backstage — 4 operation(s) for authentication.

Backstage Authorization API

The Authorization API from Backstage — 2 operation(s) for authorization.

Backstage Documentation API

The Documentation API from Backstage — 2 operation(s) for documentation.

Backstage Entities API

Endpoints for managing and querying catalog entities.

Backstage Locations API

Endpoints for managing catalog locations (entity sources).

Backstage Metadata API

The Metadata API from Backstage — 2 operation(s) for metadata.

Backstage Search API

The Search API from Backstage — 1 operation(s) for search.

Backstage Sync API

The Sync API from Backstage — 1 operation(s) for sync.

Backstage Tasks API

Endpoints for creating and managing scaffolder tasks.

Backstage Templates API

Endpoints for template metadata and parameter schemas.

Backstage Token Verification API

The Token Verification API from Backstage — 1 operation(s) for token verification.

Scroll for all 13

Open Collections 6

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

Backstage Auth API

OPEN COLLECTION

Backstage Catalog API

OPEN COLLECTION

Backstage Permissions API

OPEN COLLECTION

Backstage Scaffolder API

OPEN COLLECTION

Backstage Search API

OPEN COLLECTION

Backstage TechDocs API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Backstage Rate Limits

6 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Features 7

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

Software Catalog

Central inventory of all software components, APIs, resources, systems, domains, groups, and users.

Software Templates (Scaffolder)

Bootstrap new projects, services, and components from customizable templates.

TechDocs

Render and serve MkDocs-based technical documentation alongside catalog entities.

Plugin Ecosystem

Extensible plugin architecture with 100+ open-source plugins for CI/CD, monitoring, cloud, and more.

Search

Full-text search across catalog entities, TechDocs, and any other indexed content.

Permissions Framework

Policy-based authorization with conditional rules for resource-level access control.

Entity Relations

Model ownership, dependencies, and API consumption relationships between services.

Scroll for all 7

Event Specifications 1

AsyncAPI definitions for this provider's event-driven and streaming APIs.

Backstage Events System

The Backstage Events system provides a publish-subscribe mechanism for broadcasting and consuming events within a Backstage instance. It enables plugins to emit events when sign...

ASYNCAPI

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Backstage Context

16 classes · 48 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 3

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

Backstage API Rules

7 rules · 6 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

Backstage API Rules

6 rules · 4 warnings 2 info

SPECTRAL

Backstage API Rules

27 rules · 9 errors 14 warnings 4 info

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 16

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

AuthResponse

3 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JwksResponse

1 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Backstage Catalog Entity

6 properties

JSON SCHEMA

EntityMetadata

10 properties

JSON SCHEMA

EntityRelation

2 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Entity

6 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Location

3 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ConditionalRequest

3 properties

JSON SCHEMA

PermissionDecision

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

PermissionRequest

2 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Action

3 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Task

7 properties

JSON SCHEMA

SearchDocument

3 properties

JSON SCHEMA

SearchResult

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

SearchResultSet

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

TechDocsMetadata

5 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Scroll for all 16

JSON Structure 16

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Auth Auth Response Structure

3 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Auth Jwks Response Structure

1 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Backstage Entity Structure

6 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Catalog Entity Metadata Structure

10 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Catalog Entity Relation Structure

2 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Catalog Entity Structure

6 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Catalog Location Structure

3 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Permissions Conditional Request Structure

3 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Permissions Permission Decision Structure

4 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Permissions Permission Request Structure

2 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Scaffolder Action Structure

3 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Scaffolder Task Structure

7 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Search Search Document Structure

3 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Search Search Result Set Structure

4 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Search Search Result Structure

4 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Techdocs Tech Docs Metadata Structure

5 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Scroll for all 16

Examples 16

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Backstage Entity Example

6 fields

EXAMPLE

Catalog Entity Example

6 fields

EXAMPLE

Catalog Location Example

3 fields

EXAMPLE

Scaffolder Action Example

3 fields

EXAMPLE

Scaffolder Task Example

7 fields

EXAMPLE

Scroll for all 16

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Backstage Authentication

apiKey/http · 2 schemes

SECURITY

Backstage Domain Security

TLSv1.3

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Backstage Agentic Access

38 operations · 14 acting

38 operations · 14 acting

AGENTIC

Use Cases 4

What developers build with this provider.

Internal Developer Portal

Build a unified portal for developers to discover services, read docs, and scaffold projects.

Service Catalog

Maintain a complete, up-to-date inventory of all microservices, APIs, and infrastructure.

Developer Onboarding

Accelerate new developer onboarding with self-service project scaffolding and documentation.

API Governance

Track all internal and external APIs, their owners, and documentation in one place.

Integrations 6

Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.

GitHub

Catalog ingestion from GitHub repos, GitHub Actions integration for CI/CD visibility.

PagerDuty

Show on-call information and incident status on catalog entity pages.

Kubernetes

Display Kubernetes workload status for catalog entities.

Prometheus

Show metrics and alerts for services directly in the catalog.

Snyk

Display security vulnerability information for catalog entities.

Datadog

Surface monitoring dashboards within Backstage.

Resources

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

Design & Contract 3

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Build 3

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Operate 2

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑
aid: backstage
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/backstage/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
apis:
- aid: backstage:events-system
  name: Backstage Events System
  tags:
  - Developer Portal
  - Events
  - Webhooks
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/plugins/backends-and-plugins/
  properties:
  - url: https://backstage.io/docs/plugins/backends-and-plugins/
    type: Documentation
  - url: asyncapi/backstage-events-asyncapi.yml
    type: AsyncAPI
  description: The Backstage Events system provides a publish-subscribe mechanism for broadcasting and consuming events within
    a Backstage instance. It enables plugins to emit events when significant actions occur (such as catalog entity changes,
    scaffolder task completions, or permission policy updates) and allows other plugins or external systems to subscribe to
    those events via HTTP webhooks or the internal event bus.
- aid: backstage:backstage-actions-api
  name: Backstage Actions API
  description: Endpoints for listing available scaffolder actions.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Actions
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-actions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-authentication-api
  name: Backstage Authentication API
  description: The Authentication API from Backstage — 4 operation(s) for authentication.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Authentication
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-authentication-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-authorization-api
  name: Backstage Authorization API
  description: The Authorization API from Backstage — 2 operation(s) for authorization.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Authorization
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-authorization-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-documentation-api
  name: Backstage Documentation API
  description: The Documentation API from Backstage — 2 operation(s) for documentation.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Documentation
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-documentation-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-entities-api
  name: Backstage Entities API
  description: Endpoints for managing and querying catalog entities.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Entities
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-entities-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-locations-api
  name: Backstage Locations API
  description: Endpoints for managing catalog locations (entity sources).
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Locations
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-locations-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-metadata-api
  name: Backstage Metadata API
  description: The Metadata API from Backstage — 2 operation(s) for metadata.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Metadata
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-metadata-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-search-api
  name: Backstage Search API
  description: The Search API from Backstage — 1 operation(s) for search.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-search-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-sync-api
  name: Backstage Sync API
  description: The Sync API from Backstage — 1 operation(s) for sync.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Sync
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-sync-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-tasks-api
  name: Backstage Tasks API
  description: Endpoints for creating and managing scaffolder tasks.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Tasks
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-tasks-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-templates-api
  name: Backstage Templates API
  description: Endpoints for template metadata and parameter schemas.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Templates
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-templates-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
- aid: backstage:backstage-token-verification-api
  name: Backstage Token Verification API
  description: The Token Verification API from Backstage — 1 operation(s) for token verification.
  humanURL: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  tags:
  - Token Verification
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/backstage-token-verification-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/software-catalog-api/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-templates/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/auth/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/techdocs/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/features/search/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://backstage.io/docs/permissions/overview
name: Backstage
tags:
- Developer Portal
- Internal Developer Platform
- Software Catalog
- Open Source
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: high
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/backstage.png
access: 3rd-Party
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/backstage-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/backstage-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/backstage-authentication.yml
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/backstage-from-spotify
- url: https://backstage.io/
  name: Backstage Website
  type: Website
  description: 'null'
- url: https://backstage.io/docs/
  name: Backstage Documentation
  type: Documentation
  description: 'null'
- url: https://backstage.io/docs/getting-started/
  name: Backstage Getting Started
  type: GettingStarted
  description: 'null'
- url: https://backstage.io/blog/
  name: Backstage Blog
  type: Blog
  description: 'null'
- url: https://github.com/backstage
  name: Backstage GitHub Organization
  type: GitHubOrganization
  description: 'null'
- url: https://github.com/backstage/backstage
  name: Backstage GitHub Repository
  type: GitHubRepository
  description: 'null'
- url: https://github.com/backstage/backstage/releases
  name: Backstage Releases
  type: ChangeLog
  description: 'null'
- url: https://discord.gg/backstage-687207715902193673
  name: Backstage Discord Community
  type: Community
  description: 'null'
- url: https://backstage.io/plugins/
  name: Backstage Plugin Directory
  type: Developer Tools
  description: 'null'
- type: JSONSchema
  url: json-schema/backstage-entity-schema.json
  name: Backstage Entity JSON Schema
  description: 'null'
- type: JSONLD
  url: json-ld/backstage-context.jsonld
  name: Backstage JSON-LD Context
  description: 'null'
- type: SpectralRules
  url: rules/backstage-spectral-rules.yml
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/backstage-vocabulary.yaml
- name: Features
  type: Features
  data:
  - name: Software Catalog
    description: Central inventory of all software components, APIs, resources, systems, domains, groups, and users.
  - name: Software Templates (Scaffolder)
    description: Bootstrap new projects, services, and components from customizable templates.
  - name: TechDocs
    description: Render and serve MkDocs-based technical documentation alongside catalog entities.
  - name: Plugin Ecosystem
    description: Extensible plugin architecture with 100+ open-source plugins for CI/CD, monitoring, cloud, and more.
  - name: Search
    description: Full-text search across catalog entities, TechDocs, and any other indexed content.
  - name: Permissions Framework
    description: Policy-based authorization with conditional rules for resource-level access control.
  - name: Entity Relations
    description: Model ownership, dependencies, and API consumption relationships between services.
- name: UseCases
  type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Internal Developer Portal
    description: Build a unified portal for developers to discover services, read docs, and scaffold projects.
  - name: Service Catalog
    description: Maintain a complete, up-to-date inventory of all microservices, APIs, and infrastructure.
  - name: Developer Onboarding
    description: Accelerate new developer onboarding with self-service project scaffolding and documentation.
  - name: API Governance
    description: Track all internal and external APIs, their owners, and documentation in one place.
- name: Integrations
  type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: GitHub
    description: Catalog ingestion from GitHub repos, GitHub Actions integration for CI/CD visibility.
  - name: PagerDuty
    description: Show on-call information and incident status on catalog entity pages.
  - name: Kubernetes
    description: Display Kubernetes workload status for catalog entities.
  - name: Prometheus
    description: Show metrics and alerts for services directly in the catalog.
  - name: Snyk
    description: Display security vulnerability information for catalog entities.
  - name: Datadog
    description: Surface monitoring dashboards within Backstage.
created: '2024-12-01'
modified: '2026-04-21'
position: Consumer
description: Backstage is an open-source developer portal platform created by Spotify. It provides a centralized software
  catalog, software templates (scaffolder), TechDocs, and a plugin ecosystem for building customizable developer portals.
  Backstage helps organizations manage their software ecosystem by cataloging services, APIs, resources, and infrastructure,
  and provides tooling for creating new projects from templates.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
specificationVersion: '0.19'