Backstage Software Catalog Format

Backstage’s Software Catalog format is a structured, YAML-based specification that describes software components, services, APIs, resources, and their relationships, enabling teams to discover, document, and manage ownership and lifecycle information in a centralized developer portal.

The core catalog format for the Backstage environment.

The Backstage Software Catalog provides a centralized system for registering, organizing, and discovering software components across an organization. By using a standardized, YAML-based format, it captures metadata such as ownership, dependencies, lifecycle stage, documentation links, and operational context for services, APIs, libraries, and infrastructure resources. This allows teams to understand how systems fit together, who is responsible for them, and how they should be operated, while enabling automation, governance, and consistent developer experiences through a single, searchable developer portal.

Website: https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/descriptor-format/

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Last modified January 15, 2026: add backstage (67457bd2)