This section lists a number of well known entity relation types, that have defined semantics. They can be attached to catalog entities and consumed by plugins as needed. If you are looking to extend the set of relations, see Extending the model.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://backstage.spotify.com/docs/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Relations
This is a (non-exhaustive) list of relations that are known to be in active use. Each relation has a source (implicitly: the entity that holds the relation), a target (the entity to which the source has a relation), and a type that tells what relation the source has with the target. The relation is directional; there are commonly pairs of relation types and the entity at the other end will have the opposite relation in the opposite direction (e.g. when querying forA, you will see A.ownedBy.B, and when querying B, you will see
B.ownerOf.A).
ownedBy and ownerOf
An ownership relation where the owner is usually an organizational entity
(User or
Group), and the other entity can be anything.
In Backstage, the owner of an entity is the singular entity (commonly a team)
that bears ultimate responsibility for the entity, and has the authority and
capability to develop and maintain it. They will be the point of contact if
something goes wrong, or if features are to be requested. The main purpose of
this relation is for display purposes in Backstage, so that people looking at
catalog entities can get an understanding of to whom this entity belongs. It is
not to be used by automated processes to for example assign authorization in
runtime systems. There may be others that also develop or otherwise touch the
entity, but there will always be one ultimate owner.
This relation is commonly generated based on spec.owner of the owned entity,
where present.
providesApi and apiProvidedBy
A relation with an API entity, typically from a
Component.
These relations express that a component exposes an API - meaning that it hosts
callable endpoints from which you can consume that API.
This relation is commonly generated based on spec.providesApis of the
component or system in question.
consumesApi and apiConsumedBy
A relation with an API entity, typically from a
Component.
These relations express that a component consumes an API - meaning that it
depends on endpoints of the API.
This relation is commonly generated based on spec.consumesApis of the
component or system in question.
dependsOn and dependencyOf
A relation denoting a dependency on another entity.
This relation is a general expression of being in need of that other entity for
an entity to function. It can for example be used to express that a website
component needs a library component as part of its build, or that a service
component uses a persistent storage resource.
This relation is commonly generated based on spec.dependsOn of the component
or resource in question.
parentOf and childOf
A parent/child relation to build up a tree, used for example to describe the
organizational structure between Groups.
This relation is commonly based on spec.parent and/or spec.children.
memberOf and hasMember
A membership relation, typically for Users in
Groups.
This relation is commonly based on spec.memberOf.
partOf and hasPart
A relation with a Domain,
System or
Component entity, typically from a
Component,
API, or
System.
These relations express that a component belongs to a larger component; a
component, API or resource belongs to a system; or that a system is grouped
under a domain.
This relation is commonly based on spec.system or spec.domain.