From ce9b017341fde5dc0671383dc938e5b66bf98c3f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Himanshu Mishra Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2021 21:26:38 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] docs: TechDocs FAQ about using it without techdocs-backend --- docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md | 15 +++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md b/docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md index 53149ae4f3..2156d0dc9d 100644 --- a/docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md +++ b/docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md @@ -123,6 +123,21 @@ a cache for the generated static content. TechDocs is also currently built on MkDocs which does not allow us to generate docs per-page, so we would have to build all docs for a entity on every request. +**Q. Can you use the techdocs plugin without the techdocs-backend plugin?** + +A: `techdocs` and `techdocs-backend` plugins are designed to be used together, +like any other Backstage plugin with a frontend and its backend (catalog, +scaffolder, etc.). If you set your Backstage instance to generate docs on the +server, `techdocs-backend` will be responsible for managing the whole build +process, making sure it's scalable. It is responsible for securely communicating +with the cloud storage provider, for both fetching static generated sites and +publishing the updates. There are other planned features like an authentication +layer for users to determine whether they have the permission to view a +particular docs site. There are a handful of features which are extremely hard +to develop without a tightly integrated backend in place. Hence, supporting +`techdocs` without `techdocs-backend` is limiting and challenging for its +development. + # Future work _Ideas here are far fetched and not in the project's milestone for near future From 53203c083f7d614aeecc2567def87cab1ea93faa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Himanshu Mishra Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2021 21:53:44 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Update docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md Co-authored-by: Patrik Oldsberg --- docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md | 5 ++--- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md b/docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md index 2156d0dc9d..92cd78b071 100644 --- a/docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md +++ b/docs/features/techdocs/architecture.md @@ -134,9 +134,8 @@ with the cloud storage provider, for both fetching static generated sites and publishing the updates. There are other planned features like an authentication layer for users to determine whether they have the permission to view a particular docs site. There are a handful of features which are extremely hard -to develop without a tightly integrated backend in place. Hence, supporting -`techdocs` without `techdocs-backend` is limiting and challenging for its -development. +to develop without a tightly integrated backend in place. Hence, support for +`techdocs` without `techdocs-backend` is limited and challenging to develop. # Future work