Complementary stack part 4: Backstage and CMP

A catalog is not a platform

The Complementary Stack Series has looked at Ansible as an execution layer and Terraform as a provisioning layer. Part 4 moves up the stack to the developer experience with Backstage.

Backstage solves an important problem. Its software catalog creates a searchable source of truth for services and ownership, while its Scaffolder gives developers a standardized golden path for creating new services from approved templates. For teams trying to make software creation more consistent and easier for developers, those capabilities are powerful.

But Backstage assumes that an execution layer exists beneath the developer portal. Provisioning infrastructure, enforcing budgets, running enterprise approval workflows, and coordinating multiple infrastructure tools require integrations with other systems. This installment explores how a CMP can provide that underlying governance and orchestration while Backstage remains the developer-facing experience.

In this brief, you’ll learn:

• What Backstage’s software catalog and Scaffolder are designed to solve
• The difference between a developer portal and an infrastructure governance layer
• What happens behind the scenes when a Backstage request needs infrastructure
• How CloudBolt can orchestrate Terraform, Ansible, cloud APIs, Kubernetes, and other systems
• How Backstage and CMP can combine developer self-service with enterprise governance

The result doesn’t require replacing Backstage. Developers can continue working through their familiar portal while CloudBolt governs what happens after they click the button.

Next in the series: Part 5 brings Ansible, Terraform, Backstage, and CMP together to show what a composable platform engineering stack can look like in practice.

Read part 1 | Read part 2 | Read part 3 | Read part 5

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