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IBM API Connect Plugin for Red Hat Developer Hub

The Red Hat Developer Hub plugin for API Connect is an integration that enables organizations to discover and browse API Connect APIs directly within Red Hat Developer Hub.

Overview

Modern enterprise developers face a fragmented landscape of tools, APIs, services, and resources scattered across multiple platforms, portals, and repositories. This fragmentation creates significant friction in the development process:

  • Discovery Overhead: Developers waste valuable time searching across multiple systems to find the right API or service
  • Context Switching Fatigue: Constantly jumping between different portals, documentation sites, and management interfaces disrupts flow and reduces productivity
  • Knowledge Silos: APIs and services remain underutilized because developers simply don't know they exist or can't easily find them


The Red Hat Developer Hub plugin for API Connect represents a strategic integration between IBM API Connect and the Backstage.io developer portal ecosystem, delivered as part of the Red Hat Developer Hub platform. This plugin serves as a critical bridge for platform engineering teams looking for central visibility of their API Environment within their existing internal developer portals.

Unified API Catalog Across Multiple Instances

Centralized view of all APIs and products across multiple API Connect clouds, provider organizations, and catalogs in a single interface.

Seamless Integration with Platform Engineering

Native integration with Backstage and Red Hat Developer Hub, enabling API discovery alongside other developer assets like SDKs, services, and infrastructure tools.

Flexible Authentication Support

Supports both local user registry and OIDC registry authentication methods, with configurable scheduling for automatic synchronization of API assets.

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ResourcesFAQs

Do I need to modify my existing API Connect deployment to use this plugin?

No modifications to your API Connect deployment are required. The plugin is installed entirely on the Backstage or Red Hat Developer Hub server, which runs external to API Connect. It connects to your API Connect instances through the existing REST APIs using the toolkit credentials you provide, making it a non-invasive integration that preserves your current API management setup.

What is the primary function of this plugin?

The API Connect Backstage plugin provides a centralized catalog view of all your APIs and products across multiple API Connect instances, provider organizations, and catalogs directly within your Backstage or Red Hat Developer Hub portal. It enables developers to discover and browse API specifications without leaving their primary development platform, streamlining API discovery while maintaining subscription management through the native API Connect developer portal.

What authentication methods does the plugin support?

The plugin supports two authentication methods: local user registry (using username, password, and identityProvider) and OIDC registry (using API keys). For OIDC authentication, you need to create and configure API keys with appropriate expiration settings and multiple-use authorization. The user credentials must have at least Viewer role permissions for each provider organization you want to access.

How does this plugin integrate with Red Hat Developer Hub?

The plugin integrates as a dynamic plugin that can be installed through Red Hat Developer Hub's backend plugin manager. It requires configuration in the app-config.yaml with your API Connect instance credentials (URL, clientId, clientSecret, and authentication details), and runs on a configurable schedule to synchronize API assets. The plugin is deployed on a server external to API Connect and doesn't require any changes to your existing API Connect deployment.

Can the plugin connect to multiple API Connect instances simultaneously?

Yes, the plugin supports multi-instance configuration, allowing you to connect and aggregate APIs from multiple API Connect clouds and provider organizations in a single Backstage view. Each instance can be configured with its own authentication method (local user registry or OIDC), making it ideal for enterprises with distributed API management infrastructure.

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