Dev AI Hub — Backstage Plugin

A centralized hub for AI assets — Instructions, Agents, Skills, and Workflows — usable by GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Google Gemini, Cursor, and other AI coding tools.

The plugin syncs one or more Git repositories as the source of truth, stores assets in your Backstage database, exposes them via a UI, and serves them through an embedded MCP (Model Context Protocol) server so AI tools can discover and install assets automatically.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5728807d-2587-408b-88f2-4c2853606285

Installation

1. Copy plugin packages

Copy the four plugin directories into your Backstage monorepo's plugins/ folder:

plugins/
  dev-ai-hub/
  dev-ai-hub-backend/
  dev-ai-hub-common/
  dev-ai-hub-node/

Then install:

yarn install

2. Register the backend plugin

In packages/backend/src/index.ts:

backend.add(import('@internal/plugin-dev-ai-hub-backend'));

3. Register the frontend plugin

New Frontend System (NFS)

In packages/app/src/App.tsx:

import { devAiHubPlugin } from '@internal/plugin-dev-ai-hub';

const app = createApp({
  features: [
    // ...existing features
    devAiHubPlugin,
  ],
});

The sidebar item is registered automatically — no additional configuration needed.

Legacy frontend system

In packages/app/src/App.tsx, add the route inside <FlatRoutes>:

import { DevAiHubPage } from '@internal/plugin-dev-ai-hub';

// inside <FlatRoutes>:
<Route path="/dev-ai-hub" element={<DevAiHubPage />} />

In packages/app/src/components/Root/Root.tsx, add the sidebar item:

import HubIcon from '@mui/icons-material/Hub';

// inside <SidebarGroup>:
<SidebarItem icon={HubIcon} to="dev-ai-hub" text="AI Hub" />

The API client is registered automatically when DevAiHubPage is used — no extra plugin registration needed.

4. Configure app-config.yaml

devAiHub:
  providers:
    - id: "main-ai-assets"
      type: "github"                                          # github | gitlab | bitbucket | azure-devops | git
      target: "https://github.com/your-org/ai-assets.git"
      branch: "main"
      schedule:
        frequency:
          minutes: 30
        timeout:
          minutes: 5

# Required: Git integration for reading repositories
integrations:
  github:
    - host: github.com
      token: ${GITHUB_TOKEN}

See app-config.example.yaml for more provider examples (GitLab, Bitbucket, filters).

Asset Format

Each AI asset is two files with the same base name in your repository:

agents/
  product-manager.yaml   ← metadata envelope
  product-manager.md     ← pure markdown content (never modified by the plugin)
instructions/
  security-guidelines.yaml
  security-guidelines.md
skills/
  code-review/
    code-review.yaml
    SKILL.md
workflows/
  pr-review.yaml
  pr-review.md

YAML envelope (<name>.yaml)

name: product-manager-agent
label: Product Manager Agent
description: AI agent specialized in product management tasks
type: agent                          # instruction | agent | skill | workflow
tools:
  - github-copilot
tags:
  - product
  - planning
author: Your Name
version: 1.0.0

# Optional: override install path per tool
# installPath: ".claude/agents/product-manager.md"
# installPaths:
#   claude-code: ".claude/agents/product-manager.md"
#   github-copilot: ".github/agents/product-manager.agent.md"

If content is omitted, the parser looks for <same-name>.md in the same directory. For skills, it defaults to SKILL.md.

Use tools: [all] for tool-agnostic assets that should appear for every tool.

For more information about YAML envelope fields, see YAML Envelope Reference.

You can use assets in examples folder to see how to use assets in your project or as a base for your own assets.

Default install paths (auto-resolved per tool)

MCP Server

The MCP server runs embedded in the Backstage backend — no separate process needed. It uses the StreamableHTTP transport.

URL: http://<backstage-host>:7007/api/dev-ai-hub/mcp

The ?tool= query parameter filters which assets the AI tool receives. Omit it to receive all assets.
The ?provider= query parameter filters which assets the AI tool receives. Omit it to receive all assets.
The ?proactive=true query parameter enable proactive mode. This mode is used to provide assets to the AI tool automatically when it is needed.

Claude Code

In .mcp.json or ~/.claude/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-ai-hub": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://<backstage-host>:7007/api/dev-ai-hub/mcp?tool=claude-code"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot (VS Code)

In .vscode/settings.json or VS Code user settings:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "dev-ai-hub": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://<backstage-host>:7007/api/dev-ai-hub/mcp?tool=github-copilot"
    }
  }
}

Google Gemini CLI

In ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-ai-hub": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://<backstage-host>:7007/api/dev-ai-hub/mcp?tool=google-gemini"
    }
  }
}

Cursor

In .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-ai-hub": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://<backstage-host>:7007/api/dev-ai-hub/mcp?tool=cursor"
    }
  }
}

Available MCP tools

Available MCP prompts

⚡ Proactive-only — registered only when the MCP URL includes ?proactive=true.

Usage examples in chat:

"List the available agents in Dev AI Hub"
"Search for a code review asset in the hub"
"Install the Product Manager agent in this project"

REST API

GET  /api/dev-ai-hub/assets                   List assets (filters: type, tool, tags, search, provider, page, pageSize)
GET  /api/dev-ai-hub/assets/:id               Asset detail
GET  /api/dev-ai-hub/assets/:id/raw           Pure markdown content
GET  /api/dev-ai-hub/assets/:id/download      Download as .md or .zip (skills)
POST /api/dev-ai-hub/assets/:id/track-install Increment install counter
GET  /api/dev-ai-hub/providers                List configured providers with sync status
POST /api/dev-ai-hub/providers/:id/sync       Trigger manual sync
GET  /api/dev-ai-hub/stats                    Totals by type, tool, and provider

POST   /api/dev-ai-hub/mcp                    Initialize MCP session or handle existing
GET    /api/dev-ai-hub/mcp                    SSE stream for server-to-client notifications
DELETE /api/dev-ai-hub/mcp                    Terminate MCP session

Package Structure

License

Apache-2.0