--- name: platform-engineering description: Design and maintain internal developer platforms (IDP) including golden paths, self-service infrastructure, developer portals, and platform reliability. Use when building developer platforms, creating golden paths, implementing self-service infrastructure, or measuring platform adoption. Triggers on phrases like "platform engineering", "IDP", "internal developer platform", "golden path", "self-service infrastructure", "developer portal", "Backstage", "platform reliability", "developer experience", "DevEx", "platform adoption", "scaffolding", "template library", "platform SLI". --- # Platform Engineering Design and maintain internal developer platforms (IDP) including golden paths, self-service infrastructure, and developer portals. ## Workflow ### 1. Platform Architecture ``` INTERNAL DEVELOPER PLATFORM (IDP) ═══════════════════════════════════════ PLATFORM LAYERS: ═══════════════════════════════════════ Layer 1: Developer Portal (Backstage) → Service catalog (all applications registered) → Template library (scaffolding for new services) → Documentation hub → API references → Support requests Layer 2: Golden Paths (Opinionated Workflows) → Create new service (1-click from template) → Deploy to environment (auto CI/CD + infra) → Add database (provision + connect) → Add message queue (provision + connect) → Add monitoring (auto-instrument + dashboards) Layer 2b: Supported Paths (Custom Workflows) → Custom CI/CD pipelines → Custom infrastructure (Terraform) → Non-standard deployments Layer 3: Shared Infrastructure (Managed by Platform Team) → Kubernetes clusters (EKS/GKE) → Databases (managed PostgreSQL, Redis) → Message queues (SQS, Kafka) → CI/CD runners → Monitoring stack (Prometheus, Grafana) → Secret management (Vault) → Service mesh (Istio) Layer 4: Cloud Provider (AWS/Azure/GCP) → Networking (VPC, subnets, load balancers) → Compute (EC2, ECS, Lambda, EKS) → Storage (S3, EBS, RDS) → Security (IAM, KMS, security groups) DEVELOPER PORTAL (Backstage): ═══════════════════════════════════════ Features: → Service catalog: All applications with metadata → Software templates: Scaffolding for new services → Plugin ecosystem: Custom plugins for organization needs → Documentation: Embedded docs, runbooks, ADRs → API catalog: Internal API discovery → Support: Request infrastructure, report issues ``` ### 2. Golden Paths & Templates ``` GOLDEN PATH: Create New Microservice ═══════════════════════════════════════ Step 1: Developer selects template in Backstage → Options: API service, Worker service, Web app, CLI tool → Language: Python, Node.js, Go, Java Step 2: Fill in metadata → Service name, owner team, description → Environment (dev/staging/prod) → Resource requirements (CPU, memory) → Dependencies (database, cache, queue) Step 3: Platform provisions automatically → Creates Git repository (from template) → Provisions Kubernetes namespace → Sets up CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions) → Creates Prometheus alerts → Provisions database (if selected) → Creates Grafana dashboard → Sets up ArgoCD application → Generates documentation Step 4: Developer starts coding → Clone repository → Run locally (Docker Compose) → Push to branch → CI runs tests → Merge to main → Deploy to dev → Promote to staging → QA → Promote to production → Live Time to first deployment: < 15 minutes (from zero) Previous time: 2-3 days (manual setup) TEMPLATE LIBRARY: ═══════════════════════════════════════ Template Tech Stack Includes Usage ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Python API FastAPI + SQLAlc CI/CD, K8s, DB, Monitor 45 Node.js API Express + Prisma CI/CD, K8s, DB, Monitor 30 Go Service Gin + gRPC CI/CD, K8s, Monitor 20 Worker Service Celery/RQ + Redis CI/CD, K8s, Queue 15 Web App Next.js + Prisma CI/CD, Vercel, DB 25 CLI Tool Click/Go CI/CD, Release 5 ``` ### 3. Self-Service Infrastructure ``` SELF-SERVICE CATALOG ═══════════════════════════════════════ Available Resources: ═══════════════════════════════════════ Resource Provisioning Time Approval Cost Visibility ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Database (PostgreSQL) <5 minutes Auto (dev) $150/mo base Redis Cache <2 minutes Auto (dev) $50/mo base Message Queue (SQS) <1 minute Auto Pay-per-use K8s Namespace <1 minute Auto Shared cost Cloud Storage (S3) <1 minute Auto Pay-per-use Load Balancer <2 minutes Auto (dev) $25/mo DNS Record <1 minute Auto $0 SSL Certificate <5 minutes Auto $0 Secret (Vault) <1 minute Auto $0 APPROVAL FLOW: ═══════════════════════════════════════ Dev environment: Auto-approve (no gatekeeping) Staging: Auto-approve (with cost notification) Production: Team lead approval + cost review Guardrails: → Max instance size per environment → Allowed regions only → Required tags enforced → Budget limits per team → Auto-shutdown for dev resources ``` ### 4. Platform Reliability & SLIs ``` PLATFORM RELIABILITY METRICS ═══════════════════════════════════════ Platform SLIs: ═══════════════════════════════════════ SLO Target Current Measurement ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Self-service success 99% 97% Provisioning success rate Provisioning latency <5 min 3 min P95 time to provision CI/CD pipeline success 98% 96% Pipeline pass rate Platform API uptime 99.9% 99.95% API availability Template freshness <30 days 15 days Days since last update ADOPTION METRICS: ═══════════════════════════════════════ Golden path adoption: 68% of new services Supported path: 25% of new services Golden path (legacy): 7% (migrated services) Template usage: 140 services created from templates Portal active users: 85% of engineering DEVELOPER SATISFICATION: ═══════════════════════════════════════ Survey (Q4 2024, n=120): → Overall satisfaction: 4.1/5.0 → Time-to-deploy: 4.5/5.0 (improved from 2.8) → Documentation quality: 3.8/5.0 → Platform reliability: 4.2/5.0 → Support responsiveness: 4.0/5.0 Top requested features: 1. More language templates (Rust, Ruby) 2. One-click staging → prod promotion 3. Cost visibility per service 4. Environment cloning 5. Database migration tooling ``` ### 5. Platform Roadmap ``` PLATFORM ROADMAP — 2025 ═══════════════════════════════════════ Q1 2025: Developer Experience ═══════════════════════════════════════ → Rust and Ruby templates → Local development environment (Dev Containers) → Improved documentation (searchable) → Cost visibility per service (dashboard) → Environment cloning feature Q2 2025: Automation ═══════════════════════════════════════ → One-click staging → production promotion → Automated canary deployments → Database migration framework → Automated security scanning in golden path → Service dependency graph Q3 2025: Scale ═══════════════════════════════════════ → Multi-cluster support → Multi-region deployment → Advanced autoscaling → Disaster recovery automation → Cost optimization recommendations Q4 2025: Intelligence ═══════════════════════════════════════ → AI-assisted template selection → Anomaly detection for services → Predictive scaling → Automated performance tuning → Developer productivity analytics ``` ## Edge Cases - **Large teams**: 1,000+ developers need scalable platform - **Legacy migration**: Golden path adoption for existing services - **Multi-cloud**: Platform abstraction across cloud providers - **Security**: Platform security review, vulnerability management - **Cost management**: Platform cost allocation to teams ## Integration Points - **IDP tools**: Backstage, Humanitec, Port - **Cloud**: AWS, Azure, GCP - **Kubernetes**: EKS, GKE, AKS - **CI/CD**: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins - **IaC**: Terraform, Pulumi, Crossplane - **Monitoring**: Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog ## Output ### Platform Status ``` PLATFORM STATUS — Q4 2024 ═══════════════════════════════════════ Services on platform: 180 (68% golden path) Template usage: 140 services created Portal active users: 85% of engineering Platform reliability: 99.95% uptime Developer satisfaction: 4.1/5.0 Q1 roadmap: Rust/Ruby templates, cost visibility, env cloning ```