In Build a unified CI/CD control plane with Red Hat Developer Hub, we set up a Red Hat Developer Hub instance on OpenShift, configured secrets, enabled dynamic plug-ins for Tekton, Argo CD, Quay, and Kubernetes, and configured role-based access control (RBAC) policies and service account permissions.
In this second part, we complete the platform setup by authoring a golden path software template, then step into the developer's shoes to scaffold a new application and monitor its entire CI/CD lifecycle directly from the Red Hat Developer Hub console.
1. Platform engineer sets up the golden path template
To establish standardized developer workflows, platform engineers begin by configuring golden path templates that embed organizational best practices.
Step 1: Create the software template
A template provides scaffolding for developers to create new projects with embedded best practices, reducing overhead.
Red Hat Developer Hub makes the template available via the self-service screen in the console. Created for a simple Go project, this sample template:
- Collects project info (name, owner, system, registry, namespace, and cluster)
- Stamps out a Go project skeleton with a Tekton pipeline, Argo CD manifests, a devfile, and
catalog-info.yaml - Publishes the repository to GitHub
- Creates an Argo CD application pointing to the repository's
manifests/directory - Registers the component in Red Hat Developer Hub's catalog
The template contains 3 main sections:
parameters: The form the developer fills out across 5 pagessteps: Actions executed after the developer selects Createoutput.links: Links displayed on the completion success page
Note
The template uses rishabhsvats-org for allowed owners in the GitHub picker and rhn_support_rissingh/simple-go as the default image repository. Replace these with your GitHub organization and Quay.io path.
The catalog-info.yaml file within the skeleton folder registers the entity in Red Hat Developer Hub. Its annotations map enabled plug-ins to displayed user interface (UI) data. Missing or incorrect annotations are the primary reason plug-in tabs appear empty:
| Annotation | Plug-in | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
backstage.io/kubernetes-id | Kubernetes | Pods, deployments, and resource status |
backstage.io/kubernetes-namespace | Kubernetes | Target namespace to query |
backstage.io/kubernetes-label-selector | Kubernetes | Resource filters matching labels |
janus-idp.io/tekton | Tekton | PipelineRuns, TaskRuns, and logs |
argocd/app-selector | Argo CD (Roadie) | Sync status, health, and history |
quay.io/repository-slug | Quay | Image tags, digests, and layers |
backstage.io/source-location | Core | Links back to the source repository |
Step 2: Register the template in Red Hat Developer Hub
To make the template available to developers:
- Open Red Hat Developer Hub in your browser and log in with GitHub.
- Navigate to Catalog → Register Existing Component.
Enter the URL to your template file:
https://github.com/rishabhsvats/devspaces-pipeline-examples-rhdh/blob/main/template.yaml
The template will now appear on the Create page. Figure 1 shows the successful registration of the software template repository in Red Hat Developer Hub.
Developer uses the golden path
With the platform setup complete, developers log in to Red Hat Developer Hub using GitHub credentials, select the template to scaffold a new application, and monitor the automated CI/CD pipeline from a single view.
Step 1: Scaffold a new component
Navigate to the Catalog tab in Red Hat Developer Hub, locate OpenShift Dev Spaces CI/CD Pipeline with Tekton & ArgoCD, and select Launch Template.
Complete the 5-page form:
- Application Info: Enter the component name (for example,
my-go-app), select an owner, and specify a system name. - Image Registry: Select quay.io and enter your repository path (for example,
your-username/my-go-app). - OpenShift Details: Enter the target namespace (
pipeline-test) and cluster identifier (ID). - Git Repository: Select your GitHub organization and enter the repository name.
- ArgoCD: Accept default settings (
openshift-gitopsnamespace, auto-sync, and auto-heal).
Select Create. Red Hat Developer Hub fetches the skeleton, publishes it to GitHub, creates the Argo CD application, and registers the component in the catalog. Figure 3 illustrates the initial configuration page of the 5-page application scaffolding wizard.
Once it's complete, a success page provides direct links to the new repository, catalog entry, Argo CD application, OpenShift pipeline view, and a Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces workspace (Figure 4).
Step 2: View the component in the software catalog
In the catalog, select the newly generated entity (for example, devspaces-pipeline-examples-rhdh). The component overview page displays metadata, quick links, and the EntityArgoCDOverviewCard, which shows current deployment health and sync status at a glance. Figure 5 shows the entity overview page within the Red Hat Developer Hub catalog.
Step 3: CI—Tekton pipeline runs
Making a commit in the repository triggers the Tekton PipelineRun. Navigating to the CI tab displays real-time execution status, task duration, and logs for each step (clone-repo, build-go, build-image, update-deployment) directly inside Red Hat Developer Hub.
Step 4: CD—Argo CD sync status
Select the CD tab. The embedded EntityArgoCDHistoryCard renders a chronological history of deployment sync events, showing statuses, revisions, and timestamps without requiring access to the Argo CD console.
Step 5: Topology view
Select the Topology tab. This plug-in visualizes deployed Kubernetes resources (deployments, services, and routes) and their interconnections. Selecting graph nodes reveals pod counts, image tags, and route URLs without running oc get commands.
Step 6: Quay container images
Select the Image Registry tab. The Quay plug-in shows container image tags created by pipeline commits, digests, file sizes, creation timestamps, and manifest details directly in the portal, as shown in Figure 6.
Step 7: Kubernetes pod details
Select the Kubernetes tab. This tab, shown in Figure 7, displays running pods, statuses, restart counts, and age. Expanding individual pods exposes container metrics, environment variables, and live pod logs.
Expanding a specific pod entry reveals container-level metrics and runtime details, as shown in Figure 8.
Conclusion
Building a complete CI/CD loop with Red Hat OpenShift GitOps and Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines automates release delivery, but managing separate operational consoles introduces overhead. Red Hat Developer Hub provides a unified management layer bringing pipeline runs, deployment sync status, container image registries, pod diagnostics, and topology graphs into a single interface.
While setting up Red Hat Developer Hub, configuring plug-ins, applying RBAC policies, and authoring templates require upfront platform engineering investment, every application scaffolded from the golden path template gains automated CI/CD integration and full operational observability out of the box.
