Upgrading Backstage is a crucial part of maintaining a modern developer portal, but it can be daunting. As a team actively maintaining Backstage in our organization, we’ve tackled challenges like managing breaking changes, plugin compatibility, and anticipating new features.

This session shares a practical guide to upgrading, focusing on tools like backstage-cli for version checks, nightly builds to test individual packages without a full upgrade, and leveraging Backstage Enhancement Proposals (BEPs) to stay ahead of changes. We’ll cover real-world strategies for incremental upgrades, automation, and minimizing disruptions, alongside lessons learned from navigating unexpected pitfalls.

By the end of the session, you’ll have a clear roadmap to streamline your upgrades, reduce risk, and stay ahead of breaking changes—all while keeping your catalog and team sanity intact.