OpenShift Console Plugin Template

This project is a minimal template for writing a new OpenShift Console dynamic plugin. It requires OpenShift 4.10.

Dynamic plugins allow you to extend the OpenShift UI at runtime, adding custom pages and other extensions. They are based on webpack module federation. Plugins are registered with console using the ConsolePlugin custom resource and enabled in the console operator config by a cluster administrator.

Node.js and yarn are required to build and run the example. To run OpenShift console in a container, either Docker or podman 3.2.0+ and oc are required.

Getting started

After cloning this repo, you should update the plugin metadata such as the plugin name in the consolePlugin declaration of package.json.

"consolePlugin": {
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "displayName": "My Plugin",
  "description": "Enjoy this shiny, new console plugin!",
  "exposedModules": {
    "ExamplePage": "./components/ExamplePage"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@console/pluginAPI": "*"
  }
}

The template adds a single example page in the Home navigation section. The extension is declared in the console-extensions.json file and the React component is declared in src/components/ExamplePage.tsx.

You can run the plugin using a local development environment or build an image to deploy it to a cluster.

Development

Option 1: Local

In one terminal window, run:

1. yarn install
2. yarn run start

In another terminal window, run:

1. oc login (requires oc and an OpenShift cluster)
2. yarn run start-console (requires Docker or podman 3.2.0+)

This will run the OpenShift console in a container connected to the cluster you've logged into. The plugin HTTP server runs on port 9001 with CORS enabled. Navigate to http://localhost:9000/example to see the running plugin.

Running start-console with Apple silicon and podman

If you are using podman on a Mac with Apple silicon, yarn run start-console might fail since it runs an amd64 image. You can workaround the problem with qemu-user-static by running these commands:

podman machine ssh
sudo -i
rpm-ostree install qemu-user-static
systemctl reboot

Option 2: Docker + VSCode Remote Container

Make sure the Remote Containers extension is installed. This method uses Docker Compose where one container is the OpenShift console and the second container is the plugin. It requires that you have access to an existing OpenShift cluster. After the initial build, the cached containers will help you start developing in seconds.

1. Create a dev.env file inside the .devcontainer folder with the correct values for your cluster:

OC_PLUGIN_NAME=my-plugin
OC_URL=https://api.example.com:6443
OC_USER=kubeadmin
OC_PASS=<password>

2. (Ctrl+Shift+P) => Remote Containers: Open Folder in Container...
3. yarn run start
4. Navigate to http://localhost:9000/example

Docker image

Before you can deploy your plugin on a cluster, you must build an image and push it to an image registry.

1. Build the image:

   docker build -t quay.io/my-repositroy/my-plugin:latest .

2. Run the image:

   docker run -it --rm -d -p 9001:80 quay.io/my-repository/my-plugin:latest

3. Push the image:

   docker push quay.io/my-repository/my-plugin:latest

NOTE: If you have a Mac with Apple silicon, you will need to add the flag --platform=linux/amd64 when building the image to target the correct platform to run in-cluster.

Deployment on cluster

After pushing an image with your changes to a registry, you can deploy the plugin to a cluster by instantiating the provided OpenShift template. It will run a light-weight nginx HTTP server to serve your plugin's assets.

oc process -f template.yaml \
  -p PLUGIN_NAME=my-plugin \
  -p NAMESPACE=my-plugin-namespace \
  -p IMAGE=quay.io/my-repository/my-plugin:latest \
  | oc create -f -

PLUGIN_NAME must match the plugin name you used in the consolePlugin declaration of package.json.

Once deployed, patch the Console operator config to enable the plugin.

oc patch consoles.operator.openshift.io cluster \
  --patch '{ "spec": { "plugins": ["my-plugin"] } }' --type=merge

References

• Console Plugin SDK README
• Customization Plugin Example
• Dynamic Plugin Enhancement Proposal