CNCF Backstage Documentary Highlights Project Evolution from Development to Global Open Source Standard for Platform Engineering

Documentary follows the creation and growth of the Backstage project, highlighting its role in accelerating platform engineering initiatives Key Highlights The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) announced the new documentary, “Backstage: From Spreadsheet to Standard,” about the evolution of the Backstage project. The documentary traces Backstage’s evolution from an internal Spotify tool to a global open source standard for platform engineering within the CNCF. By providing a unified developer experience, Backstage streamlines complex infrastructure and minimizes developer setup time, enabling safer, more efficient organizational scaling. This documentary celebrates platform engineering teams, cloud native practitioners, and developers. AMSTERDAM—25 March, 2026— The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, today released the documentary “Backstage: From Spreadsheet to Standard,” available to screen now. The documentary explores the journey of Backstage , from an internal developer portal at Spotify for reducing fragmentation, accelerating work and improving developer experience to a global standard for building internal development platforms and portals. “Backstage, in a little over 5 years, has set the global open source standard for platform engineering, dramatically improving developer experience,” said Chris Aniszczyk, CTO, CNCF. “Its evolution from a Spotify internal tool to a CNCF project is a testament to how open source can cultivate a community over time to drive a de facto industry standard for open source platform engineering. ” As the leading open source framework for building internal developer portals (IDPs), Backstage has continued to demonstrate strong project health and momentum within the cloud native ecosystem, reflected in its performance in the Annual Project Velocity reports. In 2020, the year it was contributed to the CNCF, Backstage ranked eighth in velocity among over 100 projects. By 2025, its ranking improved to sixth out of more than 230 projects. “Witnessing Backstage’s evolution from a Spotify initiative to a worldwide standard has been incredibly gratifying,” said Tyson Singer, head of technology & platforms at Spotify.