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Overview

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The Software Catalog is the central hub of Harness Internal Developer Portal (IDP). It serves as a unified, searchable registry of all your software assets including services, APIs, libraries, websites, databases, and more. Think of it as your organization's comprehensive directory of software entities, providing a single source of truth for ownership, metadata, dependencies, and relationships across your entire software ecosystem.

The catalog helps you:

  • Discover all software assets across your organization
  • Track ownership and understand who is responsible for each component
  • Visualize dependencies and relationships between services
  • Maintain metadata such as lifecycle stage, tech stack, and documentation
  • Enable self-service for developers to find and use existing services
  • Improve governance with centralized visibility and control

What are Catalog Entities?​

Entities are the building blocks of your Software Catalog. Each entity represents a distinct software asset in your organization and contains structured metadata that describes its purpose, ownership, and relationships.

Core Entity Types​

Harness IDP supports several core entity types:

  • Component: Services, libraries, websites, or any deployable software unit
  • API: REST APIs, GraphQL endpoints, or other programmatic interfaces
  • Resource: Databases, message queues, storage buckets, or infrastructure resources
  • System: Logical groupings of related components, APIs, and resources
  • User Group: Custom organizational units or teams that own and manage catalog entities

Each entity type has its own schema and metadata fields tailored to its specific purpose. For a comprehensive understanding of entity types, their structure, and relationships, refer to the Catalog Data Model.

Populate Your Catalog​

There are multiple ways to add entities to your Software Catalog, each suited for different use cases and workflows:

1. Create Entities Manually​

In IDP 2.0, entity creation is simplified with full UI support and optional YAML-based creation. Entities are now "inline," which means their entire lifecycle can be managed through the UI or API, without Git integration.

You can create entities directly via the Harness IDP UI with no YAML required for a streamlined, code-free experience. Alternatively, you can use your existing catalog YAML files, and Harness will automatically convert legacy Backstage YAML into the new Harness Catalog Entity Model.

Learn more about creating entities manually →

2. Import from Git​

Create new entities and Workflows by importing their YAML definitions stored in Git repositories directly into Harness IDP. This feature allows teams to reuse pre-defined configurations, onboard services faster, and migrate from automation workflows or existing repositories.

Learn more about importing from Git →

3. Auto-Discovery​

Use the Harness IDP Catalog Auto-Discovery integration to sync Harness CD services into the IDP Catalog. This integration populates your Catalog with CD services so you can sync, view, and manage them directly in Catalog. Services are created as IDP service entities and kept in real-time, uni-directional sync with their corresponding CD services.

Learn more about catalog auto-discovery →

Manage Your Catalog​

Once your entities are registered, you can:

  • Edit entities to update metadata, ownership, or configuration
  • View entity relationships to understand dependencies and system architecture
  • Organize entities using Systems to group related components
  • Search and filter to quickly find the entities you need
  • Customize the catalog UI to display the information most relevant to your teams

Learn more about managing your catalog →

Next Steps​

Ready to get started with the Software Catalog? Here are some recommended next steps:

  1. Understand the Data Model: Learn about entity types, schemas, and relationships in the Catalog Data Model
  2. Create Your First Entity: Follow the guide to create entities manually
  3. Set Up Auto-Discovery: Automate entity registration with catalog auto-discovery
  4. Customize Your Catalog: Configure the catalog UI to match your team's needs
  5. Write Catalog YAML: Learn the YAML schema for defining entities