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Manage a Custom Entity Kind

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To manage an existing custom kind, go to Custom Kinds, find the kind in the list, and click Manage. The kind's management page opens showing the icon, schema editor, layout status, and more.

Figure 1: The 'Manage' page for a Custom Kind

Edit the Schema or Icon​

  1. To change the icon, click Change Icon and select a new one from the picker.

  2. To update the schema, edit the JSON directly in the editor, then click Validate Schema to confirm it is valid.

  3. Click Update to save your changes, or Cancel to discard them.

What happens to existing entities

  • If your updated schema makes existing entities non-conformant, you will see a warning but you can still proceed. Affected entities will show a "kind updated: action required" banner on their catalog page until the entity owner updates them.

  • There is no schema rollback. Communicate planned schema changes to your team before applying them, and make sure entity owners know to update their records afterwards.

Configure a Layout​

By default, entities of a custom kind use the IDP default catalog layout. The Default layout in use notice on the Manage page shows this status.

  1. Click Update Layout to go to the Catalog Entities layout page.

    Figure 2: Changing Default Layout

    Your custom kinds appear under the Custom Entities section in the left panel.

  2. Click + New Catalog Layout. A dialog opens.

    Figure 3: New Layout for Custom Kind Entity

  3. From the Select Entity Kind dropdown, choose your custom kind. Both built-in and custom kinds are listed here.

  4. In the Specify Entity Type field, enter an entity type to scope this layout to a specific type (e.g., library).

    Figure 4: Specifying an Entity Type for the Layout

    info

    Entity type is case-insensitive and comes from spec.type in the catalog entity YAML. Leave this field empty to apply the layout to all types of this kind.

  5. Click Continue to open the layout editor and build your layout.

Delete a Kind​

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Deleting a kind permanently removes it from the catalog along with all its entities, layout configuration, scorecard configurations, and related settings. This action cannot be undone.

You can delete a kind in two ways:

  • From the Kinds' listing page - Hover over the kind's card, click the ⋮ context menu, and click Delete.
  • From the Manage page - Scroll to the Danger Zone section and click the red Delete button.

Either way, a confirmation dialog appears showing an Entities affected list so you can see exactly what will be removed.

Figure 5: Deletion of Custom Kind

Click Delete to confirm, or Cancel to go back.