In the fast-paced world of software development, innovation and efficiency go hand in hand. Recognizing the challenges backend developers face in navigating complex systems and time constraints, Platformatic introduced Stackables in September 2023. This deterministic, composable template model aimed to simplify and accelerate development, offering a revolutionary approach to building applications. Today, we are taking this further by introducing our Stackables Marketplace.

A Recap: The Birth of Stackables

Platformatic Stackables addressed the limitations of traditional development tools, such as starter kits, archetypes, code generators, and code templates. These tools, while useful, often come with drawbacks, as outlined below:

• Starter Kits: Starter kits provide a swift method for initializing applications with foundational code. While they enable users to create new apps rapidly, setup can be cumbersome, lacking determinism in application creation and potentially leading to increased operational expenditure and hidden technical debt.

• Archetypes: Archetypes are predefined, standardized templates for initiating applications or specific components. While they streamline the building of new applications, they may lack flexibility in customization, presenting challenges in terms of rigidity and maintenance.

• Code Generators: A code generator automates the creation of source code based on predefined templates. This approach reduces manual coding efforts, enhancing consistency and expediting the development process. However, code generators have limited customization options and may pose challenges in debugging.

• Code Templates: Code templates offer reusable outlines for routine functions, providing a time-saving and customizable foundation for developers. However, they carry the risk of producing bloated code, incurring maintenance overhead, and leading to code duplication.

Stackables were created as an alternative, providing a modular, easily updatable system that allows developers to create base applications simply and without the burden of starting from scratch each time. With Stackables, developers can take their code and configurations, which historically took time and large amounts of repetition to initially create, encapsulate them into augmented npm modules, and publish them on their internal npm registry. Stackables templates come fully loaded with everything your team needs, including automatic updates, and allow for the simple layering of your specific configurations.

Ultimately, Stackables allow for a better operational flow between developers and other outcome-based teams in an organization, by allowing for more efficient work, as well as fostering collaboration.

So what’s new?

Building on the success of Stackables, Platformatic is proud to announce the next phase in backend development efficiency – the Stackables Marketplace. This marketplace is designed to be a one-stop destination for reusing, composing, and publishing microservices and templates, further streamlining the application development lifecycle.

Through the marketplace, developers can now discover and combine new stackables effortlessly. Fastify plugins are seamlessly integrated, providing a unified and up-to-date solution.

How can our marketplace help?

1. Discover the stackable to kickstart your project: Browse through our list of existing templates, find the ones that meet your needs, and use them to avoid repetitive work.

2. Turn existing stackables into new templates, plugins and apps: Publish apps & app templates on a public or private npm registry, including building your own CLI, or create specialized templates for your organization to allow for centralized bugfixes and updates.

3. Share your stackables with your org or everyone: With Stackables, you can create an internal Open Source community, simplifying the distribution of templates and assets across your organization’s dispersed teams.

Publish new releases of your Stackables:

Ready to put backend development on autopilot?

Platformatic Stackables Marketplace marks a significant leap forward in the world of software development. By offering a curated collection of templates and microservices, developers can now expedite their projects, foster collaboration, and stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of technology.

Ready to find out more about Stackables, the Stackables Marketplace, or our Command Center which includes Stackables packaged alongside additional tools to streamline and de-risk backend development? Contact us.

For any questions you may have about our Stackables Marketplace, or to simply join our community, find us on Discord.