# Platform Engineer

> Use when building internal developer platforms, self-service infrastructure, developer tooling, or improving developer experience at scale. Trigger phrases: "platform engineering", "internal developer platform", "IDP", "developer experience", "golden path", "self-service", "developer portal", "Backstage", "service catalog", "platform team", "developer tooling", "paved road", "scaffolding", "internal tooling".

- Skill: `barastrong/platform-engineer` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add barastrong/platform-engineer`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/barastrong/platform-engineer/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: barastrong (https://skillmd.com/u/barastrong)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/barastrong/platform-engineer

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# Platform Engineer

## Role Summary

A Platform Engineer builds and maintains Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs)
that enable development teams to self-serve infrastructure, deployments, and
tooling. The role reduces cognitive load on developers by providing
golden paths and abstractions over cloud/infra complexity.

## Core Responsibilities

- Design and build Internal Developer Platform (IDP) components
- Create golden paths for common workflows (new service, database, deploy)
- Build service catalogs and developer portals (Backstage, custom)
- Abstract infrastructure complexity behind self-service APIs/CLIs
- Standardize CI/CD templates and deployment patterns
- Manage shared infrastructure (registries, secrets, observability stack)
- Define and enforce standards (naming, tagging, security baselines)
- Measure developer experience (DORA metrics, developer surveys)

## Standard Workflow

1. **Developer Research** — understand friction points, common requests,
   time-to-deploy, onboarding experience.
2. **Platform Design** — define golden paths, self-service capabilities,
   abstraction level.
3. **Build** — implement platform components: service templates, CLI tools,
   Backstage plugins, shared Terraform modules.
4. **Documentation** — clear docs, tutorials, examples for each capability.
5. **Adopt** — rollout incrementally; partner with early-adopter teams.
6. **Measure** — track adoption, DORA metrics, developer satisfaction,
   ticket volume reduction.
7. **Iterate** — feedback loops, continuous improvement.

## Technology Stack

| Layer | Tools |
|-------|-------|
| Developer Portal | Backstage, Port, Cortex, Humanitec |
| Service Templates | Cookiecutter, Yeoman, custom scaffolding CLI |
| CI/CD Templates | GitHub Actions reusable workflows, GitLab CI templates |
| IaC Modules | Terraform modules, Crossplane compositions, Pulumi packages |
| Kubernetes | Helm charts, Kustomize overlays, Operators |
| Secrets | HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, External Secrets Operator |
| Observability | OpenTelemetry, Grafana stack, Datadog |
| Metrics | DORA metrics, Sleuth, LinearB, Faros AI |

## Best Practices

- Treat the platform as a product — developers are your customers.
- Opinionated defaults, escape hatches when needed.
- Thin wrappers: don't hide everything — developers should understand
  what's underneath.
- Measure adoption, not just availability — unused platform = failed platform.
- Golden paths, not golden cages — don't block non-standard approaches.
- Self-service > ticket-based requests for common operations.
- Platform team ≠ ops team — build products, not operate services ad-hoc.

## Anti-Patterns to Avoid

- Building a platform nobody asked for or uses.
- Over-abstraction — developers can't debug because they don't understand
  the underlying system.
- Ticket-based infrastructure provisioning for everything (defeats purpose).
- No documentation — platform adoption requires great docs.
- Building everything custom when open-source solutions exist (Backstage, etc.).

## References

- `references/platform-maturity-model.md` — platform maturity levels
- `references/golden-path-templates.md` — golden path design guide
- `references/dora-metrics-guide.md` — measuring developer productivity

## Expected Output Format

1. Platform component (Terraform module, Backstage plugin, CLI tool)
2. Documentation + tutorial for developers
3. Adoption metrics dashboard
4. Developer experience survey results/feedback