---
title: "Build a unified CI/CD control plane with Red Hat Developer Hub"
description: "Red Hat Developer Hub brings OpenShift, Argo CD, Tekton, and Quay workflows into a unified developer portal, addressing context switching across separate consoles. The guide targets platform engineers and covers installing the Operator, creating GitHub and cluster credentials, configuring application and dynamic-plugin settings, defining RBAC policies, and deploying a Backstage custom resource. It uses a Kubernetes service-account token for access to pods, deployments, and pipeline runs, while Quay integration exposes image tags, vulnerabilities, and manifest details. After granting read access in monitored namespaces, the resulting portal can display pipeline runs, deployment health, image information, and Argo CD status in one view. The source says the setup is a proof-of-concept foundation, with a follow-up planned for software templates and developer self-service."
---

# Build a unified CI/CD control plane with Red Hat Developer Hub

[Red Hat](https://yomu.fyi/company/red-hat) · Rishabh Singh · Sep 17, 2026

**Type:** Tutorial

## Summary

Red Hat Developer Hub brings OpenShift, Argo CD, Tekton, and Quay workflows into a unified developer portal, addressing context switching across separate consoles. The guide targets platform engineers and covers installing the Operator, creating GitHub and cluster credentials, configuring application and dynamic-plugin settings, defining RBAC policies, and deploying a Backstage custom resource. It uses a Kubernetes service-account token for access to pods, deployments, and pipeline runs, while Quay integration exposes image tags, vulnerabilities, and manifest details. After granting read access in monitored namespaces, the resulting portal can display pipeline runs, deployment health, image information, and Argo CD status in one view. The source says the setup is a proof-of-concept foundation, with a follow-up planned for software templates and developer self-service.

## Context

The guide assumes an OpenShift cluster with cluster-admin access, OpenShift Pipelines with Pipelines-as-Code, OpenShift GitOps with an Argo CD instance, and a GitHub organization. It uses Quay.io instead of Docker Hub because the portal provides a stable Quay plug-in, and it notes that production deployments should use least-privilege RBAC.

## Approach / What changed

Install the Red Hat Developer Hub Operator, create secrets for GitHub, Kubernetes, and Argo CD access, configure the application and required dynamic plug-ins, add RBAC policies, and deploy a Backstage custom resource. Enable an OpenShift route and local database, then grant the portal service account read access to the namespaces containing Argo CD applications and pipeline workloads.

## Takeaways

- Red Hat Developer Hub aggregates pipeline runs, deployment health, container image tags, and Argo CD status so developers do not need to monitor four separate web consoles.
- The portal uses dynamic plug-ins for Quay, Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines, Argo CD, and Kubernetes, with a Kubernetes service-account token for querying cluster resources.
- The proof-of-concept grants the portal read access to monitored namespaces and enables a local PostgreSQL database; the guide recommends least-privilege RBAC and an external database for production.

## FAQ

### Which credentials does Red Hat Developer Hub need for the integrations?

The setup stores GitHub OAuth and personal access token values, a Kubernetes service-account token, and Argo CD administrator credentials in a Kubernetes secret. These support GitHub login and repository access, cluster queries, and Argo CD application access.

### Why must the portal service account receive namespace permissions?

The Kubernetes, Tekton, and Argo CD plug-ins need read access to the namespaces they monitor. Without that access, their tabs show empty results; the guide grants the view role in the OpenShift GitOps and workload namespaces.

### What changes when moving beyond the proof-of-concept setup?

The guide uses simplified permissions and a local PostgreSQL database for the initial setup. For production, it advises configuring RBAC with least privilege and considering an external database.

**Tags:** [Kubernetes](https://yomu.fyi/topic/kubernetes), [OpenShift](https://yomu.fyi/topic/openshift), [Red Hat Developer Hub](https://yomu.fyi/topic/red-hat-developer-hub)

- Source: [Red Hat](https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2026/09/17/build-unified-cicd-control-plane-red-hat-developer-hub)
- Source URL: https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2026/09/17/build-unified-cicd-control-plane-red-hat-developer-hub
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-09-17T14:06:17.434Z

[Read original post](https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2026/09/17/build-unified-cicd-control-plane-red-hat-developer-hub)