Event Recap - Let's learn about Forge

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Reflecting on a talk I gave at the very end of last year, about Forge. This was designed for the absolute beginner developer (or curious admin), introducing Forge; Atlassian's serverless development platform. We learned what it took to get started, explored use-cases. Whether folks are solo or have a team to assist, they were ready to take on the next steps!

It was so interesting hearing some people's experiences with Forge, perhaps alone in experimentation or with apps created from a Solutions Partner. Here are some key takeaways:

• You should probably have some experience or willingness to learn JavaScript (mix of React & Node.js)
• Creating an app is not a one-and-done experience. Modules, UI kits, etc. can become depreciated, affecting your app. You'll need to stay on top of changing components, upgrades, vulnerabilities, etc.
• Example apps are a great way to get started!
• The age old buy v. build conversation...assess your resources and see if building an app may be more effective than buying something from the marketplace. Depending how complex your use-case is and how many staff you have to support it, one may be better than the other.
• Make sure your code is accessible and not local on a computer. Repositories in GitHub or Bitbucket, for example, are great ways to store, share, and track changes to your code.

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Resources

As promised, here are some great resources we discussed during the talk that will help you start your Forge journey!

🌐 Online Documentation

• About Forge
• Prepare to build your first Forge app
• Guided Tutorials

🤓 Example Apps:

• Bitbucket
• Compass
• Confluence
• Jira
• Jira Service Management
• Rovo (preview)

🎥 Videos

• Atlassian Developer Training YouTube playlist

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Questions

We had a number of great questions come up in the event. Here are some of them:

Are Forge apps available for Data Center versions of Atlassian products?

No. Forge is designed specifically for Atlassian Cloud products. Custom plugins are still available for Data Center using the Atlassian Plugin Software Developer Kit (SDK)

If code is written and stored locally on a computer and then deployed/installed to an environment, is it possible through the Forge CLI, the Developer Console, or some other way to retrieve the files for the app?

No. The code is protected and compiled/published to an app. It is recommended to store your code in a shared repository, like GitHub or Bitbucket.

Is Forge free?

It is free, for now. Atlassian announce that Forge will remain free through 2025. They may extend it again, or introduce a tiered model depending on factors of your apps like install count, database storage, and more. Their current quotas and limits can be found here.

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Last but not least...kudos and congratulations to @John Proffitt for winning the Forge quiz at the end of the talk, scoring a sweet Atlassian coffee code mug!

Thanks to everyone who came out and I hope folks enjoyed and are excited to begin their journey!