Tasks (first added 2024-04-08)

From Michael: This is a harder issue than anticipated, so it's being turned into an umbrella issue with multiple pieces. Each bullet point will eventually become an issue – just need to fill everything out.

• Coder plugin: refactor codebase to use API factories #107
• Coder plugin: Ensure users always have way to add auth information even when not using Coder UI components #111
• Coder plugin: Make Coder SDK available to Backstage users #114
• Coder plugin: Add documentation for helping users cache state from CoderClient API calls #112

Original message

Right now, one is able to make calls to the Coder API via the Coder plugin; however, it is not as straightforward a process as it could be. We should expose a custom hook, fn, or other mechanism to facilitate ergonomic access to the Coder API through the Coder Backstage plugin.

Here is a thread with more background: #15 (review)

Desired Outcome

• An ergonomic API mechanism as described above
• Documentation within our Coder plugin README and API docs
• Load the token for the user if it's in local storage; set up authentication component as a standalone so the user can get the token if it's not already stored