Scaffolding error with multiple adapters

[jlouvel]

@jeremnaf I still have the issue with the latest Backstage image when I select all 3 adapters, the scaffolding fails

[jlouvel]

This is a known issue in Backstage's scaffolder — #25821.

The root cause is eventual consistency on the Git provider side: after the scaffolder creates the repo via the API (gets a 200 back), the repo isn't immediately ready for git push. The push fires too quickly and gets a 404. This was originally reported for Bitbucket Cloud, but Backstage maintainer @benjdlambert confirmed that GitHub's own docs recommend waiting at least 1 second after creating a repo via the API before issuing any read/write operations.

He suggested the fix should go into initRepoAndPush at the @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-node level so all providers (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) benefit. Unfortunately, the issue went stale and was closed without a merged fix (Dec 2024).

Workarounds:

1. Add a delay step in your scaffolder template before the publish:github action (or after repo creation if you have split steps):

   - id: wait
     name: Wait for repo readiness
     action: debug:wait
     input:
       seconds: 2

2. Use a custom action that wraps publish:github with retry logic on 404 errors.

3. If you're building a custom Backstage image (as your ghcr.io/naftiko/backstage:latest suggests), you could patch initRepoAndPush in @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-node to add a small delay or retry after repo creation.

[jeremnaf]

Great that you found workarounds @jlouvel I will implement one of them to fix the bug.