4 Reasons Why Static Add-Ons Are Awesome
Atlassian - Maritim Hotel Berlin
Building Atlassian Connect add-ons with client-server frameworks like Express.JS and Play produces powerful add-ons, but requires hosting and database consideration. In contrast, "static" Connect add-ons are easier to write and far simpler to deploy. A static Connect add-on is simply a set of files (including an atlassian-connect.json descriptor) that are web accessible, either through a web server or via deployment to a CDN. Static add-ons have several advantages. First, infinite scalability. Why pay for CPU when you can let the user agent do the work? Second, simple persistence. Why pay for disk when you have local storage and JIRA & Confluence's persistence REST APIs? Third, extreme performance. Let a worldwide CDN serve your files from the nearest edge - it's literally impossible to compete with a static add-on when it comes to performance! Finally, easy caching. Why bother serving requests when your unchanged static files can be cached indefinitely with simple HTTP caching? In this talk I'll highlight the benefits and restrictions of static add-on architecture, and discuss the nuts and bolts of implementing a static add-on. I'll also show off the static add-on skeleton that will get your static add-on development off to a flying start.