Skip to main content

Catalogue

The catalogue is the user-facing list of test data that Sixpack can provide immediately.

Structure​

The catalogue is organized as a tree:

  • Environments
  • Suppliers
  • Items

Each environment is unique, so the same supplier may be available in one environment and missing from another. A supplier can also expose different items per environment.

Autoconfiguration​

The catalogue is continuously configured as generators connect to Sixpack. If a generator disconnects, it remains in the catalogue for several days. After that, Sixpack considers it discontinued and removes it automatically.

Categories​

Categories make the existing catalogue easier to scan and filter. They are flat technical metadata, not a separate catalogue hierarchy.

There are two independent category scopes:

  • Supplier categories group suppliers inside an environment.
  • Item categories group items inside a supplier.

Categories have two parts:

  • Declared category keys come from supplier and item metadata. Supplier implementations declare stable keys such as finance or identity.
  • Category definitions are managed by maintainers in account catalogue settings. A definition gives a key its visible label and display order.

Both parts are required for polished catalogue browsing. A supplier or item can declare a category key, but users only see the configured label and ordering after a maintainer defines that key for the organization.

When supplier categories are defined and used, the supplier list can show supplier category sections and a supplier category filter. When item categories are defined and used, the item list can show item category sections and an item category filter. Category definitions are flat in this version; keys are not parsed as paths and do not create nested category trees.

Maintainers can add, rename, reorder, or remove category definitions without redeploying suppliers. Catalogue views refresh from the current definitions, so label and order changes become visible immediately.

If a supplier or item declares a key that has no matching definition, Sixpack still keeps the supplier or item in the catalogue. The entry falls back to Uncategorized, and maintainers can see a warning for the unresolved key. Fix the warning either by adding the missing category definition or by updating the supplier or item metadata to use an existing key.

Categories are not collections. Categories help users scan and filter the technical catalogue that suppliers publish. Collections remain the customer-curated presentation layer for grouping catalogue items across suppliers, environments, supplier categories, and item categories.

Item configurator​

Each item may have inputs that are presented as a form to fill. By default, any input parameter is optional and the generator is responsible to use some random value in that case.

Stock indicators​

Next to each navigation level, numbers indicate how many datasets are pre-generated and available for immediate use.

Online status​

Next to each supplier an online status icon allows to see whether the generator is alive now or not. When going offline there might be a small delay of up to 30s to propagate this to the indicator. When getting online, the propagation is immediate.