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Publishing Connectors

Publishing makes a connector available for use. This page covers the publishing workflow, what happens when you publish, and how to manage published connectors.

Draft vs Published

State Visibility Usability
Draft Only visible to the creator Cannot be used in connections or orchestrations
Published Visible to all enterprises (or scoped to one enterprise) Can be used to create connections and run orchestrations

A new connector starts as a Draft. You publish it when it is ready for use.

Publishing Workflow

Pre-Publication Checklist

Before publishing, verify:

  • [ ] Overview is complete (name, description, base URL, icon)
  • [ ] Authentication is correctly configured
  • [ ] At least one operation is defined with parameters and response schema
  • [ ] Resilience settings are appropriate (timeout, retries, rate limits)
  • [ ] Testing has passed for all operations
  • [ ] Field mappings are configured (at least for required CDM fields)

How to Publish

  1. Open the connector in the Connector Builder
  2. Click Publish in the toolbar
  3. Select the publication scope:
Scope Who Can See It Who Can Publish
Global Catalogue All enterprises Platform Admin only
Enterprise Scope Only the publishing enterprise Enterprise Admin (if enabled)
  1. Confirm the publication

Review Process

If your platform has a review process configured, Enterprise Admin-published connectors may require Platform Admin approval before appearing in the global catalogue.

What Happens When You Publish

  1. The connector template is frozen at its current version
  2. It appears in the connector catalogue for the appropriate audience
  3. Enterprises can create connections using this connector
  4. A version number is assigned (starting at 1.0.0)

Versioning

Each published connector has a version number following semantic versioning:

Version Bump When to Use Example
Patch (1.0.x) Bug fixes, minor mapping corrections 1.0.0 to 1.0.1
Minor (1.x.0) New operations added, new optional fields 1.0.0 to 1.1.0
Major (x.0.0) Breaking changes (removed operations, changed auth) 1.0.0 to 2.0.0

Updating a Published Connector

  1. Open the connector in the Connector Builder
  2. Make your changes
  3. Click Publish Update
  4. Select the version bump type (patch, minor, major)
  5. Add release notes describing the changes
  6. Confirm

Version Impact on Connections

Version Change Impact on Existing Connections
Patch No impact -- existing connections continue to work
Minor No impact -- new operations are available but not required
Major Existing connections may need reconfiguration; users are notified

Major Version Updates

Major version updates can break existing connections. DIBOP notifies affected enterprise administrators and provides a migration guide. Avoid major version updates unless necessary.

Unpublishing a Connector

You can unpublish a connector to remove it from the catalogue:

  1. Open the connector in the Connector Builder
  2. Click Unpublish
  3. Confirm

Impact of Unpublishing

When you unpublish a connector:

  • It disappears from the connector catalogue
  • Existing connections are NOT deleted -- they continue to work
  • No new connections can be created using this connector
  • Existing orchestrations that use this connector continue to run
  • The connector reverts to Draft status

When to Unpublish

Unpublish a connector when it has been replaced by a newer connector, or when the external system it connects to has been decommissioned. Do not unpublish just to make edits -- you can update a published connector directly.

Enterprise-Scoped Connectors

Enterprise-scoped connectors are only visible to the enterprise that created them:

Creating an Enterprise-Scoped Connector

  1. Build the connector normally using the Connector Builder
  2. When publishing, select Enterprise Scope
  3. The connector appears only in your enterprise's catalogue

Promoting to Global

A Platform Admin can promote an enterprise-scoped connector to the global catalogue:

  1. Navigate to Platform Config > Connector SDK > All Connectors
  2. Find the enterprise-scoped connector
  3. Click Promote to Global
  4. Review the connector configuration
  5. Confirm

The connector becomes available to all enterprises.

Publishing Best Practices

  1. Test thoroughly before publishing -- once published, enterprises may immediately start using the connector
  2. Include complete descriptions for all operations and parameters
  3. Start with core operations -- publish with the most important operations, add more in minor updates
  4. Document known limitations -- if the connector does not support certain features of the external system, note this in the description
  5. Use semantic versioning correctly -- do not make breaking changes in patch or minor updates
  6. Communicate major updates -- when a major version is needed, give enterprises advance notice

Managing Published Connectors

Viewing Usage

For each published connector, you can see:

  • Number of enterprises using it
  • Number of active connections
  • Number of orchestrations referencing it
  • Recent API call volume

This helps you understand the impact of changes.

Deprecation

If a connector needs to be retired (replaced by a newer version or the external system is being decommissioned):

  1. Mark the connector as Deprecated (it remains in the catalogue with a deprecation warning)
  2. Notify affected enterprises
  3. Set a deprecation date
  4. After the date, unpublish the connector

Grace Period

Always provide at least 30 days between deprecation notice and unpublishing to give enterprises time to migrate.

Next Steps