Bitbucket Cloud can be customized and extended by creating apps. Apps can:
integrate with an external service,
add new features,
update settings and
retrieve information from Bitbucket.
Options for integrating with Bitbucket Cloud
You have four main options for integrating with Bitbucket Cloud:
Build a Bitbucket app on Forge, our recommended platform for building secure,
reliable, and scalable apps.
Call the REST API
via scripts or other API clients to automate operations in Bitbucket Cloud not otherwise available
through the user interface.
Develop a pipe for Bitbucket Pipelines
that can integrate with an external system to deploy code, scan your code, call other services or
implement other functionality.
Forge apps
Forge is our recommended platform for building apps. It’s designed to
revolutionize how Atlassian cloud products are customized, extended, and integrated.
To start building a Bitbucket app with Forge, see:
Forge in 5, a short YouTube video about the
Forge platform.
Building apps without Forge
Apps built without Forge can still access data and create content through the Bitbucket
APIs. These apps can use OAuth 2.0 (3LO) or basic auth to pass information between your app and
Bitbucket, depending on your security needs. See the Security section below for more
details.
Forge is required to implement certain functionality in apps. For example,
only Forge apps can use the following Bitbucket features:
See Bitbucket modules for a complete list of app modules available in Forge.
Using the APIs
You can use the Bitbucket APIs in Bitbucket apps, as well as in scripts, API clients, or other
methods of making calls.
REST API allows you to access and update Bitbucket
entities, such as commits and pull requests.
Forge JavaScript API provides additional functionality to
the Forge platform so that you can interact with REST endpoints via the requestBitbucketAPI.
Atlassian development guidelines
Follow our design guidelines to make your app consistent with Atlassian's products.
Atlassian Design guidelines
Since Forge and Connect apps can insert content directly into the user interface, it's important
that apps are visually compatible with Atlassian design.
UI Kit - wide range of pre-built and customizable
components that align with Atlassian's design standards. Available only when building with Forge.
Atlaskit - library of reusable front-end UI components.
Available when building a Forge Custom UI app.
Security
There are a few basic options for security, depending on what sort of app you are trying to make:
Forge apps use OAuth 2.0 when authenticating with Bitbucket. Scopes are an OAuth 2.0 mechanism
that limits an app's access to a user's account. The Forge platform also provides managed APIs to
make requests on behalf of the user, meaning that third-party code is never trusted with user
credentials.
OAuth 2.0 (3LO) apps use OAuth 2.0 (3LO) to pass permissions and data from Bitbucket.
Basic auth is supported for making API calls via API tokens and Access Tokens.
You can publish your Bitbucket Connect app on the Atlassian Marketplace so other cloud users can
install it, or list it privately if you don't intend to distribute your code. Private listings use
secret tokens that you can generate yourself.
Examples and resources
Check out our example apps and patterns for app ideas and strategies, or see some tutorials on more advanced topics: