In the development of Kibana, the team uses various automation tools to streamline their workflow, particularly when dealing with Elasticsearch. They employ "makelogs" to efficiently index fake HTTP traffic logs into Elasticsearch, allowing them to quickly visualize data and conduct initial tests on new clusters. However, the scope of "makelogs" is limited to Kibana development. A more versatile tool they use is "esvm" (Elasticsearch Version Manager), which assists in managing multiple Elasticsearch versions and clusters with unique configurations. "esvm" can download specific versions of Elasticsearch, manage cluster settings via JSON configuration files, and facilitate the installation of plugins. This automation reduces the complexity and time involved in setting up necessary infrastructure, enabling the team to focus more on developing Kibana itself. Additionally, the team is working on a Kibana plugin generator to further ease plugin development, hinting at future improvements for users.