AWS CDK CLI, a command-line interface tool, is an essential part of the AWS CDK that helps developers and operations engineers interact with the AWS CDK framework.
This article will provide a step-by-step guide on installing and upgrading your machine’s AWS CDK CLI. We will also cover how to check the version of the AWS CDK CLI installed on your device and why it’s essential to upgrade to the latest version. Furthermore, we will cover how to troubleshoot common issues that users may encounter during the installation and upgrade. Following this guide, you can successfully install and upgrade the AWS CDK CLI. This will enable you to start building infrastructure using the AWS CDK framework, allowing you to automate the creation, deployment, and management of AWS resources. Keeping the AWS CDK CLI up to date will let you take advantage of new features and bug fixes, making it easier to manage your AWS resources and stay ahead of the competition.
1.How to install AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK)?
To install AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) into your operating system, you need an AWS account to manage your AWS resources and AWS Command Line Interface (CLI).
Read the book: AWS Command Line Interface User Guide
This article will use the NPM package manager to install AWS CDK. Additionally, the NPM package manager is a universal installation method, that’s why you can use this method for any OS (macOS, Windows, and Linux (Ubuntu)). To Install the AWS CDK toolkit on your machine, type the following code in your terminal:
npm install -g aws-cdk2.Check the CDK Version
Before using AWS CDK, confirm that you are using the latest version. To check the version of CDK, enter the following command:
cdk version3.How to Troubleshoot and Upgrade the AWS CDK CLI?
After completing all the above steps, you successfully install the CDK CLI, but what if you face some problems while installing? AWS CDK CLI users commonly encountered an error of:
This CDK CLI is no compatible with the CDK library used by your application. Please upgrade the CLI to the latest version
With a single line command, you can quickly sort this issue, and the command line is given below:
npm install -g aws-cdk@latest
If you are using Yarn folk, run the below command:
yarn global upgrade aws-cdkSometimes Upgrading the CDK version does not solve problems of outdated dependency services between the aws-cdk. Core and other modules. Use the following commands to solve:
pip list --local --outdated |grep cdk | awk '{print $1}' > requirements.txt
pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txtDoing this lets you eliminate all the errors and successfully install the AWS CDK CLI on your machine. Let’s jump to the available command lines.
4.What are the available AWS CDK commands?
After installing, you must know the available command lines to use them properly. You can easily find all the commands and arguments available in the AWS CDK Toolkit by running the following:
➜ cdk --help
Usage: cdk -a COMMAND
Commands:
cdk list [STACKS..] Lists all stacks in the app [aliases: ls]
cdk synthesize [STACKS..] Synthesizes and prints the CloudFormation
template for this stack [aliases: synth]
cdk bootstrap [ENVIRONMENTS..] Deploys the CDK toolkit stack into an AWS
environment
cdk deploy [STACKS..] Deploys the stack(s) named STACKS into your
AWS account
cdk import [STACK] Import existing resource(s) into the given
STACK
cdk watch [STACKS..] Shortcut for 'deploy --watch'
cdk destroy [STACKS..] Destroy the stack(s) named STACKS
cdk diff [STACKS..] Compares the specified stack with the deployed
stack or a local template file, and returns
with status 1 if any difference is found
cdk metadata [STACK] Returns all metadata associated with this
stack
cdk acknowledge [ID] Acknowledge a notice so that it does not show
up anymore [aliases: ack]
cdk notices Returns a list of relevant notices
cdk init [TEMPLATE] Create a new, empty CDK project from a
template.
cdk context Manage cached context values
cdk docs Opens the reference documentation in a browser
[aliases: doc]
cdk doctor Check your set-up for potential problems
Options:
-a, --app REQUIRED: command-line for executing your app or a
cloud assembly directory (e.g. "node bin/my-app.js")
[string]
--build Command-line for a pre-synth build [string]
-c, --context Add contextual string parameter (KEY=VALUE) [array]
-p, --plugin Name or path of a node package that extend the CDK
features. Can be specified multiple times [array]
--trace Print trace for stack warnings [boolean]
--strict Do not construct stacks with warnings [boolean]
--lookups Perform context lookups (synthesis fails if this is
disabled and context lookups need to be performed)
[boolean] [default: true]
--ignore-errors Ignores synthesis errors, which will likely produce
an invalid output [boolean] [default: false]
-j, --json Use JSON output instead of YAML when templates are
printed to STDOUT [boolean] [default: false]
-v, --verbose Show debug logs (specify multiple times to increase
verbosity) [count] [default: false]
--debug Enable emission of additional debugging information,
such as creation stack traces of tokens
[boolean] [default: false]
--profile Use the indicated AWS profile as the default
environment [string]
--proxy Use the indicated proxy. Will read from HTTPS_PROXY
environment variable if not specified [string]
--ca-bundle-path Path to CA certificate to use when validating HTTPS
requests. Will read from AWS_CA_BUNDLE environment
variable if not specified [string]
-i, --ec2creds Force trying to fetch EC2 instance credentials.
Default: guess EC2 instance status [boolean]
--version-reporting Include the "AWS::CDK::Metadata" resource in
synthesized templates (enabled by default) [boolean]
--path-metadata Include "aws:cdk:path" CloudFormation metadata for
each resource (enabled by default)
[boolean] [default: true]
--asset-metadata Include "aws:asset:*" CloudFormation metadata for
resources that uses assets (enabled by default)
[boolean] [default: true]
-r, --role-arn ARN of Role to use when invoking CloudFormation
[string]
--staging Copy assets to the output directory (use --no-staging
to disable, needed for local debugging the source
files with SAM CLI) [boolean] [default: true]
-o, --output Emits the synthesized cloud assembly into a directory
(default: cdk.out) [string]
--notices Show relevant notices [boolean]
--no-color Removes colors and other style from console output
[boolean] [default: false]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
If your app has a single stack, there is no need to specify the stack name
If one of cdk.json or ~/.cdk.json exists, options specified there will be used
as defaults. Settings in cdk.json take precedence. Read more about: How to host static website on AWS S3?
5.How to Create an AWS CDK project?
By using the cdk init command, you can create an AWS CDK project. Additionally, you can specify your desired programming language and template here. Let’s see the possible options:
➜ cdk init --list
Available templates:
* app: Template for a CDK Application
└─ cdk init app --language=[csharp|fsharp|go|java|javascript|python|typescript]
* lib: Template for a CDK Construct Library
└─ cdk init lib --language=typescript
* sample-app: Example CDK Application with some constructs
└─ cdk init sample-app --language=[csharp|fsharp|java|javascript|python|typescript]In this article, I’m going to start with a sample app. Additionally, this project contains some sample resources and demonstrates how a stack is created.
Read Also: AWS vs Google Cloud vs Microsoft Azure
First, go to your project folder and run the cdk init sample-app –language typescript command to create the CDK project as shown below:
➜ cdk init sample-app --language=typescript
Applying project template sample-app for typescript
# Welcome to your CDK TypeScript project!
You should explore the contents of this project. It demonstrates a CDK app with an instance of a stack (`CdkProjectStack`)
which contains an Amazon SQS queue that is subscribed to an Amazon SNS topic.
The `cdk.json` file tells the CDK Toolkit how to execute your app.
## Useful commands
* `npm run build` compile typescript to js
* `npm run watch` watch for changes and compile
* `npm run test` perform the jest unit tests
* `cdk deploy` deploy this stack to your default AWS account/region
* `cdk diff` compare deployed stack with current state
* `cdk synth` emits the synthesized CloudFormation template
Initializing a new git repository...
Executing npm install...
All done!The above command automatically creates the sample project structure and necessary code documentation to run the sample app in CDK. Below is a sample of the form:
├── README.md
├── bin
│ └── cdk-project.ts
├── cdk.json
├── jest.config.js
├── lib
│ └── cdk-project-stack.ts
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
├── test
│ └── cdk-project.test.ts
└── tsconfig.jsonIn the above sample code, there is a root folder named lib. There is a stack under the root folder, which contains the code and resources. Since we’ve initialized AWS CDK, sample-app,it already creates an SQS queue and an SNS topic + subscription.
6.Build AWS CDK App
We have already generated an AWS CDK project with a stack cdk-project-stack.ts that contains a sample AWS SQS queue. Now we need to build the AWS CDK App.
Know more about: Cloud Security Managed Services
Firstly, we need to build CloudFormations templates based on the code defined on the AWS CDK App. To do this and build an app, run cdk synth as shown below:
➜ cdk synth
Resources:
CdkProjectQueueD30BD26F:
Type: AWS::SQS::Queue
Properties:
VisibilityTimeout: 300
UpdateReplacePolicy: Delete
DeletionPolicy: Delete
Metadata:
aws:cdk:path: CdkProjectStack/CdkProjectQueue/Resource
CdkProjectQueuePolicy60E3A509:
Type: AWS::SQS::QueuePolicy
Properties:
PolicyDocument:
Statement:
- Action: sqs:SendMessage
Condition:
ArnEquals:
aws:SourceArn:
Ref: CdkProjectTopicCABDBCE5
Effect: Allow
Principal:
Service: sns.amazonaws.com
Resource:
Fn::GetAtt:
- CdkProjectQueueD30BD26F
- Arn
Version: "2012-10-17"
Queues:
- Ref: CdkProjectQueueD30BD26F
Metadata:
aws:cdk:path: CdkProjectStack/CdkProjectQueue/Policy/Resource
CdkProjectQueueCdkProjectStackCdkProjectTopicEA58E728E3BEF797:
Type: AWS::SNS::Subscription
Properties:
Protocol: sqs
TopicArn:
Ref: CdkProjectTopicCABDBCE5
Endpoint:
Fn::GetAtt:
- CdkProjectQueueD30BD26F
- Arn
Metadata:
aws:cdk:path: CdkProjectStack/CdkProjectQueue/CdkProjectStackCdkProjectTopicEA58E728/Resource
CdkProjectTopicCABDBCE5:
Type: AWS::SNS::Topic
Metadata:
aws:cdk:path: CdkProjectStack/CdkProjectTopic/Resource
CDKMetadata:
Type: AWS::CDK::Metadata
Properties:
Analytics: v2:deflate64:H4sIAAAAAAAAE1WNQQ6CMBBFz8K+HZEYL8AFFNwbmNZkhpKiHE2AAA
Metadata:
aws:cdk:path: CdkProjectStack/CDKMetadata/Default
Condition: CDKMetadataAvailable
Conditions:
CDKMetadataAvailable:
Fn::Or:
- Fn::Or:
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- af-south-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- ap-east-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- ap-northeast-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- ap-northeast-2
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- ap-south-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- ap-southeast-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- ap-southeast-2
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- ca-central-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- cn-north-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- cn-northwest-1
- Fn::Or:
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- eu-central-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- eu-north-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- eu-south-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- eu-west-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- eu-west-2
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- eu-west-3
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- me-south-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- sa-east-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- us-east-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- us-east-2
- Fn::Or:
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- us-west-1
- Fn::Equals:
- Ref: AWS::Region
- us-west-2
Parameters:
BootstrapVersion:
Type: AWS::SSM::Parameter::Value
Default: /cdk-bootstrap/hnb659fds/version
Description: Version of the CDK Bootstrap resources in this environment, automatically retrieved from SSM Parameter Store.
Rules:
CheckBootstrapVersion:
Assertions:
- Assert:
Fn::Not:
- Fn::Contains:
- - "1"
- "2"
- "3"
- Ref: BootstrapVersion This will show the CloudFormation template in YAML format in your terminal. However, the actual template is saved in the cdk.out folder in JSON format.
Also Read: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide
7.Deploy AWS CDK App
If you have AWS CLI installed on your system and set up an AWS profile, deploying the synthesized template on an AWS account is easy.
Explore more about: AWS S3 use cases and benefits
First, we need to export our AWS account with export AWS_PROFILE= the command. Then we need to deploy the synthesized application with the command cdk deploy as shown below:
➜ cdk deploy
This deployment will make potentially sensitive changes according to your current security approval level (--require-approval broadening).
Please confirm you intend to make the following modifications:
IAM Statement Changes
(NOTE: There may be security-related changes not in this list. See https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/1299)
Do you wish to deploy these changes (y/n)? y
CdkProjectStack: deploying...
[0%] start: Publishing 8b185148d5516d058cb628a72cfac1ab6eff61aa5c83bc5c396601822bc9d954:current_account-current_region
[100%] success: Published 8b185148d5516d058cb628a72cfac1ab6eff61aa5c83bc5c396601822bc9d954:current_account-current_region
CdkProjectStack: creating CloudFormation changeset...
[██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████] (6/6)
CdkProjectStack
Stack ARN:
arn:aws:cloudformation:eu-central-1:012345678901:stack/CdkProjectStack/5a8b31a0-bff0-11eb-833c-06576399fc58By completing this process, we can successfully set up AWS CDK, initialize an AWS CDK project, synthesize a CloudFormation template, and then deploy it to your AWS account. Below, we learn how to destroy or remove the stack from the AWS account.
Read Also: Serverless security best practices
8.How to Destroy or Remove the Stack from AWS Account?
It is more effortless to destroy the stack from AWS than you think. You just need to run the single-line command cdk destroy, and the work is done.
