aws-cdk-lib

What is aws-cdk-lib?

The aws-cdk-lib package is the primary library for the AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK), which is a software development framework for defining cloud infrastructure in code and provisioning it through AWS CloudFormation. It provides high-level components called constructs that preconfigure cloud resources with sensible defaults, making it easier to build cloud applications.

What are aws-cdk-lib's main functionalities?

Defining Infrastructure

This feature allows you to define AWS infrastructure using high-level constructs. In the code sample, a new S3 bucket is defined within a stack.

const app = new cdk.App();
const stack = new cdk.Stack(app, 'MyFirstStack');
new s3.Bucket(stack, 'MyFirstBucket', {
  removalPolicy: cdk.RemovalPolicy.DESTROY,
});

Configuring IAM Policies

This feature enables the creation and configuration of IAM roles and policies. The code sample creates an IAM role and grants it permissions to perform all actions on S3 resources.

const role = new iam.Role(stack, 'MyRole', {
  assumedBy: new iam.ServicePrincipal('lambda.amazonaws.com'),
});
role.addToPolicy(new iam.PolicyStatement({
  actions: ['s3:*'],
  resources: ['*'],
}));

Creating Serverless Functions

This feature is used to define AWS Lambda functions. The code sample shows how to create a new Lambda function with Node.js runtime and specifies the source code directory.

new lambda.Function(stack, 'MyFunction', {
  runtime: lambda.Runtime.NODEJS_14_X,
  handler: 'index.handler',
  code: lambda.Code.fromAsset('lambda'),
});

Setting up API Gateway

This feature allows you to set up an API Gateway to create RESTful APIs. The code sample demonstrates how to create an API Gateway and integrate it with a Lambda function.

const api = new apigateway.RestApi(stack, 'MyApi', {
  restApiName: 'My Service',
});
const getWidgetsIntegration = new apigateway.LambdaIntegration(myLambdaFunction);
api.root.addMethod('GET', getWidgetsIntegration);

Other packages similar to aws-cdk-lib

serverless

The Serverless Framework is an open-source CLI for building and deploying serverless applications. It offers a similar experience to AWS CDK but is cloud-agnostic, supporting multiple cloud providers. It uses a configuration file to define the services and resources.

terraform

Terraform by HashiCorp is an infrastructure as code tool that allows you to define both cloud and on-premises resources with a declarative configuration language. It is also cloud-agnostic and uses its own state management for keeping track of the infrastructure.

pulumi

Pulumi is an infrastructure as code tool that allows you to define infrastructure using general-purpose programming languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, and .NET. It supports multiple cloud providers and offers a more developer-centric experience compared to AWS CDK.