aws-simple
Advanced tools
A Node.js interface for AWS that allows easy configuration and deployment of simple web apps.
A Node.js interface for AWS that allows easy configuration and deployment of simple web apps.
aws-simple allows you to easily create and deploy an API Gateway with a custom
domain and optional alias record, host static web resources via S3, and
provision public backend APIs via Lambda. In addition, a local DEV server can be
started to emulate the resulting AWS infrastructure.
In my job I mainly build web apps on top of existing backend/CMS systems. Since many of the frontend tech stacks are similar, I created an abstraction for the AWS CDK/SDK for a faster and easier setup.
Since existing backend/CMS systems are used, an additional persistence layer is rarely required. Therefore, setting up such a layer (e.g. with Amazon DynamoDB) is not supported.
I deliberately kept it simple. An app with a more complex setup should be set up manually with the AWS CDK/SDK.
npm install aws-simple --save-dev
To use the aws-simple CLI you have to create a top-level config file named
aws-simple.config.js which exports an object compatible to the
App
interface.
For example, a config file with the following content describes a simple app consisting of a single static HTML file:
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
routes: (port) => ({
'/': {kind: 'file', filename: 'dist/index.html'},
}),
};
Note: The routes function optionally gets a port argument. It is set
when the function is called in the context of the aws-simple start [options]
CLI command. This gives the opportunity to create different routes for either
AWS or the local DEV environment.
Link: As a real-world example, you can find the aws-simple configuration
for one of my open source applications
here.
You need to create an AWS IAM user with programmatic access and the following attached policy:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"apigateway:*",
"cloudformation:*",
"iam:*",
"lambda:*",
"route53:*",
"s3:*"
],
"Resource": "*"
}
]
}
Caution: This policy has more rights than necessary and should be more specific for security.
You can install the aws CLI, e.g. with:
brew install awscli
You can then set up the AWS profile using the credentials from the AWS IAM user you just created:
aws configure
AWS Access Key ID [None]: ********************
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: ****************************************
Default region name [None]: eu-central-1
Default output format [None]: json
If a profile other than the default profile is to be set up, the aws CLI can
be called with the --profile CLI option, e.g.:
aws configure --profile my-profile
As an alternative to using the aws CLI, you can create the following files
manually:
cat ~/.aws/credentials
[default]
aws_access_key_id = ********************
aws_secret_access_key = ****************************************
cat ~/.aws/config
[default]
output = json
region = eu-central-1
The following two environment variables AWS_PROFILE and AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE
are evaluated in the specified order. If neither of the two environment
variables is set, the default profile is used.
The following is an example of setting a specific profile:
AWS_PROFILE=my-profile npx aws-simple list
The following two environment variables AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY are evaluated. If these are not set, an attempt is made
to read the credentials from the AWS shared credentials file using the AWS
profile. The default location of the file (~/.aws/credentials) can be
overwritten by setting the environment variable AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE.
The following two environment variables AWS_REGION and AWS_DEFAULT_REGION
are evaluated in the specified order. If neither of the two environment
variables is set, an attempt is made to read the region from the AWS config file
using the AWS profile. The default location of the file (~/.aws/config) can be
overwritten by setting the environment variable AWS_CONFIG_FILE.
Before you can use the AWS CDK you must bootstrap your AWS environment to create the infrastructure that the AWS CDK CLI needs to deploy your app:
npx cdk bootstrap --app 'npx aws-simple create'
npx aws-simple start
Note: When changing the aws-simple config file, the DEV server must be
restarted. If a bundler such as Parcel or Webpack is used, its watcher must be
started in addition to the DEV server.
Create and deploy a stack using the CDK:
npx cdk deploy --app 'npx aws-simple create'
The name of the deployed stack consists of the app name (e.g. my-app) in
combination with the app version (e.g. latest) such as
aws-simple--my-app--latest.
Caution: Re-deploying an already deployed stack (so a stack with the same
name) will remove all tags set with aws-simple tag [options].
Upload files to S3:
npx aws-simple upload
Example package.json scripts:
{
"scripts": {
"deploy": "cdk deploy --app 'npx aws-simple create'",
"postdeploy": "aws-simple upload"
}
}
Note: In a CI pipeline the deploy script should be called with the
additional argument --require-approval never, e.g.
npm run deploy -- --require-approval never.
TypeScript 2.3 and later support type-checking in *.js files by adding a
// @ts-check comment to them:
// @ts-check
/**
* @type {import('aws-simple').App}
*/
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
routes: () => ({
/* ... */
}),
};
In order to use a custom domain, a public certificate and a public hosted zone must be created manually. You can then configure a custom domain as follows:
const appVersion = process.env.APP_VERSION;
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
appVersion,
customDomain: {
certificateArn:
'arn:aws:acm:eu-central-1:************:certificate/********-****-****-****-************',
hostedZoneId: '**************',
hostedZoneName: 'example.com',
aliasRecordName: appVersion ? appVersion : undefined,
},
routes: () => ({
/* ... */
}),
};
Note: Different app versions allow multiple stacks of the same app to be
deployed simultaneously. In this case the optional aliasRecordName property is
used to give each stack its own URL, e.g. example.com or beta.example.com
(APP_VERSION=beta).
You can configure a Lambda function that can be accessed via GET request under
the /hello path as follows:
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
routes: () => ({
'/hello': {kind: 'function', filename: 'dist/hello.js'},
}),
};
The contents of file dist/hello.js could look like this:
async function handler() {
return {
statusCode: 200,
headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
body: JSON.stringify('Hello, World!'),
};
}
exports.handler = handler;
Note: If external modules are to be referenced in the Lambda function, it
must be bundled with a bundler such as Webpack (in this case you have to set the
target to node: {target: 'node'}) to create a single self-contained file.
You can configure an S3 file that can be accessed via GET request under the /
path as follows:
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
routes: () => ({
'/': {kind: 'file', filename: 'dist/index.html'},
}),
};
You can configure an S3 folder that can be accessed via GET request under the
/assets/* path as follows:
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
routes: () => ({
'/assets': {kind: 'folder', dirname: 'dist/assets'},
}),
};
Note: All files contained in the folder specified under the dirname
property are loaded into the S3 bucket associated with the stack using the
aws-simple upload [options] command.
Important: Nested folders are ignored! Thus a separate route must be created for each nested folder.
You can specify media types (e.g. image/png, application/octet-stream, etc.)
to be treated as binary as follows:
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
routes: () => ({
'/images': {
kind: 'folder',
dirname: 'dist/images',
binaryMediaTypes: ['image/gif', 'image/jpeg', 'image/png'],
},
}),
};
Important: Folders may only contain either binary or non-binary files.
To enable CORS for a route, you can set its enableCors property to true:
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
routes: () => ({
'/': {kind: 'file', filename: 'dist/index.html', enableCors: true},
'/assets': {kind: 'folder', dirname: 'dist/assets', enableCors: true},
'/hello': {kind: 'function', filename: 'dist/hello.js', enableCors: true},
}),
};
Additionally, Lambda functions must explicitly set any required CORS headers
like Access-Control-Allow-Origin on their response:
async function handler() {
return {
statusCode: 200,
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
},
body: JSON.stringify('Hello, World!'),
};
}
exports.handler = handler;
Caution: During a transition period, the old configuration format continues to be used under the hood. This means that CORS cannot be activated by route. As soon as a route has activated CORS, this applies to all routes!
To enable basic authentication for a route, you can set its
enableAuthentication property to true:
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
authentication: {
username: process.env.USERNAME,
password: process.env.PASSWORD,
},
routes: () => ({
'/': {
kind: 'file',
filename: 'dist/index.html',
enableAuthentication: true,
},
'/assets': {
kind: 'folder',
dirname: 'dist/assets',
enableAuthentication: true,
},
'/hello': {
kind: 'function',
filename: 'dist/hello.js',
enableAuthentication: true,
},
}),
};
Note: Basic authentication is not simulated by the local DEV server.
It can be useful to deliver the same single-page application under different
paths. Instead of specifying multiple routes, you can set the catchAll
property of a file or function route to true:
exports.default = {
appName: 'my-app',
routes: (port) => ({
'/': {kind: 'file', filename: 'dist/index.html', catchAll: true},
'/assets': {kind: 'folder', dirname: 'dist/assets'},
'/hello': {kind: 'function', filename: 'dist/hello.js'},
}),
};
Some changes
to an existing stack require a redeployment of the API Gateway. So if changes to
a stack do not work, the aws-simple redeploy command might help.
Usage: aws-simple <command> [options]
Commands:
aws-simple create [options] Create a stack using the CDK
aws-simple upload [options] Upload files to S3
aws-simple start [options] Start a local DEV server
aws-simple list [options] List all deployed stacks
aws-simple tag [options] Tag a deployed stack
aws-simple clean-up [options] Clean up old deployed stacks
aws-simple redeploy [options] Redeploy the API Gateway
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
A Node.js interface for AWS that allows easy configuration and deployment of
simple web apps.
aws-simple create [options]
Create a stack using the CDK
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
Examples:
npx aws-simple create
npx cdk deploy --app 'npx aws-simple create'
aws-simple upload [options]
Upload files to S3
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
Examples:
npx aws-simple upload
aws-simple start [options]
Start a local DEV server
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
--port The port to listen on if available, otherwise listen on a
random port [number] [default: 3000]
--cache Enable caching of successful caching-enabled Lambda function
results per request URL [boolean] [default: false]
--verbose Enable logging of successful Lambda function results
[boolean] [default: false]
Examples:
npx aws-simple start
npx aws-simple start --port 3001 --cache --verbose
aws-simple list [options]
List all deployed stacks
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
Examples:
npx aws-simple list
aws-simple tag [options]
Tag a deployed stack
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
--add The tags to add [array] [default: []]
--remove The tags to remove [array] [default: []]
--yes The confirmation message will automatically be answered with
yes [boolean] [default: false]
Examples:
npx aws-simple tag --add latest release --remove prerelease
npx aws-simple tag --add prerelease --yes
aws-simple clean-up [options]
Clean up old deployed stacks
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
--min-age The minimum age (in days) of a stack for deletion
[number] [default: 30]
--exclude Tags that exclude a stack from deletion [array] [default: []]
--yes The confirmation message will automatically be answered with
yes [boolean] [default: false]
Examples:
npx aws-simple clean-up
npx aws-simple clean-up --min-age 14 --exclude release prerelease --yes
aws-simple redeploy [options]
Redeploy the API Gateway
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
Examples:
npx aws-simple redeploy
Copyright (c) 2019-2021, Clemens Akens. Released under the terms of the MIT License.
FAQs
Production-ready AWS website deployment with minimal configuration.
We found that aws-simple demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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