constructs

What is constructs?

The 'constructs' npm package provides a framework for defining cloud infrastructure in code by composing and sharing reusable components known as constructs. Constructs can represent low-level resources such as a virtual machine, a database, or a piece of code, as well as higher-level abstractions that are composed of these resources. The package is designed to be used with the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) but is also general enough to be used in other contexts.

What are constructs's main functionalities?

Defining Constructs

This feature allows developers to define their own constructs by extending the Construct class. Constructs can encapsulate any number of child constructs and resources, providing a way to create reusable and composable infrastructure components.

{"const { Construct } = require('constructs');\n\nclass MyConstruct extends Construct {\n  constructor(scope, id) {\n    super(scope, id);\n    // Define resources and other constructs here\n  }\n}\n\nconst app = new Construct();\nconst myConstruct = new MyConstruct(app, 'MyConstructId');"}

Composing Constructs

This feature demonstrates how to compose constructs within other constructs, allowing for the creation of complex infrastructure systems by nesting constructs.

{"const { Construct } = require('constructs');\n\nclass MyConstruct extends Construct {\n  // ...\n}\n\nclass MyCompositeConstruct extends Construct {\n  constructor(scope, id) {\n    super(scope, id);\n    new MyConstruct(this, 'NestedConstruct');\n  }\n}\n\nconst app = new Construct();\nconst myComposite = new MyCompositeConstruct(app, 'MyCompositeConstructId');"}

Synthesizing Constructs

This feature shows how to synthesize a construct, which means to generate a representation of the construct's state, typically for the purpose of deploying infrastructure. The 'synthesize' method is part of the 'Node' class, which provides context and lifecycle methods for constructs.

{"const { Construct, Node } = require('constructs');\n\nclass MyConstruct extends Construct {\n  // ...\n}\n\nconst app = new Construct();\nconst myConstruct = new MyConstruct(app, 'MyConstructId');\n\nconst synthesized = Node.of(myConstruct).synthesize();\nconsole.log(synthesized);"}

Other packages similar to constructs

serverless

The 'serverless' package allows for defining serverless applications using a simple and concise configuration file. It is similar to 'constructs' in that it enables infrastructure as code, but it is focused specifically on serverless use cases and provides a different abstraction level and feature set.

pulumi

Pulumi is an infrastructure as code tool that allows developers to define infrastructure using general-purpose programming languages. Similar to 'constructs', Pulumi provides a way to create, deploy, and manage cloud infrastructure, but it does not use the construct paradigm and instead relies on standard programming constructs and classes.

README

Constructs

Software-defined persistent state

What are constructs?

Constructs are classes which define a "piece of system state". Constructs can be composed together to form higher-level building blocks which represent more complex state.

Constructs are often used to represent the desired state of cloud applications. For example, in the AWS CDK, which is used to define the desired state for AWS infrastructure using CloudFormation, the lowest-level construct represents a resource definition in a CloudFormation template. These resources are composed to represent higher-level logical units of a cloud application, etc.

Contributing

This project has adopted the Amazon Open Source Code of Conduct.

We welcome community contributions and pull requests. See our contribution guide for more information on how to report issues, set up a development environment and submit code.

License

This project is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.