| name | aws-cdk |
| description | Authors, deploys, and troubleshoots AWS infrastructure using CDK with TypeScript or Python. Covers best practices, stack architecture, and construct patterns. Always use when writing CDK constructs, bootstrapping environments, running cdk deploy/synth/diff, fixing CDK or CloudFormation errors, planning stack structure, importing existing resources, resolving drift, or refactoring stacks without resource replacement. |
| metadata | {"version":"1"} |
AWS CDK
Overview
Domain expertise for CDK construct authoring, deployment workflows, compliance, drift, importing resources, safe refactoring, and troubleshooting CDK CLI / CloudFormation errors.
When NOT to use: Raw CloudFormation YAML/JSON. SAM. Terraform/Pulumi. CI/CD beyond CDK Pipelines. Use builtin knowledge or specialized skills for these.
Critical Warnings
Deadly embrace: Removing a cross-stack reference deadlocks deployment (Export ... cannot be deleted as it is in use by ...). Preferred fix: weaken the reference first — CrossStackReferences.of($RESOURCE).produce(ReferenceStrength.BOTH) then WEAK, then remove (three deploys). Legacy fallback: two-deploy this.exportValue() recipe. See troubleshooting-deployment.
Construct ID changes cause replacement: Renaming/moving a construct changes its logical ID → CloudFormation replaces the resource (data loss for stateful resources). Always cdk diff before deploy. See refactor-and-prevent-replacement.
UPDATE_ROLLBACK_FAILED: Stack is stuck. Fix with cdk rollback $STACK or cdk rollback $STACK --orphan <LogicalId>. See troubleshooting-deployment.
Non-empty S3 buckets persist after destroy: You MUST set both removalPolicy: DESTROY and autoDeleteObjects: true. Versioned buckets are worse — delete markers persist even after apparent deletion.
Common Workflows
Troubleshooting
| Error | Cause → Fix |
|---|
| DeployFailed / DeploymentError | CDK error isn't the root cause. cdk deploy $STACK --verbose, then cdk --unstable=diagnose diagnose $STACK (CLI ≥ 2.1120.0); else aws cloudformation describe-events --stack-name $STACK --filters FailedEvents=true — the first _FAILED event is the cause. Details |
| NoCredentials / ExpiredToken / AssumeRoleFailed | aws sts get-caller-identity + cdk doctor. Expired SSO, missing env, missing sts:AssumeRole. Details |
| Asset errors (CannotFindAsset, FailedToBundleAsset, AssetBuildFailed, AssetPublishFailed) | Path wrong, Docker not running, or bootstrap bucket perms. Use path.join(__dirname, ...). Details |
| AppRequired | Add "app": "npx tsx bin/my-app.ts" to cdk.json. Details |
| AnnotationErrors | Fix the underlying issue; suppress with NagSuppressions only as last resort. Details |
| ConcurrentReadLock / ConcurrentWriteLock | rm -rf cdk.out then re-run. Parallel CI: --output ./cdk.out.$BUILD_ID. Details |
| BootstrapVersionValidation | Re-bootstrap. Match --qualifier everywhere. Details |
| DependencyCycle | Extract shared resource into third stack or use SSM for late-binding. Details |
| UnresolvedAccount | Set explicit env: { account, region } on stack. Commit cdk.context.json. Details |
| NoStacksMatched |
Construct Patterns
Prefer L2. Use L1 with Mixins/Facades when L2 lacks a property. Escape hatches: node.defaultChild → addPropertyOverride. See construct-patterns.
Additional Resources
- Search AWS documentation for "CDK Developer Guide", "CDK API Reference" and "CDK Pipelines" respectively
Security Considerations
- OIDC for CI/CD credentials (no static keys)
--custom-permissions-boundary on bootstrapgrant*() for inter-resource IAMcdk-nag + --strict in CI- Stateful resources in own stack with
terminationProtection: true
- Commit
cdk.context.json
