AWS CDK lets you define cloud infrastructure in familiar programming languages - Python, TypeScript, Java - and synthesise it into CloudFormation. Compared to writing raw CloudFormation or Terraform HCL, CDK gives you loops, conditionals, type safety, and reusable constructs. This series covers practical CDK patterns using Python, with a consistent use case across all parts so the trade-offs are easy to compare. Why CDK over CloudFormation for AWS-native workloads? CloudFormation is YAML or JSON - no loops, no conditionals, no abstraction. Any shared pattern gets copy-pasted. CDK uses a real programming language - loops, functions, classes, and type checks all apply to infrastructure the same way they apply to application code. L2 constructs handle boilerplate. bucket.grant_read(fn) generates the IAM policy, role attachment, and resource reference in one call. The CloudFormation equivalent is four resources wired together manually. The compiler catches mistakes before CloudFormation ever sees the template. CDK still synthesises to CloudFormation under the hood - rollbacks, drift detection, and stack history are unchanged. Why CDK over Terraform for AWS-native workloads? Terraform鈥檚 strength is multi-cloud. For AWS-only workloads, that comes with overhead that doesn鈥檛 pay off - a state backend, a provider version to pin, and HCL alongside the application code. CDK uses CloudFormation as the deployment engine - AWS manages state natively. No S3 bucket for state, no DynamoDB table for locking, no terraform init in the pipeline. New AWS services appear in CDK constructs faster. IAM is easier. Terraform requires writing policy JSON by hand and threading ARNs between resources. CDK鈥檚 grant_* methods generate least-privilege policies from the resource graph. Terraform is the right call when infrastructure spans multiple cloud providers, or when the team already has a mature Terraform codebase. Use case Deploy an AWS Lambda function that processes files uploaded to an S3 bucket. Configuration - bucket name, log level, Lambda timeout - varies per environment (dev, staging, prod). Simple infrastructure by design - the CDK patterns are the point, not the resources. ...
I sat the AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C02) recently and passed. This is the retrospective I wish I had read before starting - what the exam actually tests, the services you need to know well, the concepts that trip people up, and which resources earned their place. I came in comfortable across most of the exam鈥檚 services from day-to-day work, so for me this was more about confirming and formalising what I already knew than learning it fresh. Your starting point will shape where you spend time, so calibrate the advice accordingly. ...
Kiro CLI is an AI-assisted terminal tool for AWS, rebranded from Amazon Q Developer CLI in November 2025. It sits on top of your existing AWS credentials and tooling. The q and q chat shortcuts from Q CLI still work but kiro-cli is the current entry point. Install macOS brew install --cask kiro-cli Or via script: curl -fsSL https://cli.kiro.dev/install | bash Windows (PowerShell) irm 'https://cli.kiro.dev/install.ps1' | iex Linux / WSL2 (Ubuntu / Debian) - .deb ...
Problem GitHub branch protection requires all commits to have verified GPG signatures. Two commits at the base of the branch (made before GPG signing was configured) were unsigned, blocking the merge. Root cause Commits made before commit.gpgsign=true was configured in git have no GPG signature. GitHub requires all commits in a PR to be verified - one unsigned commit blocks the merge regardless of approvals. Steps to fix 1. Identify unsigned commits git log --format="%G? %ad %s" --date=short origin/main..HEAD Look for lines starting with N (no signature). Note the hash of the oldest unsigned commit鈥檚 parent on main. ...
WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) lets you run a Linux environment directly on Windows - no VM, no dual boot. WSL2 runs a real Linux kernel in a lightweight managed VM, giving you full syscall compatibility and much better performance than WSL1. Prerequisites Windows 10 version 2004+ or Windows 11 Admin access to your machine PowerShell or Windows Terminal Install WSL From an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt: wsl --install This installs WSL2 and Ubuntu (the default distro) in one step. Restart when prompted. ...
This is Chapter 5 of the Infrastructure as Code with AWS CDK series. The same cdk deploy command that runs locally works in any pipeline - the differences are auth and orchestration. Common flags for CI These apply regardless of which CI system you use: cdk synth # generate CloudFormation template cdk deploy --require-approval never -c env=prod # deploy without interactive prompts cdk deploy --outputs-file outputs.json # write stack outputs to file --require-approval never skips the IAM change confirmation that CDK shows interactively. Required in CI. ...