Deploy raw CloudFormation stacks natively, no wrapper CLI required

CloudFormation deployments need more than a template: they need parameters for each environment, a changeset review, and a way to inspect the result. Rain users also need a maintained deployment tool now that Rain is archived. Atmos provides these workflows through native CloudFormation components.

atmos aws cloudformation lifecycle

00:00.0 / 00:00.0

View the full example.

The Problem

Managing CloudFormation with separate scripts means maintaining environment settings, changeset handling, and deployment monitoring outside the stack configuration used by other components.

The Fix

The CloudFormation commands, also available as atmos aws cfn, use Atmos stack configuration, inheritance, authentication, and dependencies.

• Apply and preview with managed changesets.
• Review named changesets in separate pipeline steps.
• Detect drift after deployment.
• Deploy StackSets across accounts and regions.
• Use file or inline templates.
• Manage packaging buckets explicitly or enable automatic creation.
• Inspect events and watch stack operations.

How to Use It

Declare a component that points to your template:

# stacks/catalog/vpc.yaml
components:
  aws/cloudformation:
    vpc:
      path: template.yaml
      stack_name: "{{ .vars.stage }}-vpc"
      parameters:
        CidrBlock: "10.0.0.0/16"
      capabilities:
        - CAPABILITY_IAM

Import the catalog into a stack that defines vars.stage. To save typing, configure a command alias with atmos config set:

atmos config set aliases.cft "aws cloudformation"

Then preview and deploy the component:

atmos cft diff vpc -s prod
atmos cft deploy vpc -s prod
atmos cft drift detect vpc -s prod

See the Rain migration guide for directive conversion, parameter imports, and using an existing deployed stack.

Try it out

Install Atmos

Quick InstallQuick InstallmacOSWindowsDocker

curl -fsSL https://atmos.tools/install.sh | bash

Installation guide →Explore the example →

Try the example

Copy the example into a new directory and make it your own:

atmos init examples/cloudformation
cd cloudformation

Install Docker or Podman and Python 3. Configure the shortcut, start the local emulator, and deploy without an AWS account:

atmos config set aliases.cft "aws cloudformation"
atmos validate stacks
atmos emulator up aws -s local
atmos cft deploy demo -s local
atmos cft output demo -s local

When finished, delete the demo stack and stop the emulator:

atmos cft delete demo -s local --auto-approve
atmos emulator down aws -s local

Explore the example →Initialization and repository settings

Get Involved

CloudFormation components are experimental. See the configuration reference, open an issue, or share feedback in Cloud Posse's community Slack.