CloudFormation CLI Reference

Complete reference for AWS CloudFormation CLI commands with examples.

Stack Operations

Create Stack

aws cloudformation create-stack \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --parameters ParameterKey=Environment,ParameterValue=prod \
  --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM \
  --tags Key=Project,Value=MyApp

Options:

Option	Description
`--stack-name`	Name of the stack (required)
`--template-body`	Template content or file://
`--template-url`	S3 URL for template
`--parameters`	Stack parameters
`--capabilities`	Required for IAM resources
`--tags`	Resource tags
`--role-arn`	Service role ARN
`--on-failure`	DO_NOTHING, ROLLBACK, DELETE
`--disable-rollback`	Disable rollback on failure
`--timeout-in-minutes`	Stack creation timeout

Update Stack

aws cloudformation update-stack \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --parameters ParameterKey=Environment,ParameterValue=prod \
  --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM

Delete Stack

aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name my-stack

# With retained resources
aws cloudformation delete-stack \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --retain-resources LogicalResourceId1 LogicalResourceId2

Describe Stack

# Get stack details
aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name my-stack

# List all stacks
aws cloudformation list-stacks \
  --stack-status-filter CREATE_COMPLETE UPDATE_COMPLETE

# Get stack resources
aws cloudformation describe-stack-resources --stack-name my-stack

# Get specific resource
aws cloudformation describe-stack-resource \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --logical-resource-id MyBucket

Get Stack Outputs

aws cloudformation describe-stacks \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --query 'Stacks[0].Outputs'

Wait Commands

# Wait for create to complete
aws cloudformation wait stack-create-complete --stack-name my-stack

# Wait for update to complete
aws cloudformation wait stack-update-complete --stack-name my-stack

# Wait for delete to complete
aws cloudformation wait stack-delete-complete --stack-name my-stack

# Wait for stack to exist
aws cloudformation wait stack-exists --stack-name my-stack

Stack Events

# Get stack events
aws cloudformation describe-stack-events --stack-name my-stack

# Get recent events
aws cloudformation describe-stack-events \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --max-items 10

Change Sets

Create Change Set

aws cloudformation create-change-set \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name my-change-set \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --parameters ParameterKey=Environment,ParameterValue=prod \
  --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM

Describe Change Set

aws cloudformation describe-change-set \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name my-change-set

List Change Sets

aws cloudformation list-change-sets --stack-name my-stack

Execute Change Set

aws cloudformation execute-change-set \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name my-change-set

Delete Change Set

aws cloudformation delete-change-set \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name my-change-set

Template Operations

Validate Template

aws cloudformation validate-template \
  --template-body file://template.yaml

# From S3
aws cloudformation validate-template \
  --template-url https://s3.amazonaws.com/bucket/template.yaml

Get Template

aws cloudformation get-template --stack-name my-stack

# Get original template
aws cloudformation get-template \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --template-stage Original

Get Template Summary

aws cloudformation get-template-summary \
  --template-body file://template.yaml

# From stack
aws cloudformation get-template-summary --stack-name my-stack

Estimate Template Cost

aws cloudformation estimate-template-cost \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --parameters ParameterKey=InstanceType,ParameterValue=t3.medium

Stack Policy

Set Stack Policy

aws cloudformation set-stack-policy \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --stack-policy-body file://policy.json

Get Stack Policy

aws cloudformation get-stack-policy --stack-name my-stack

Drift Detection

Detect Drift

aws cloudformation detect-stack-drift --stack-name my-stack

# Get drift detection status
aws cloudformation describe-stack-drift-detection-status \
  --stack-drift-detection-id abc123

# Get resource drifts
aws cloudformation describe-stack-resource-drifts \
  --stack-name my-stack

Detect Drift on Specific Resources

aws cloudformation detect-stack-resource-drift \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --logical-resource-id MyBucket

Nested Stacks

List Stack Resources (including nested)

aws cloudformation list-stack-resources --stack-name my-stack

Get Nested Stack

aws cloudformation describe-stacks \
  --stack-name arn:aws:cloudformation:us-east-1:123456789012:stack/nested-stack/abc123

Stack Sets

Create Stack Set

aws cloudformation create-stack-set \
  --stack-set-name my-stack-set \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --parameters ParameterKey=Environment,ParameterValue=prod \
  --permission-model SELF_MANAGED \
  --administration-role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/Admin \
  --execution-role-name ExecutionRole

Create Stack Instances

aws cloudformation create-stack-instances \
  --stack-set-name my-stack-set \
  --accounts 123456789012 234567890123 \
  --regions us-east-1 us-west-2

Update Stack Set

aws cloudformation update-stack-set \
  --stack-set-name my-stack-set \
  --template-body file://template.yaml

List Stack Sets

aws cloudformation list-stack-sets

Describe Stack Set

aws cloudformation describe-stack-set --stack-set-name my-stack-set

List Stack Instances

aws cloudformation list-stack-instances --stack-set-name my-stack-set

Delete Stack Instances

aws cloudformation delete-stack-instances \
  --stack-set-name my-stack-set \
  --accounts 123456789012 \
  --regions us-east-1 \
  --no-retain-stacks

Delete Stack Set

aws cloudformation delete-stack-set --stack-set-name my-stack-set

Imports

Import Existing Resources

# Create change set for import
aws cloudformation create-change-set \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name import-resources \
  --change-set-type IMPORT \
  --resources-to-import '[
    {
      "ResourceType": "AWS::S3::Bucket",
      "LogicalResourceId": "MyBucket",
      "ResourceIdentifier": {"BucketName": "my-existing-bucket"}
    }
  ]' \
  --template-body file://template.yaml

Exports

List Exports

aws cloudformation list-exports

List Imports

aws cloudformation list-imports --export-name MyExportName

Rollback

Cancel Update Rollback

aws cloudformation cancel-update-stack --stack-name my-stack

Continue Update Rollback

aws cloudformation continue-update-rollback \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --resources-to-skip LogicalResourceId1

Termination Protection

# Enable
aws cloudformation update-termination-protection \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --enable-termination-protection

# Disable
aws cloudformation update-termination-protection \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --no-enable-termination-protection

Signals

# Send success signal
aws cloudformation signal-resource \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --logical-resource-id MyASG \
  --unique-id i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --status SUCCESS

# Send failure signal
aws cloudformation signal-resource \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --logical-resource-id MyASG \
  --unique-id i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --status FAILURE

Common Workflows

Deploy with Change Set Review

# Create change set
aws cloudformation create-change-set \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name update-$(date +%Y%m%d) \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM

# Wait for change set
aws cloudformation wait change-set-create-complete \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name update-$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Review changes
aws cloudformation describe-change-set \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name update-$(date +%Y%m%d) \
  --query 'Changes[].ResourceChange'

# Execute if approved
aws cloudformation execute-change-set \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --change-set-name update-$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Wait for update
aws cloudformation wait stack-update-complete --stack-name my-stack

Create Stack and Wait

aws cloudformation create-stack \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM && \
aws cloudformation wait stack-create-complete --stack-name my-stack && \
aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name my-stack --query 'Stacks[0].Outputs'

CloudFormation CLI Reference

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