AWS CDK GlossaryΒΆ

The AWS CDK uses the following terms. Some are based on AWS CloudFormation concepts.

app

An executable program that the AWS CDK uses to synthesize a AWS CloudFormation template. Apps are:

  • Written by a user
  • Contain one or more stacks that can be deployed into multiple AWS environments
  • Define the infrastructure of your application

Apps extend the aws-cdk.App class.

applet
A reusable AWS CDK construct that can be instantiated and deployed through a YAML-format file.
AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK)
An AWS toolkit that enables infrastructure as code (IaC), exposing AWS resources and high-level constructs for use in popular DevOps programming languages.
construct
The building block of an AWS CDK app or library. In code, they are instances of the aws-cdk.Construct class or a class that extends the aws-cdk.Construct class.
environment
An AWS deployment target for AWS CDK stacks, defined by a specific AWS account and region.
CloudFormation Resource
The lowest-level construct, which maps directly to an AWS CloudFormation resource, as described in the AWS Resource Types Reference. These constructs are available in the @aws-cdk/resources package, as the AWS CloudFormation name, in lower case, with a Resource suffix within the AWS service namespace, such as sqs.QueueResource, which represents an Amazon SQS queue.
AWS Construct Library
A construct that provides high-level APIs for AWS services. Their names imply the underlying AWS service. For example, Amazon S3 resources are available through the @aws-cdk/s3 package.
stack
An AWS CDK construct that can be deployed into an environment. Stacks extend the aws-cdk.Stack class.