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cloudformation-best-practices

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CloudFormation template optimization, nested stacks, drift detection, and production-ready patterns. Use when writing or reviewing CF templates.

When to use

• Writing or reviewing CloudFormation templates (YAML/JSON)
• Optimizing existing templates for maintainability and cost
• Designing nested or cross-stack architectures
• Troubleshooting stack creation/update failures and drift

When not to use

• The user prefers CDK or Terraform over raw CloudFormation
• The task is application code, not infrastructure
• validate-template checks template form, not deployability, cost, policy or safe replacements. Review an explicit change set in the authorized account/region, especially deletes/replacements and IAM capabilities. DeletionPolicy alone does n…
• Never execute a deploy/recovery or change a stack merely to validate these examples. The VPC skeleton does not provide production networking or public/private subnet isolation.
• Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
• Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.

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