AWS CloudFormation: 2024 Year in Review

AWS CloudFormation enables you to model and provision your cloud application infrastructure as code-base templates. Whether you prefer writing templates directly in JSON or YAML, or using programming languages like Python, Java, and TypeScript with the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), CloudFormation and CDK provide the flexibility you need. For organizations adopting multi-account strategies, CloudFormation StackSets offers a powerful capability to deploy resources across multiple regions and accounts in parallel.

Last year, we delivered broad set of enhancements that accelerated the development cycle, simplified troubleshooting, and introduced new deployment safety and configuration governance capabilities. Let’s dive into the key launches that shaped CloudFormation in 2024.

Development cycle improvements

Deploy stacks up to 40% faster with optimistic stabilization and configuration complete

In March, we introduced optimistic stabilization with the new CONFIGURATION_COMPLETE event, delivering up to 40% faster stack creation times. This new event signals that CloudFormation has created the resource and applied the configuration as defined in the stack template, allowing us to begin parallel creation of dependent resources. For example, if your stack contains resource B that depends on resource A, CloudFormation will now start provisioning resource B when resource A reaches the CONFIGURATION_COMPLETE state, rather than waiting for full stabilization. Read How we sped up AWS CloudFormation deployments with optimistic stabilization to learn more.

Figure 1: CloudFormation’s old and new deployment strategy

Catch template errors before deployment with early validation

In March, we launched early resource properties validation checks. This feature validates your stack operation upfront for invalid resource property errors, helping you fail fast and minimize the steps required for a successful deployment. Previously, you had to wait until CloudFormation attempted to provision a resource before discovering property-related errors. Now, we validate your template before deploying the first resource and provide clear error messages upfront.

Figure 2: CloudFormation’s early template properties validation feature

Safely clean up failed stacks with enhanced deletion controls

In May, we enhanced the DeleteStack API with a new DeletionMode parameter, allowing you to safely delete stacks that are in DELETE_FAILED state. By passing the FORCE_DELETE_STACK value to this parameter, you can now resolve stuck stacks more efficiently during your development and testing cycles.

Accelerate feedback loops with CloudFormation custom resource timeout controls

In June, we introduced the ServiceTimeout property for custom resources. This new capability allows you to set custom timeout values for your custom resource logic execution. Previously, custom resources had a fixed one-hour timeout, which could lead to long wait times when debugging custom resource logic. Now, you can set appropriate timeout values to accelerate your development feedback loops. Refer to the custom resources documentation to learn more about the ServiceTimeout property.

Figure 3: CloudFormation’s ServiceTimeout property for Custom resource

Streamlined Troubleshooting Experience

Resolve deployment issues faster with one-click CloudTrail access

In May, we launched integration with AWS CloudTrail in the Events tab of the CloudFormation console. Troubleshooting some failed stack operations can be time-consuming, so we have streamlined this process by providing direct links from stack operation events to relevant CloudTrail events. When you click ‘Detect Root Cause’ in the CloudFormation Console, you’ll now see a pre-configured CloudTrail deep-link to the API events generated by your stack operation, eliminating multiple manual steps from the troubleshooting process.

Figure 4: CloudFormation troubleshooting with CloudTrail integration

Visualize your entire deployment process with timeline view

In November, we launched deployment timeline view. It gives you unprecedented visibility into your stack operations. This visual tool shows the sequence of actions CloudFormation takes during a deployment, helping you understand resource dependencies and provisioning duration. You can see which resources are being created in parallel, track their status through color-coding, and quickly identify bottlenecks in your deployments.

Figure 5: CloudFormation’s deployment timeline view

Get instant troubleshooting help with Amazon Q Developer

We integrated Amazon Q Developer to provide AI-powered assistance for troubleshooting. When you encounter a failed stack operation, you can now click “Diagnose with Q” to receive a clear, human-readable analysis of the error. Need more help? The “Help me resolve” button provides actionable steps tailored to your specific scenario.

Figure 6: CloudFormation troubleshooting with Q feature

Enhanced Deployment Safety

In April, we improved change sets to help you better understand the impact of your stack operations. Change sets now show detailed before-and-after values of resource properties and attributes, such as deletion policies. This enhancement helps you detect unintended resource property-level changes, such as a Lambda MemorySize or Runtime values change, during your change sets reviews.

We’ve also improved how change sets handle references. When referenced values are available before deployment, Change sets can now resolve them to their expected values, giving you a more accurate preview of your planned changes.

Figure 7: CloudFormation’s change sets feature

Easy onboarding to Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC)

Eliminate weeks of manual effort with IaC Generator

In February, we launched the CloudFormation IaC Generator, a capability addressing one of our customers’ biggest challenges: onboarding existing cloud resources to CloudFormation. This feature makes it easier to generate CloudFormation templates for existing AWS resources. You can now onboard workloads to IaC in minutes instead of spending weeks writing templates manually.

The IaC generator supports over 600 AWS resource types and provides recommendations for related resources. For instance, when you select an S3 bucket, it automatically suggests including associated bucket policies. You can use the generated templates to import resources into CloudFormation, download them for deployment.

Figure 8: CloudFormation’s IaC Generator

In August, we enhanced the IaC Generator with two improvements. First, we added a graphical summary view that helps you quickly find resources after the account scan completes. Second, we integrated with AWS Infrastructure Composer to visualize your application architecture, making it easier to understand resource relationships and configurations.

Figure 9: IaC generator resource scan

Proactive Control Improvements

In November, we launched major enhancements to CloudFormation Hooks, giving you easier ways to author proactive configuration controls and more points to enforce them with your cloud infrastructure provisioning.

CloudFormation Hooks for stack and change set target invocation points

First, we introduced stack and change set target invocation points for CloudFormation Hooks. This extends Hooks beyond individual resource validation, allowing you to run validation checks against entire templates and examine resource relationships. For example, you can now create hooks that validate architectural patterns across multiple resources or enforce team-specific deployment standards. With the change set invocation point, you can automate your change set reviews and reduce the time needed to resolve compliance issues. Refer to the Hooks developer guide to learn more.

Figure 10: CloudFormation’s Hooks for stack and change set target invocation points

Managed hooks for the CloudFormation Guard domain specific language

We introduced the managed hooks to author configuration controls using CloudFormation Guard domain-specific language. This simplifies the hook creation process—you can now write hooks by providing your Guard rule set stored as an S3 object. This is particularly valuable if you’re already using Guard for static template validation, as you can extend these rules to dynamic checks before deployments. To learn more about the Guard hook, check out the AWS DevOps Blog or refer to the Guard Hook User Guide.

Figure 11: CloudFormation Hooks’ Guard language feature

Managed hooks for AWS Lambda functions

For extended flexibility, we also introduced the managed hooks to implement configuration controls using Lambda function. You can now simply point to a Lambda function with the Lambda Amazon Resource Names (ARNs) for Hooks to invoke. To learn more about the Lambda hook, check out the AWS DevOps Blog or refer to the Lambda Hooks User Guide.

Figure 12: CloudFormation Hooks’ Lambda function feature

CloudFormation Hooks for AWS Cloud Control API target invocation points

Lastly, we extended Hooks to support AWS Cloud Control API (CCAPI) resource configurations. This means your existing resource Hooks can now evaluate configurations from CCAPI create and update operations, allowing you to standardize your proactive control evaluation regardless your IaC tool. If you’re already using pre-built Lambda or Guard hooks, you simply need to specify “Cloud_Control” as a target in your hooks’ configuration to extend their coverage. Learn the detail of this feature from this AWS DevOps Blog.

Figure 13: CloudFormation Hooks for AWS Cloud Control API target invocation point

Additional Platform Improvements

StackSets ListStackSetAutoDeploymentTargets API

In March, we enhanced StackSets with the ListStackSetAutoDeploymentTargets API. This new capability gives you better visibility into your auto-deployment configurations by allowing you to list existing target Organizational Units (OUs) and AWS Regions for a given stack set. Instead of logging into individual accounts to understand your deployment scope, you can now get this information in a single API call.

CloudFormation Git sync with request review support

In September, we improved CloudFormation Git sync with pull request workflow support. When you create or update a pull request in a linked repository, CloudFormation automatically posts change set information as PR comments. This integration provides a clear overview of proposed changes within your familiar Git workflow, allowing team members to review infrastructure changes alongside code changes. Visit our user guide and launch blog to learn more.

Figure 14: CloudFormation Git sync with request review support feature

Early 2025 improvements

Reshape your AWS CloudFormation stacks seamlessly with stack refactoring

In February 2025, CloudFormation introduced a new capability called stack refactoring that makes it easy to reorganize cloud resources across your CloudFormation stacks. Stack refactoring enables you to move resources from one stack to another, split monolithic stacks into smaller components, and rename the logical name of resources within a stack. This enables you to adapt your stacks to meet architectural patterns, operational needs, or business requirements. To explore an example scenario, read Introducing AWS CloudFormation Stack Refactoring.

Learn more

Here are some resources to help you get started learning and using CloudFormation to manage your cloud infrastructure:

• AWS CloudFormation Workshop
• AWS CloudFormation Troubleshooting
• Watch our re:Invent 2024 session on CloudFormation

Conclusion

As we are starting 2025, our focus remains on making infrastructure deployment faster, safer, and more manageable. These enhancements reflect our commitment to solving real customer challenges and improving the CloudFormation experience. We are excited about the roadmap ahead and look forward to bringing you more innovations in 2025.

We encourage you to try these new features and share your feedback. For more detailed information about any of these launches, visit our documentation or check out the AWS DevOps Blog.

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