nx-serverless-cdk
v1.2.1
Published
nx-serverless-cdk is an Nx plugin for creating AWS CDK applications and libraries inside an Nx monorepo. It offers the possibility to test and debug CDK applications as well as AWS Lambda functions locally. The plugin provides the full flexibility of the
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nx-serverless-cdk
nx-serverless-cdk is an Nx plugin for creating AWS CDK applications and construct libraries inside an Nx monorepo. It offers the possibility to test and debug infrastructure code and AWS Lambda functions locally. The plugin provides the full flexibility of the AWS CDK CLI and the local AWS SAM CLI commands. It aims to make the usage of these tools as easy as possible inside an Nx monorepo.
Table of Contents
- Plugin Features
- AWS CDK Features
- Getting Started
- CDK Application
- Create a CDK Application
- Environments
- CDK Application Structure
- Format the CDK Application
- Lint the CDK Application
- Test the CDK Application (with Code Coverage)
- Synthesize CloudFormation Stacks
- Invoke a Lambda Function Locally
- Start all Lambda Functions Locally
- Start an API Gateway Locally
- Deploy the CDK Application
- E2E Testing
- Generate an Event
- CDK Application Commands Reference
- E2E Application Commands Reference
- Construct Library
- TypeScript Library
- Debug in Chrome
- Generators Reference
Plugin Features
- Define the infrastructure as code (IaC)
- The infrastructure and application code as well as the configurations are evolved together in one place
- Test and debug the infrastructure and application code locally
- Test and debug API Gateway routes that are handled by Lambda functions locally
- Use E2E tests to verify the correctness of the cloud applications
- Create and share reusable infrastructure definitions (Construct Libraries)
- Publish libraries to npm
- Generate test events for Lambda functions
- Use generated events for local and E2E testing
- Write everything in TypeScript
AWS CDK Features
- High-level constructs that automatically provide sensible, secure defaults
- Use programming languages to model your system design
- Employ practices such as code reviews, unit tests, and source control to make your infrastructure more robust
- Connect your AWS resources together (even across stacks)
- Grant permissions using simple, intent-oriented APIs
- Import existing AWS CloudFormation templates to give your resources a CDK API
- Perform infrastructure deployments predictably and repeatedly, with rollback on error
- Easily share infrastructure design patterns among teams within your organization or even with the public
Getting Started
Prerequisites
- Install the AWS CLI to authenticate
- SSO via the AWS IAM Identity Center is currently not handled correctly if a separate sso-session section exists in the AWS CLI configuration. This issue can be solved by merging the sso-session section into the profile section.
- Install the AWS SAM CLI for local testing and debugging
- Install Docker to run your Lambda functions locally (Docker Desktop or Docker Engine)
- Please note, if you want to test Lambda functions locally on a different instruction set architecture than your host machine, additional steps are necessary
- Use an existing Nx monorepo or follow the steps below to create a new Nx monorepo
Create a new Nx Monorepo
An empty monorepo can be created with the following command
npx create-nx-workspace@latest --name <WorkspaceName> --preset "apps" --workspaceType "integrated"
The package manager can be chosen freely by using the --packageManager
option (e.g. choose pnpm
or yarn
).
The default is npm
which is used for the following sections.
Change the working directory to the workspace root of the Nx monorepo
cd <WorkspaceName>
Install
Run the following command in the workspace root directory to install the nx-serverless-cdk
plugin
npm install --save-dev nx-serverless-cdk
CDK Application
A CDK application consists of the infrastructure and application code as well as the configurations that together form a cloud application.
Constructs are the basic building blocks of a CDK application. They represent either individual cloud resources or a set of cloud resources that have been interconnected to fulfill a concrete purpose. Inside the application, the constructs are combined into deployable units called stacks.
Create a CDK Application
To create a serverless application run the following command inside the Nx workspace
nx g nx-serverless-cdk:cdk-app <AppName> --type lambda
If the application should only contain infrastructure definitions (generic application) run the following command
nx g nx-serverless-cdk:cdk-app <AppName> --type generic
These commands will create an <AppName>
directory in the root of the Nx workspace.
Use the --directory
option to define another directory for the application.
Please note that the created directory is relative to the current working directory.
Note: Use
npx nx
, if thenx
command isn't found or install thenx
package globally.
Environments
The generated example code has support for 3 environments
- Dev
- Test new features and bugfixes during the development
- Stage
- Quality assurance
- Test upcoming releases
- Mimics the production environment
- Prod
- The production environment
- Makes the application available to its consumers
These environments are just examples, the environment names as well as their count can be changed according to the project's needs.
CDK Application Structure
cdk
contains the infrastructure code and testsmain.ts
entry point of the CDK applicationapp.ts
defines the configurations for all environments- Multiple stacks might be deployed per environment (e.g. to cover multiple regions)
events
used store generated or manually created events for local and E2E testingshared
contains the shared code which is used by the infrastructure and runtime codesrc
contains the runtime code and tests (e.g. Lambda function handlers)example-api-handler.ts
* entry point of the example API Lambda functionexample-handler.ts
* entry point of the example Lambda function
.env
defines the environment variables for the application commands- Used to enable the CDK debug mode
- Used to define the AWS accounts and regions for the deployment
- The environment variables can be overridden if needed
.env.test
used to activate the debug mode for the Jest testing framework.eslintrc.json
ESLint configuration.gitignore
defines the files that are excluded from version controlcdk.json
AWS CDK configurationjest.config.ts
Jest testing framework configurationproject.json
Nx application configurationsamconfig.toml
* AWS SAM configurationstart-cdk.mjs
ignore this script, it is used to make the debugging of CDK applications possibletsconfig.cdk.json
TypeScript infrastructure code configurationtsconfig.json
common TypeScript CDK application configurationtsconfig.spec.json
TypeScript test code configurationtsconfig.src.json
TypeScript runtime code configuration
*Is created for serverless CDK applications
Format the CDK Application
The projects (applications and libraries) that have been changed since the last commit can be formatted with the help of nx format.
nx format
To format all projects execute
nx format --all
To format only the application execute
nx format --projects <AppName>
Lint the CDK Application
To lint the application execute
nx lint <AppName>
or
nx run <AppName>:lint
Test the CDK Application (with Code Coverage)
To test the application execute
nx test <AppName>
or
nx run <AppName>:test
Add the --codeCoverage
option to enable code coverage.
nx run <AppName>:test --codeCoverage
Watch
To automatically rerun the application tests after a file has been changed, execute
nx run <AppName>:test --watch
Debug
Add the debugger;
statement to the code at the location where the debugging session should start.
In the .env.test
file uncomment the NODE_OPTIONS
variable.
Execute the test command with the --runInBand
option
nx run <AppName>:test --runInBand
A message is printed out to the console similar to the one below
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:9229/15755f9f-6e5d-4c5e-917b-d2b8e9dec5d2
Any Node.js debugger can be used for debugging. In this example, the Chrome browser will be used.
Synthesize CloudFormation Stacks
To synthesize all Dev environment stacks execute
nx run <AppName>:cdk synth "Dev/*" --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile>
or use the shorthand command
nx run <AppName>:synth -c dev --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile>
or
nx run <AppName>:synth:dev --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile>
Use the .env
file to define the AWS accounts and regions for the environments.
If the environment variables aren't defined,
the account and region are retrieved from the AWS CLI profile.
Please note that the AWS CLI profile values might vary per user.
The synthesized CloudFormation stacks are stored in cdk.out
.
Note: If SSO is used to authenticate, then it is required to log in before executing this command.
Debug
Add the debugger;
statement to the infrastructure code at the location where the debugging session should start.
In the .env
file set CDK_DEBUG
to true.
Synthesize all Dev environment stacks.
A message is printed out to the console similar to the one below
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:9229/15755f9f-6e5d-4c5e-917b-d2b8e9dec5d2
Any Node.js debugger can be used for debugging. In this example, the Chrome browser will be used.
Invoke a Lambda Function Locally
Synthesize all Dev environment stacks.
Open the cdk.out
directory and search for the Dev environment CloudFormation template,
which should have a file name similar to DevAdventialsE766A003.template.json
.
Copy the file name.
To invoke the example Lambda function locally with the test event stored in events/sum/sum7.json
execute
nx run <AppName>:invoke ExampleFunction -t cdk.out/<DevTemplateJson> -e "events/sum/sum7.json"
The Lambda function result {"sum": 7}
is printed out to the console.
If this command is executed for the first time,
it might take a while since the Lambda Docker image has to be pulled first.
Debug
Add the debugger;
statement to the runtime code at the location where the debugging session should start.
Synthesize all Dev environment stacks.
In the samconfig.toml
file uncomment the debug_port
variable of the [default.local_invoke.parameters]
section.
Invoke a Lambda function locally.
A message is printed out to the console similar to the one below
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:9229/15755f9f-6e5d-4c5e-917b-d2b8e9dec5d2
Any Node.js debugger can be used for debugging. In this example, the Chrome browser will be used.
Start all Lambda Functions Locally
Synthesize all Dev environment stacks.
Open the cdk.out
directory and search for the Dev environment CloudFormation template,
which should have a file name similar to DevAdventialsE766A003.template.json
.
Copy the file name.
To start all Lambda functions locally execute
nx run <AppName>:start-lambda -t cdk.out/<DevTemplateJson>
If this command is executed for the first time, it might take a while since the Lambda Docker image has to be pulled first. The following message is printed out to the console
* Running on http://127.0.0.1:3001
Find the example function resource name in the cdk.out/<DevTemplateJson>
, which should be similar to ExampleFunctionB28997EC
.
To invoke the example Lambda function execute
aws lambda invoke response.json --function-name <ExampleFunctionResourceName> --endpoint-url "http://127.0.0.1:3001" --payload "fileb://<AppName>/events/sum/sum7.json" --region <DevRegion> --profile <DevProfile>
The Lambda function result {"sum": 7}
is stored in the <WorkspaceRoot>/response.json
file.
The @aws-sdk/client-lambda package can also be used to invoke a Lambda function
import { InvocationType, InvokeCommand, LambdaClient, LogType } from '@aws-sdk/client-lambda';
import { fromSSO } from '@aws-sdk/credential-providers';
import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
import { join, resolve } from 'node:path';
const lambdaClient = new LambdaClient({
credentials: fromSSO({
profile: '<DevProfile>',
}),
region: '<DevRegion>',
endpoint: 'http://127.0.0.1:3001',
maxAttempts: 3,
});
const payload = await readFile(resolve(join('<WorkspaceRoot>', '<AppName>', 'events/sum/sum7.json')), { encoding: 'utf-8' });
const response = await lambdaClient.send(
new InvokeCommand({
FunctionName: '<ExampleFunctionResourceName>',
InvocationType: InvocationType.RequestResponse,
LogType: LogType.None,
Payload: payload,
}),
);
Debug
Add the debugger;
statement to the runtime code at the location where the debugging session should start.
Synthesize all Dev environment stacks.
In the samconfig.toml
file uncomment the debug_port
variable of the [default.local_start_lambda.parameters]
section.
Start all Lambda functions and invoke an individual Lambda function locally.
A message is printed out to the console similar to the one below
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:9229/15755f9f-6e5d-4c5e-917b-d2b8e9dec5d2
Any Node.js debugger can be used for debugging. In this example, the Chrome browser will be used.
Start an API Gateway Locally
Synthesize all Dev environment stacks.
Open the cdk.out
directory and search for the Dev environment CloudFormation template,
which should have a file name similar to DevAdventialsE766A003.template.json
.
Copy the file name.
To start an API Gateway locally execute
nx run <AppName>:start-api -t cdk.out/<DevTemplateJson>
If this command is executed for the first time, it might take a while since the Lambda Docker image has to be pulled first. The following message is printed out to the console
* Running on http://127.0.0.1:3000
To call the endpoint product
execute
curl -i "http://127.0.0.1:3000/product?a=5&b=7"
The result {"product":35}
is printed out to the console.
Debug
Add the debugger;
statement to the runtime code at the location where the debugging session should start.
Synthesize all Dev environment stacks.
In the samconfig.toml
file uncomment the debug_port
variable of the [default.local_start_api.parameters]
section.
Start an API Gateway locally and call an endpoint.
A message is printed out to the console similar to the one below
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:9229/15755f9f-6e5d-4c5e-917b-d2b8e9dec5d2
Any Node.js debugger can be used for debugging. In this example, the Chrome browser will be used.
Deploy the CDK Application
Bootstrap
The AWS CDK bootstraps an account and region combination by deploying a predefined bootstrap CloudFormation stack to it.
The bootstrap stack has to be deployed only once before multiple deployments can take place. If no bootstrap resources are required, an account and region combination doesn't have to be bootstrapped.
Execute the following command for every account and region combination that should be bootstrapped
nx run <AppName>:cdk bootstrap "<AwsAccountNumber>/<AwsRegion>" --profile <AwsCliEnvironmentProfile>
Re-run this command to update the bootstrap CloudFormation stack in place.
Deploy
To deploy all Dev environment stacks execute
nx run <AppName>:cdk deploy "Dev/*" --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile>
or use the shorthand command
nx run <AppName>:deploy -c dev --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile>
or
nx run <AppName>:deploy:dev --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile>
To deploy all Stage environment stacks execute
nx run <AppName>:deploy:stage --profile <AwsCliStageEnvironmentProfile>
To deploy all Prod environment stacks execute
nx run <AppName>:deploy:prod --profile <AwsCliProdEnvironmentProfile>
Use the .env
file to define the AWS accounts and regions for the environments.
If the environment variables aren't defined,
the account and region are retrieved from the AWS CLI profile.
Please note that the AWS CLI profile values might vary per user.
Note: If SSO is used to authenticate, then it is required to log in before executing this command.
Watch
To automatically rerun the deployment after a file has been changed, execute
nx run <AppName>:watch:dev --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile>
The AWS CDK CLI will try to directly update the affected services (hotswap).
By appending the --hotswap-fallback
option, a CloudFormation deployment
will be performed if a direct service update isn't feasible.
nx run <AppName>:watch:dev --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile> --hotswap-fallback
Note: The AWS CDK watch mode is meant for development deployments and shouldn't be used to deploy production resources.
Deploy the CDK Application and its Dependencies
The situation might arise that a cloud resource is needed by multiple CloudFormation stacks of the same application. In this case, the cloud resource could be easily shared between the stacks by introducing a shared stack.
If the cloud resource is needed by multiple CDK applications, then it makes sense to introduce a shared application. The shared application should be deployed before the applications that depend on it.
If multiple applications depend on a shared application, then they have to declare this dependency explicitly.
Every application that depends on the shared application has to set the following property in their project.json
file
{
...
"implicitDependencies": ["<SharedAppName>"],
...
}
The dependencies between applications and libraries can be checked via the following command
nx graph
If an application and all the applications it depends on should be deployed to the Dev environment, then the following command can be executed
nx run <AppName>:deploy-all:dev --profile <AwsCliDevEnvironmentProfile> --verbose
A similar command could be executed for the Stage and Prod environment. This command uses the Nx dependency graph to determine the deployment order. The given command-line arguments are used for every application deployment in the dependency chain.
The following command could be used in a CI/CD pipeline to deploy all applications that have been changed and the applications they depend on
nx affected -t deploy-all -c dev --profile Dev --verbose --require-approval never --ci
Nx determines if an application has changed by a given git commit range. Please consult the Nx documentation for further details.
Note: If SSO is used to authenticate, then it is required to log in before executing this command.
E2E Testing
Testing in the Cloud
Testing serverless applications in the cloud is the testing technique that is preferred by AWS. It offers the following benefits
- You can test every available service.
- You are always using the most recent service APIs and return values.
- A cloud test environment closely resembles your production environment.
- Tests can cover security policies, service quotas, configurations and infrastructure-specific parameters.
- Every developer can quickly create one or more testing environments in the cloud.
- Cloud tests increase confidence your code will run correctly in production.
The AWS CDK supports this testing technique with its watch mode. The AWS CDK watch mode offers direct AWS resource updates and as a fallback CloudFormation deployments without rollback. These features significantly speed up the deployment of incremental changes during the development.
Note: The AWS CDK watch mode is meant for development deployments and shouldn't be used to deploy production resources.
Execute the E2E Tests
This plugin supports testing in the cloud by creating an E2E application for every CDK application. The E2E tests are used to ensure that the cloud application works as expected.
Please set the environment-specific profile and region in the .env.e2e
file of the E2E application.
Use the E2E_ENVIRONMENT
environment variable to specify the environment that should be tested.
Deploy the application into the specified environment.
To run the E2E tests against the specified environment execute
nx run <AppName>-e2e:e2e
Add the --codeCoverage
option to enable code coverage.
nx run <AppName>-e2e:e2e --codeCoverage
Watch
To automatically rerun the E2E tests after a file has been changed, execute
nx run <AppName>-e2e:e2e --watch
Debug
Add the debugger;
statement to the code at the location where the debugging session should start.
In the .env.e2e
file uncomment the NODE_OPTIONS
variable.
Execute the E2E test command with the --runInBand
option
nx run <AppName>-e2e:e2e --runInBand
A message is printed out to the console similar to the one below
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:9229/15755f9f-6e5d-4c5e-917b-d2b8e9dec5d2
Any Node.js debugger can be used for debugging. In this example, the Chrome browser will be used.
Generate an Event
Lambda functions are invoked with events. These events are either AWS service-specific events or custom events.
Mock events are regularly needed for local and E2E testing.
They can be stored inside the events
directory of the CDK application or E2E application.
The generate-event
command can be used to create AWS service-specific mock events.
In the following example, a mock event is created
for a Lambda function that is invoked on a regular schedule
nx run <AppName>:generate-event cloudwatch scheduled-event --region eu-central-1
The following command has to be executed for the E2E application
nx run <AppName>-e2e:generate-event cloudwatch scheduled-event --region eu-central-1
The generated event is printed out to the console. It can be copied and stored in a new file inside the events
directory.
CDK Application Commands Reference
lint
nx run <AppName>:lint [Options]
The lint command is used to lint the application with ESLint (see Lint the CDK Application).
Options:
- --help
- Displays the command options
test
nx run <AppName>:test [Options]
The test command is used to execute the test cases with Jest (see Test the CDK Application (with Code Coverage)).
Options:
- --help
- Displays the command options
cdk
nx run <AppName>:cdk [Options]
The cdk command is used to interact with the AWS CDK.
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
Configuration Options:
- predefinedArguments
- Used to predefine arguments that are put at the beginning of the command
deploy
nx run <AppName>:deploy:<EnvironmentConfiguration> [Options]
Shorthand command for cdk deploy. Deploys one or more specified stacks (see Deploy the CDK Application).
The environment configuration is dev
, stage
or prod
(can be adjusted).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
deploy-all
nx run <AppName>:deploy-all:<EnvironmentConfiguration> --verbose [Options]
Shorthand command for cdk deploy. Deploys one or more specified stacks.
The command is executed for the application and every application in the application's dependency tree. The individual commands are executed in dependency order starting with the leaves of the dependency tree (see Deploy the CDK Application and its Dependencies).
The environment configuration is dev
, stage
or prod
(can be adjusted).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
destroy
nx run <AppName>:destroy:<EnvironmentConfiguration> [Options]
Shorthand command for cdk destroy. Destroys one or more specified stacks.
The environment configuration is dev
, stage
or prod
(can be adjusted).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
diff
nx run <AppName>:diff:<EnvironmentConfiguration> [Options]
Shorthand command for cdk diff. Compares the specified stacks and its dependencies with the deployed stacks.
The environment configuration is dev
, stage
or prod
(can be adjusted).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
ls
nx run <AppName>:ls:<EnvironmentConfiguration> [Options]
Shorthand command for cdk ls. Lists the IDs of the specified stacks.
The environment configuration is dev
, stage
or prod
(can be adjusted).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
synth
nx run <AppName>:synth:<EnvironmentConfiguration> [Options]
Shorthand command for cdk synth. Synthesizes the specified stacks into CloudFormation templates (see Synthesize CloudFormation Stacks).
The environment configuration is dev
, stage
or prod
(can be adjusted).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
watch
nx run <AppName>:watch:<EnvironmentConfiguration> [Options]
Shorthand command for cdk watch. Continuously monitors the application's source files and assets for changes. It immediately performs a deployment of the specified stacks when a change is detected.
The environment configuration is dev
, stage
or prod
(can be adjusted).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
generate-event
nx run <AppName>:generate-event [Options]
The generate-event command is used to generate AWS service-specific mock events (see Generate an Event).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
Configuration Options:
- predefinedArguments
- Used to predefine arguments that are put at the beginning of the command
invoke
nx run <AppName>:invoke [Options]
The invoke command is used to invoke a Lambda function locally (see Invoke a Lambda Function Locally).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
Configuration Options:
- predefinedArguments
- Used to predefine arguments that are put at the beginning of the command
start-api
nx run <AppName>:start-api [Options]
The start-api command is used to start an API Gateway locally (see Start an API Gateway Locally).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
Configuration Options:
- predefinedArguments
- Used to predefine arguments that are put at the beginning of the command
start-lambda
nx run <AppName>:start-lambda [Options]
The start-lambda command is used to start all Lambda functions locally (see Start all Lambda Functions Locally).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
Configuration Options:
- predefinedArguments
- Used to predefine arguments that are put at the beginning of the command
E2E Application Commands Reference
lint
nx run <AppName>-e2e:lint [Options]
The lint command is used to lint the application with ESLint.
Options:
- --help
- Displays the command options
e2e
nx run <AppName>-e2e:e2e [Options]
The e2e command is used to execute the E2E tests with Jest (see E2E Testing).
Options:
- --help
- Displays the command options
generate-event
nx run <AppName>-e2e:generate-event [Options]
The generate-event command is used to generate AWS service-specific mock events (see Generate an Event).
Options:
- -h
- Displays the command options
Configuration Options:
- predefinedArguments
- Used to predefine arguments that are put at the beginning of the command
Construct Library
Constructs are the basic building blocks of a CDK application. They represent either individual cloud resources or a set of cloud resources that have been interconnected to fulfill a concrete purpose.
Constructs can be composed of self-written or third-party constructs. The AWS Construct Library contains the constructs for AWS resources. Its constructs can be categorized into 3 levels
- L1 constructs
- Represent CloudFormation resources
- Are automatically generated
- L2 constructs
- Represent AWS resources
- Intent-based API
- L3 constructs
- Patterns
- Often involve multiple resources
A vast collection of third-party open-source construct libraries can be found on Construct Hub.
Constructs are a great way to define organization or project standards. They can be grouped in a construct library and shared between multiple CDK applications.
Create a Construct Library
To create a construct library run the following command inside the Nx workspace
nx g nx-serverless-cdk:cdk-lib <LibName> --importPath <LibPackageName>
The --importPath
option defines the construct library's package name.
The construct library can be imported into other construct libraries or CDK applications
inside the Nx monorepo.
To use the construct library outside the monorepo, it can be published to an npm repository.
Execute the following command to create a publishable construct library that uses the value
of --importPath
as the npm package name
nx g nx-serverless-cdk:cdk-lib <LibName> --importPath <LibPackageName> --publishable
These commands will create an <LibName>
directory in the root of the Nx workspace.
Use the --directory
option to define another directory for the construct library.
Please note that the created directory is relative to the current working directory.
Note: Use
npx nx
, if thenx
command isn't found or install thenx
package globally.
Construct Library Structure
cdk
contains the infrastructure code and testsindex.ts
entry point of the construct library
.env.test
used to activate the debug mode for the Jest testing framework.eslintrc.json
ESLint configurationjest.config.ts
Jest testing framework configurationpackage.json
npm package configuration- Used to configure the construct library's npm package that is published to an npm repository
- To install dependencies that are used inside the monorepo, use the workspace
package.json
file instead
project.json
Nx library configurationREADME.md
construct library documentationtsconfig.cdk.dts.json
TypeScript infrastructure declarations configurationtsconfig.cdk.json
TypeScript infrastructure code configurationtsconfig.json
common TypeScript construct library configurationtsconfig.spec.json
TypeScript test code configuration
Format the Construct Library
The projects (applications and libraries) that have been changed since the last commit can be formatted with the help of nx format.
nx format
To format all projects execute
nx format --all
To format only the construct library execute
nx format --projects <LibName>
Lint the Construct Library
To lint the construct library execute
nx lint <LibName>
or
nx run <LibName>:lint
Test the Construct Library (with Code Coverage)
To test the construct library execute
nx test <LibName>
or
nx run <LibName>:test
Add the --codeCoverage
option to enable code coverage.
nx run <LibName>:test --codeCoverage
Watch
To automatically rerun the construct library tests after a file has been changed, execute
nx run <LibName>:test --watch
Debug
Add the debugger;
statement to the code at the location where the debugging session should start.
In the .env.test
file uncomment the NODE_OPTIONS
variable.
Execute the test command with the --runInBand
option
nx run <LibName>:test --runInBand
A message is printed out to the console similar to the one below
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:9229/15755f9f-6e5d-4c5e-917b-d2b8e9dec5d2
Any Node.js debugger can be used for debugging. In this example, the Chrome browser will be used.
Use the Construct Library
The construct library can be imported into other construct libraries or CDK applications.
Use the following code snippet to import the ExampleConstruct
import { ExampleConstruct } from '<LibPackageName>';
Please note that the construct library doesn't have to be built to be imported by its consumers.
Build the Construct Library
To build the construct library execute
nx run <LibName>:build
The build output is written to <WorkspaceRoot>/dist/<LibName>
.
Publish to npm
To publish the construct library to npm execute
nx run <LibName>:publish --ver <LibVersion> --tag <LibVersionTag>
Construct Library Commands Reference
lint
nx run <LibName>:lint [Options]
The lint command is used to lint the construct library with ESLint (see Lint the Construct Library).
Options:
- --help
- Displays the command options
test
nx run <LibName>:test [Options]
The test command is used to execute the test cases with Jest (see Test the Construct Library (with Code Coverage)).
Options:
- --help
- Displays the command options
build
nx run <LibName>:build [Options]
The build command is used to build the construct library with esbuild (see Build the Construct Library). The build-declarations command is always executed before the build command.
Options:
- --help
- Displays the command options
build-declarations
nx run <LibName>:build-declarations [Options]
The build-declarations command is used to create the construct library's TypeScript declarations with the TypeScript compiler (see Build the Construct Library).
Options:
- --help
- Displays the command options
publish
nx run <LibName>:publish [Options]
The publish command is used to publish the construct library to an npm repository (see Publish to npm).
Options:
- --ver
- Construct library version
- --tag
- Tag of the version (e.g.
latest
)
- Tag of the version (e.g.
TypeScript Library
A pure TypeScript library can be created with Nx and shared between construct libraries and CDK applications.
Create a TypeScript Library
To create a TypeScript library run the following command inside the Nx workspace
nx g @nx/js:library <LibName> --importPath <LibPackageName> --bundler tsc --unitTestRunner jest
The --importPath
option defines the TypeScript library's package name.
The TypeScript library can be imported into construct libraries or CDK applications
inside the Nx monorepo.
To use the TypeScript library outside the monorepo, it can be published to an npm repository.
Execute the following command to create a publishable TypeScript library that uses the value
of --importPath
as the npm package name
nx g @nx/js:library <LibName> --importPath <LibPackageName> --publishable --bundler tsc --unitTestRunner jest
These commands will create an <LibName>
directory in the root of the Nx workspace.
Use the --directory
option to define another directory for the TypeScript library.
Please note that the created directory is relative to the current working directory.
Adjust the TypeScript configurations (tsconfig*.json
) according to the project standards.
Note: Use
npx nx
, if thenx
command isn't found or install thenx
package globally.
Use the TypeScript Library
The TypeScript library can be imported into construct libraries or CDK applications. Use the following code snippet to import it
import { ... } from '<LibPackageName>';
Please note that the TypeScript library doesn't have to be built to be imported by its consumers.
Debug in Chrome
Open a new tab in the Chrome browser and navigate to chrome://inspect
.
Click on Open dedicated DevTools for Node
and navigate in the new window to the Sources
tab.
Wait for the source code to appear and then click on the play button (Resume script execution) in the right panel.
The debugger jumps to the debugger;
statement that has been added to the source code.
Move from this point onward by using the debugger step commands and additional breakpoints.
Generators Reference
cdk-app
nx g nx-serverless-cdk:cdk-app <AppName> --type <AppType>
The cdk-app generator is used to create an AWS CDK application (see Create a CDK Application).
Options:
- --name (required)
- CDK application name
- --directory
- The CDK application's directory path relative to the current working directory
- --type (required)
- The CDK application type can be
generic
orlambda
- Choose the type
generic
for general-purpose applications - Choose the type
lambda
for serverless applications
- The CDK application type can be
- --skipFormat (default: false)
- Skips the formatting after the CDK application has been created
cdk-lib
nx g nx-serverless-cdk:cdk-lib <LibName> --importPath <LibPackageName>
The cdk-lib generator is used to create an AWS CDK construct library (see Create a Construct Library).
Options:
- --name (required)
- Construct library name
- --directory
- The construct library's directory path relative to the current working directory
- --importPath
- Defines the npm package name (e.g.
example-lib
or@example-org/example-lib
)
- Defines the npm package name (e.g.
- --publishable
- Creates a construct library that can be published to an npm repository
- --skipFormat (default: false)
- Skips the formatting after the construct library has been created