AWS CloudFormation

Infrastructure-as-code service that lets you model and provision cloud resources using declarative JSON or YAML templates. You describe the desired state of your infrastructure, and the service creates, updates, and deletes resources in the correct order, handling dependencies automatically.

Widely adopted for DevOps and multi-account deployments. Differs from Terraform and Pulumi by being native to the platform, with deep integration into the console and other services. Supports StackSets for provisioning across many accounts and regions from a single template. Works with the CloudFormation Registry for third-party and custom resource providers.

Core capabilities:

• Declarative templates in JSON or YAML
• ChangeSets to preview changes before applying
• Automatic rollback and drift detection
• StackSets for cross-account and cross-region deployment
• Integration with AWS CDK for TypeScript, Python, Java, and .NET
• SAM support for serverless applications

Teams use it to version infrastructure alongside application code, automate environment provisioning in CI/CD pipelines, and enforce governance across hundreds of accounts. The CloudFormation Language Server provides autocomplete, schema validation, and policy checks in VS Code and compatible IDEs. Developers can test templates locally with the open-source CloudFormation CLI before deploying.