This is the new *Amazon CloudFormation Template Reference Guide*. Please update your bookmarks and links. For help getting started with CloudFormation, see the [Amazon CloudFormation User Guide](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/Welcome.html).

# CloudFormation helper scripts reference
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CloudFormation provides the following Python helper scripts that you can use to install software and start services on an Amazon EC2 instance that you create as part of your stack:
+  [cfn-init](cfn-init.md) – Use to retrieve and interpret resource metadata, install packages, create files, and start services.
+  [cfn-signal](cfn-signal.md) – Use to signal with a `CreationPolicy` or `WaitCondition`, so you can synchronize other resources in the stack when the prerequisite resource or application is ready.
+  [cfn-get-metadata](cfn-get-metadata.md) – Use to retrieve metadata for a resource or path to a specific key.
+  [cfn-hup](cfn-hup.md) – Use to check for updates to metadata and execute custom hooks when changes are detected.

You call the scripts directly from your template. The scripts work in conjunction with resource metadata that's defined in the same template. The scripts run on the Amazon EC2 instance during the stack creation process.

**Note**  
The scripts aren't executed by default. You must include calls in your template to execute specific helper scripts.

**Topics**
+ [Amazon Linux AMI images](#cfn-helper-scripts-reference-amazon-amis)
+ [Downloading packages for other platforms](#cfn-helper-scripts-reference-downloads)
+ [Permissions for helper scripts](#cfn-helper-scripts-reference-permissions)
+ [Using the latest version](#cfn-helper-scripts-reference-latest-version)
+ [cfn-init](cfn-init.md)
+ [cfn-signal](cfn-signal.md)
+ [cfn-get-metadata](cfn-get-metadata.md)
+ [cfn-hup](cfn-hup.md)

## Amazon Linux AMI images
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The CloudFormation helper scripts are preinstalled on Amazon Linux AMI images that have bootstrap scripts installed.
+ On the latest Amazon Linux AMI version, the scripts are installed in `/opt/aws/bin`.
+ On previous Amazon Linux AMI versions, the `aws-cfn-bootstrap` package that contains the scripts is located in the Yum repository.

**Note**  
The helper scripts are pre-installed on the latest versions of the Amazon Linux AMI and not on Optimized AMIs, such as ECS Optimized Image that uses Amazon Linux as base.

## Downloading packages for other platforms
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<a name="cfn-helper-scripts-reference-downloads"></a>For Linux/Unix distributions other than Amazon Linux AMI images and for Microsoft Windows (2008 or later), you can download the `aws-cfn-bootstrap` package.

**Note**  
Version 2.0–1 and above of the helper scripts support Python 3.4 and above. If you need helper scripts that support an earlier version of Python, see [Release History for CloudFormation Helper Scripts 1.4](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/AWSCloudFormation/latest/TemplateReference/releasehistory-aws-cfn-bootstrap.html#releasehistory-aws-cfn-bootstrap-v1).


| File format | Download URL | 
| --- | --- | 
|  TAR.GZ  |  [ https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-examples/aws-cfn-bootstrap-py3-latest.tar.gz](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-examples/aws-cfn-bootstrap-py3-latest.tar.gz) Use Python's pip to install `tar.gz`. To complete the installation for Ubuntu, you must create a symlink: `ln -s /<path-to-extracted-tar>/aws-cfn-bootstrap-2.0/init/ubuntu/cfn-hup /etc/init.d/cfn-hup`  | 
|  ZIP  |  [ https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-examples/aws-cfn-bootstrap-py3-latest.zip](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-examples/aws-cfn-bootstrap-py3-latest.zip)  | 
|  EXE  |  32-bit Windows: [ https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-examples/aws-cfn-bootstrap-py3-latest.exe](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-examples/aws-cfn-bootstrap-py3-latest.exe)  64-bit Windows: [ https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-examples/aws-cfn-bootstrap-py3-win64-latest.exe](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cloudformation-examples/aws-cfn-bootstrap-py3-win64-latest.exe)  | 

## Permissions for helper scripts
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By default, helper scripts don't require credentials, so you don't need to use the `--access-key`, `--secret-key`, `--role`, or `--credential-file` options. However, if no credentials are specified, CloudFormation checks for stack membership and limits the scope of the call to the stack that the instance belongs to.

If you choose to specify an option, we recommend that you specify only one of the following:
+ `--role`
+ `--credential-file`
+ `--access-key` together with `--secret-key`

If you do specify an option, keep in mind which permissions the various helper scripts require:
+ `cfn-signal` requires `cloudformation:SignalResource`
+ All other helper scripts require `cloudformation:DescribeStackResource`

For more information on using CloudFormation-specific actions and condition context keys in IAM policies, see [Control CloudFormation access with Amazon Identity and Access Management](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/control-access-with-iam.html) in the *Amazon CloudFormation User Guide*.

## Using the latest version
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The helper scripts are updated periodically. If you use the helper scripts, ensure that your launched instances are using the latest version of the scripts:
+ Include the following command in the `UserData` property of your template before you call the scripts. This command ensures that you get the latest version:

  `yum install -y aws-cfn-bootstrap`
+ If you don't include the `yum install` command and you use the `cfn-init`, `cfn-signal`, or `cfn-get-metadata` scripts, then you'll need to manually update the scripts in each Amazon EC2 Linux instance using this command:

  `sudo yum install -y aws-cfn-bootstrap`
**Note**  
Running `sudo yum install -y aws-cfn-bootstrap` installs the helper scripts from the `yum` repository.
+ If you don't include the `yum install` command and you use the `cfn-hup` script, then you'll need to manually update the script in each Amazon EC2 Linux instance using these commands:

  `sudo yum install -y aws-cfn-bootstrap`

  `sudo /sbin/service cfn-hup restart`
**Note**  
Running `sudo yum install -y aws-cfn-bootstrap` installs the helper scripts from the `yum` repository.
+ If you use the source code for the scripts to work with another version of Linux or a different platform, and you have created your own certificate trust store, you'll also need to keep the trust store updated.

For the version history of the `aws-cfn-bootstrap` package, see [Release history for Amazon CloudFormation helper scripts](releasehistory-aws-cfn-bootstrap.md).