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Using Application Composer to create templates visually

Amazon Application Composer helps you visually compose and configure modern applications on Amazon. Instead of writing code, you can drag and drop different resources to build your application visually.

Application Composer in CloudFormation console mode is the recommended tool to work with CloudFormation templates visually. This version of Application Composer that you can access from the CloudFormation console is an improvement from an older tool called Amazon CloudFormation Designer.

With Application Composer in CloudFormation console mode, you can drag, drop, configure, and connect a variety of resources, called cards, onto a visual canvas. This visual approach makes it easy to design and edit your application architecture without having to work with templates directly. To access this mode from the CloudFormation console, select Application Composer from the left-side navigation menu.

For more information, see How to use Application Composer in CloudFormation console mode in the Amazon Application Composer Developer Guide.

Why use Application Composer in CloudFormation console mode?

Visualizing your templates in Application Composer helps you identify gaps and areas of improvement in your CloudFormation templates and application architecture. Application Composer improves your development experience with the ease and efficiency of visually building and modifying CloudFormation stacks. You can start with an initial draft, create deployable code, and incorporate your developer workflows with the visual designer in Application Composer.

How is this mode different than the Application Composer console?

While the CloudFormation console version of Application Composer has similar features to the standard Application Composer console, there are a few differences. Lambda-related cards (Lambda Function and Lambda Layer) require code builds and packaging solutions that are not available in Application Composer in CloudFormation console mode. Local sync is also not available in this mode.

However, you can use these Lambda-related cards and the local sync feature in the Application Composer console or the Amazon Toolkit for Visual Studio Code. For more information, see the Amazon Application Composer Developer Guide and Application Composer in the Amazon Toolkit for Visual Studio Code User Guide.