AWS Console to Code
AWS Console-to-Code, which makes it simple to turn AWS console actions into reusable code, is now generally available (GA). When you launch an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance, for example, you can record your actions and workflows in the console using AWS Console-to-Code. You can then evaluate the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) commands for your console actions.
Using the infrastructure-as-code (IaC) format of your choosing, such as the AWS CloudFormation template (YAML or JSON) or the AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) (TypeScript, Python, or Java), Amazon Q can generate code for you with a few clicks. This may be included into pipelines, further tailored for your production workloads, and utilized as a foundation for infrastructure automation.
Customers have responded well to AWS Console-to-Code since it revealed the preview last year. Since it has been working backwards from customer feedback, it has been significantly enhanced in this GA version.
GA’s new features
- Encouragement of additional services Amazon EC2 was the sole service that was supported during the preview. Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) are now supported by AWS Console-to-Code at GA.
- Simplified experience: Customers can now more easily handle the workflows for prototyping, recording, and code creation with the updated user interface.
- Preview code: Customers can now create code for EC2 instances and Auto Scaling groups without actually establishing them with updates to the launch wizards.
- Advanced code generation: Amazon Q machine learning models power the creation of code for AWS CDK and CloudFormation.
How to begin using AWS Console-to-Code
Let’s start with a straightforward example of starting an Amazon EC2 instance. Open the Amazon EC2 console first. To begin recording, find the AWS Console-to-Code widget on the right and select Start recording.
Next, use the Amazon EC2 console’s launch instance wizard to start an Amazon EC2 instance. To finish the recording, select Stop once the instance has been launched.
Examine the recorded actions in the Recorded actions table. To filter by write actions (Write), utilize the Type dropdown list. Select the action RunInstances. To copy the relevant AWS CLI command, select Copy CLI.
It is simple to change this command. For this example, You can modify it to start two instances (–count 2) of type t3.micro (–instance-type). Although this is a simplified example, other workflows can use the same method.
You can use AWS CloudShell to run the command, and it launched two t3.micro EC2 instances as planned:
The API commands used when actions were conducted (during the EC2 instance launch) form the basis of the single-click CLI code creation experience. It’s intriguing to see that when you finish operations in the console, the companion screen displays the recorded actions. Additionally, it is simple to clearly scope activities for prototyping because of the interactive user interface’s start and stop capabilities.
Creating IaC with AWS CDK
An open-source framework called AWS CDK is used to specify cloud architecture in code and provision it using AWS CloudFormation. You may create AWS CDK code for your infrastructure workflows with AWS Console-to-Code. Currently available in Java, Python, and TypeScript.
Let’s move on to the use case for the EC2 launch instance. Locate the AWS Console-to-Code widget on the right side of the Amazon EC2 console, select Start recording, and then start an EC2 instance if you haven’t already. Once the instance has started, select the RunInstances action from the Recorded actions table and select Stop to finish the recording.
Select the Generate CDK Python button from the dropdown menu to begin generating AWS CDK Python code.
You can modify the code to make it production-ready for your particular use case, or you can use it as a starting point.
You made a new Python CDK project since you already had the AWS CDK installed:
Then entered the code that was generated into the Python CDK project. To make sure the code was correct for this example, modified the EC2 instance type, refactored the code into an AWS CDK Stack, and made a few other little adjustments. Using CDK deploy, was able to deploy it successfully.
You can replicate the same outcome by launching an EC2 instance from the console action and then going all the way to the AWS CDK.
Additionally, you can create CloudFormation templates in JSON or YAML format:
Preview code
Additionally, you may use the Preview code capability in Amazon EC2 and the Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group launch experience to directly access AWS Console-to-Code. This implies that you can obtain the infrastructure code without actually creating the resource.
Try this out by following the instructions to use a launch template to build an Auto Scaling group. But click Preview code rather than Create Auto Scaling group. The options to replicate the AWS CLI command or produce infrastructure code should now be visible to you.
Things to be aware of
When using AWS Console-to-Code, keep the following points in mind:
- To create AWS CLI commands for their infrastructure operations, anyone can use AWS Console-to-Code. There is a free monthly limit of 25 generations for the code generation feature for AWS CDK and CloudFormation formats; after that, an Amazon Q Developer subscription is required.
- Prior to deployment, it is advised that you test and validate the generated IaC code.
- Only actions in the Amazon EC2, Amazon VPC, and Amazon RDS consoles are recorded by AWS Console-to-Code at GA.
- Actions from past sessions or other tabs are not retained by the Recorded actions table in AWS Console-to-Code; it only shows actions made within the current browser tab. Keep in mind that all recorded actions will be lost once the browser tab is refreshed.
Currently accessible
All commercial regions offer AWS Console-to-Code. The Amazon Q Developer user manual contains additional information about it. Try it out in the Amazon EC2 console and email the AWS re:Post for Amazon EC2 or your regular AWS Support contacts with your thoughts.
