Set up fullstack project

For new Amplify apps, we recommend using Amplify Gen 2. You can learn more in our Gen 2 Docs.

Create a new React App

To get started, first create a new React app, and then install and use the Amplify CLI to start adding backend capabilities to your app.

From your projects directory, run the following command and respond the prompts:

npm create vite@latest
✔ Project name: react-amplified
✔ Select a framework: › React
✔ Select a variant: › TypeScript

npm create vite@latest
✔ Project name: react-amplified
✔ Select a framework: › React
✔ Select a variant: › JavaScript

This creates a new React app in a directory called react-amplified. You can then run the following commands to switch into the new react-amplified directory, install the project dependencies, and run the app:

cd react-amplified
npm install
npm run dev

This runs a development server and allows you to see the output generated by the build. You can see the running app by navigating to http://localhost:5173.

Initialize a new backend

Now that you have a running app, it's time to set up Amplify so that you can create the necessary backend services needed to support the app.

Open a new terminal. From the root of the project, run:

amplify init

When you initialize Amplify you'll be prompted for some information about the app:

? Enter a name for the project reactamplified
The following configuration will be applied:
?Project information
| Name:  reactamplified
| Environment: dev
| Default editor: Visual Studio Code
| App type: javascript
| Javascript framework: react
| Source Directory Path: src

Make sure to set dist as the Distribution Directory Path.

| Distribution Directory Path: dist

| Build Command: npm run-script build
| Start Command: npm run-script start
? Initialize the project with the above configuration? Yes
Using default provider  awscloudformation
? Select the authentication method you want to use: AWS profile
? Please choose the profile you want to use default

When you initialize a new Amplify project, a few things happen:

It creates a top level directory called amplify that stores your backend definition. During the tutorial you'll add cloud capabilities, such as GraphQL API and web hosting. As you add these features, the amplify folder will grow with infrastructure-as-code templates that define your backend stack. Infrastructure-as-code is a best practice way to create a replicable backend stack.
It creates a file called amplifyconfiguration.json in your designated Source Directory Path that holds all the configuration for the services you create with Amplify. This is how the Amplify JavaScript client library is able to get the necessary information to connect to your backend services.
It modifies the .gitignore file, adding some generated files to the ignore list

Install Amplify Libraries

The aws-amplify package is the main library for working with Amplify Libraries in your projects:

npm install aws-amplify

Set up frontend

Next, configure the Amplify libraries client-side so it can interact with backend services.

Open src/main.tsx or src/main.jsx and add the following code below the last import:

src/main.jsx
import { Amplify } from 'aws-amplify';
import amplifyconfig from './amplifyconfiguration.json';
Amplify.configure(amplifyconfig);

Make sure you call Amplify.configure as early as possible in your application’s life-cycle. A missing configuration or NoCredentials error is thrown if Amplify.configure has not been called before other Amplify JavaScript APIs. Review the Library Not Configured Troubleshooting guide for possible causes of this issue.

And that's all it takes to configure Amplify. As you add or remove categories and make updates to your backend configuration using the Amplify CLI, the configuration in amplifyconfiguration.json will update automatically.

Now that your app is set up and Amplify is initialized, you can add an API in the next step.

Set up Amplify CLI

Connect API and database to the app