CLI commands

This page serves as a reference for commands found in the @aws-amplify/backend-cli package.

All commands can be prefixed with AWS CLI environment variables to change the AWS account behavior with Amplify Gen 2 commands.

npx ampx sandbox

Sandbox enables you to develop your backend alongside your frontend's development server. Run npx ampx sandbox to deploy to your personal cloud sandbox, this command will automatically watch for changes in the amplify/ folder, and redeploy each time you save a file.

Options

• --dir-to-watch (string) - Directory to watch for file changes. All subdirectories and files will be included. Defaults to the amplify directory.
• --exclude (string[]) - An array of paths or glob patterns to ignore. Paths can be relative or absolute and can either be files or directories.
• --identifier (string) - An optional name to distinguish between different sandbox environments. Default is the name of the system user executing the process
• --outputs-out-dir (string) - A path to a directory where the client config file is written. If not provided, defaults to the working directory of the current process.
• --outputs-format (string) - Format in which the client config file is written (choices: json, dart).
• --outputs-version (string) - Version of the configuration. Version 0 represents classic amplify-cli config file amplify-configuration and 1 represents newer config file amplify_outputs (choices: 0, 1).
• --profile (string) - An AWS profile name.

Usage

npx ampx sandbox

Use with an alternate profile

You can use the --profile flag to run sandbox with an AWS profile other than default:

npx ampx sandbox --profile my-other-profile

Additionally, you can use AWS CLI environment variables to specify a different profile:

AWS_PROFILE=my-other-profile ampx sandbox

Use with an alternate Region

Use AWS environment variables to deploy to a Region other than your AWS profile's configured Region:

AWS_REGION=us-west-2 ampx sandbox

Use with mobile applications

For mobile applications, you will need to set the output directory and format of the generated configuration file, specifically amplify_outputs.json:

# for Android
npx ampx sandbox --outputs-out-dir app/src/main/res

# for Swift/iOS
npx ampx sandbox

# for Flutter
npx ampx sandbox --outputs-format dart --outputs-out-dir lib --outputs-version 0

npx ampx sandbox delete

Delete your personal cloud sandbox. This should only be used if you have an active cloud sandbox that you opted to not delete when exiting npx ampx sandbox.

Options

• --name (string) - An optional name to distinguish between different sandbox environments. Default is the name in your package.json.
• --profile (string) - An AWS profile name.
• -y, --yes (boolean) - Do not ask for confirmation before deleting the sandbox environment.

Usage

npx ampx sandbox delete

npx ampx sandbox secret

Manage backend secrets used with your personal cloud sandbox.

Options

• --profile (string) - An AWS profile name.

Usage

npx ampx sandbox secret

Using with an alternate AWS profile

You can use the --profile flag to run sandbox with an AWS profile other than default:

npx ampx sandbox secret list --profile my-other-profile

Additionally, you can use AWS environment variables to specify a different profile:

AWS_PROFILE=my-other-profile ampx sandbox secret list

Creating a secret

Create secrets for use with your personal cloud sandbox by using sandbox secret set:

npx ampx sandbox secret set LOGINWITHAMAZON_CLIENT_ID

This is how you configure secrets to be retrieved and used within your backend using secret().

Removing a secret

If you want to remove a secret you previously set, use sandbox secret remove:

npx ampx sandbox secret remove LOGINWITHAMAZON_CLIENT_ID

Listing secrets

List all available secrets for your personal sandbox in the default AWS profile and Region:

npx ampx sandbox secret list

Get a secret and view its details

You can view an existing secret and its details, such as the current version and when it was last updated:

npx ampx sandbox secret get LOGINWITHAMAZON_CLIENT_ID
 name: LOGINWITHAMAZON_CLIENT_ID
 version: 1
 value: ****
 lastUpdated: Fri Nov 17 2023 12:00:00 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

npx ampx generate

Generate is not intended to be used standalone; however, it does offer a few subcommands to generate information or code that is supplemental to your frontend development.

Each of the following generate subcommands require either a CloudFormation stack name or an existing Amplify App ID and corresponding git branch:

# with CloudFormation stack name
npx ampx generate <subcommand> --stack <cloudformation-stack-name>

# with Amplify App ID and git branch
npx ampx generate <subcommand> --app-id <app-id> --branch <git-branch-name>

npx ampx generate outputs

Generate the backend outputs file (e.g. amplify_outputs.json) for your frontend application to consume. This is intended to be used to manually generate a configuration file for an environment other than your personal cloud sandbox. For example, you might use it if you would like to verify something your coworker is seeing in their cloud sandbox, or to demonstrate frontend changes locally using a pre-existing "staging" branch.

Options

In addition to the required options noted in ampx generate:

• --profile (string) - An AWS profile name.
• --format (string) - The format into which the configuration should be exported (choices: json, dart).
• --out-dir (string) - A path to the directory where config is written. If not provided, it defaults to the working directory of the current process.
• --outputs-version (string) - Version of the configuration. Version 0 represents classic amplify-cli config file amplify-configuration and 1 represents newer config file amplify_outputs (choices: 0, 1).

Usage

As mentioned above, you can specify a team member's cloud sandbox CloudFormation stack:

npx ampx generate outputs --stack amplify-nextamplifygen2-josef-sandbox-ca85e1081b

Use with mobile applications

Similar to sandbox, you can specify an alternate outputs file format by using --format:

npx ampx generate outputs --stack amplify-nextamplifygen2-josef-sandbox-ca85e1081b

npx ampx generate graphql-client-code

Generate GraphQL statements and types for your frontend application to consume.

Options

The available parameters for npx ampx generate graphql-client-code are:

Required parameters:

• Stack identifier
  • --stack(string) - A stack name that contains an Amplify backend.
• Project identifier
  • --app-id(string) - The Amplify App ID of the project.
  • --branch(string) - A git branch of the Amplify project.

Optional parameters:

• --out(string) - Specifies the path to the directory where the config is written. If not provided, defaults to the current process working directory.
• --format(string) (choices: modelgen, graphql-codegen, introspection) - Specifies the format of the GraphQL client code to be generated.
• --model-target (string) (choices: java, swift, javascript, typescript, dart) - Specifies the modelgen export target. Only applies when the --format parameter is set to modelgen.
• --statement-target(string) (choices: javascript, graphql, flow, typescript, angular) - Specifies the graphql-codegen statement export target. Only applies when the --format parameter is set to graphql-codegen.
• --type-target(string) (choices: json, swift, typescript, flow, scala, flow-modern, angular) - Specifies the optional graphql-codegen type export target. Only applies when the --format parameter is set to graphql-codegen.
• --all(boolean)- Shows hidden options.
• --profile(string) - Specifies an AWS profile name.
• --debug (boolean) - Print debug logs to the console.
• --help(boolean) - Displays help information about the command.

  Usage

Generate GraphQL client code using the Amplify App ID and branch.

npx ampx generate graphql-client-code --app-id <your-amplify-app-id>	--branch staging

Generate GraphQL client code for a branch that is connected to Amplify

Sometimes you want to test your latest local changes with the backend of another deployed branch. If you want to generate the GraphQL client code file(s) for the latest deployment of another branch, you can run the following command:

npx ampx generate graphql-client-code --branch staging

Generate codegen for CDK app using a joint "AmplifyBackendStack" construct

Assume you have deployed your Amplify project with the CDK construct. You will need to remember your app's project name (designated as the second parameter in your CDK construct) and stack name (designated as part of your npx cdk deploy context)

import { Construct } from 'constructs';
import { App, Backend } from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-amplify';

export class MyAmplifyStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: cdk.Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    new Backend(this, "Backend", { /* ... */ });
  }
}

Deployment command for CDK project

npx cdk deploy

Run Amplify codegen command to generate GraphQL codegen:

npx ampx generate graphql-client-code --stack Backend --platform ts --out ./src

Generate codegen in specific language and format

npx ampx generate graphql-client-code --format modelgen --type-target angular

Supported GraphQL client code combinations:

npx ampx generate forms

Generate React form components derived from your backend data models for your frontend application to consume.

npx ampx info

Generates information on system, binaries, npm packages, and environment variables for troubleshooting Amplify issues.

npx ampx info

This command will print system information as follows:

System:
  OS: macOS 14.3.1
  CPU: (10) arm64 Apple M1 Pro
  Memory: 165.89 MB / 32.00 GB
  Shell: /opt/homebrew/bin/fish
Binaries:
  Node: 20.12.2 - ~/Library/Caches/fnm_multishells/1063_1714573452292/bin/node
  Yarn: 1.22.19 - ~/Library/Caches/fnm_multishells/1063_1714573452292/bin/yarn
  npm: 10.5.0 - ~/Library/Caches/fnm_multishells/1063_1714573452292/bin/npm
  pnpm: 9.0.5 - ~/Library/Caches/fnm_multishells/1063_1714573452292/bin/pnpm
NPM Packages:
  @aws-amplify/backend: 1.0.0
  @aws-amplify/backend-cli: 1.0.1
  aws-amplify: 6.2.0
  aws-cdk: 2.139.1
  aws-cdk-lib: 2.139.1
  typescript: 5.4.5
AWS environment variables:
  AWS_PROFILE = amplify-admin
  AWS_STS_REGIONAL_ENDPOINTS = regional
  AWS_NODEJS_CONNECTION_REUSE_ENABLED = 1
  AWS_SDK_LOAD_CONFIG = 1
No CDK environment variables

npx ampx pipeline-deploy

Deploys the Amplify project in a CI/CD pipeline for a specified Amplify app and branch.

Options

• --branch (string) - Name of the git branch being deployed.
• --app-id (string) - The app id of the target Amplify app.
• --outputs-out-dir (string) - A path to a directory where the client config file is written. If not provided, defaults to the working directory of the current process.
• --outputs-version (string) - Version of the configuration. Version 0 represents classic amplify-cli config file amplify-configuration and 1 represents newer config file amplify_outputs (choices: 0, 1).

Usage

npx ampx pipeline-deploy --branch $BRANCH_NAME --app-id $AMPLIFY_APP_ID