AWS CloudFormation — Complete Guide
Master AWS CloudFormation from scratch — templates, stacks, intrinsic functions, change sets, nested stacks, stack sets, drift detection, and CI/CD.
What You’ll Learn
This tutorial takes you from zero to production-ready CloudFormation skills across 16 chapters.
Chapters
| # | Chapter | What You’ll Learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | What is CloudFormation & why use it |
| 2 | Template Anatomy | The six sections of a template |
| 3 | Parameters | Making templates reusable |
| 4 | Mappings & Conditions | Adapting templates to environments |
| 5 | Resources | The heart of every template |
| 6 | Outputs | Exporting values from stacks |
| 7 | Intrinsic Functions | Dynamic logic in templates |
| 8 | Stack Operations | Create, update, delete stacks |
| 9 | Change Sets | Preview before applying |
| 10 | Nested Stacks | Break large templates apart |
| 11 | Stack Sets | Multi-account, multi-region |
| 12 | Drift Detection | Find manual changes |
| 13 | Custom Resources | Extend with Lambda |
| 14 | CI/CD | Automate deployments |
| 15 | Best Practices | Troubleshooting & patterns |
| 16 | Next Steps | CDK, SAM, certifications |
Prerequisites
- An AWS account with CLI access
- Basic familiarity with YAML
- No prior CloudFormation experience required
