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Session 3: CDK Constructs 🏗️

🏗️ CDK Constructs Levels — Explained with Metaphors & Examples

Level Who's in control? What do you get? Typical examples
L1 You control everything 💡 Raw CloudFormation resource CfnBucket, CfnFunction, CfnTable
L2 AWS gives you tools 🧰 Reusable modules with sensible defaults s3.Bucket, lambda.Function, dynamodb.Table
L3 AWS does most of the work 🚀 High-level abstractions for real-world use cases aws-s3-deployment, aws-apigateway-lambda

🧱 L1 – "Raw Bricks"

  • ✍️ You write the CloudFormation equivalent directly.
  • 📋 Requires deep understanding of the AWS resource specification.
  • 🎯 Best when you need full control or are working with newly released features.
// Raw CloudFormation
new s3.CfnBucket(this, 'MyRawBucket', {
  bucketName: 'raw-bucket',
  versioningConfiguration: { status: 'Enabled' }
});

🪚 L2 – "Efficient Tools"

  • 💡 Provides friendly abstractions with helpful defaults (e.g. versioned: true).
  • 🔒 Protects against common misconfigurations.
  • ✅ Ideal for most real-world use cases.
// Level 2 Bucket – simple and safe
new s3.Bucket(this, 'SafeBucket', {
  versioned: true,
  removalPolicy: cdk.RemovalPolicy.DESTROY
});

🧠 L3 – "Prebuilt Solutions"

  • 🧬 Composed constructs that encapsulate multiple resources and best practices.
  • 🛠️ Perfect for prototyping fast or enforcing standard architectures.
  • 😅 Can be too rigid if you need to tweak specific pieces.
// Deploy a static website with S3
new s3deploy.BucketDeployment(this, 'DeployWebsite', {
  sources: [s3deploy.Source.asset('./website')],
  destinationBucket: myBucket
});

📦 Bonus: Custom Constructs

  • 🧩 You build your own “Level 3” construct tailored to your org.
  • 👌 Great for reusability, consistency, and modular design.
export class MySecureBucket extends Construct {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string) {
    super(scope, id);

    new s3.Bucket(this, 'Bucket', {
      encryption: s3.BucketEncryption.KMS_MANAGED,
      versioned: true,
    });
  }
}

🎯 When to Use Each Level?

flowchart TD
    idea[You have an idea] --> checkPattern{Exists in L2 or L3?}
    checkPattern -- Yes --> useL2L3[Use L2 or L3 construct]
    checkPattern -- No --> needControl{Do you need full control?}
    needControl -- Yes --> useL1[Use L1]
    needControl -- No --> makeCustom[Build a Custom Construct]
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✅ Quick Tips to Remember

  • 🔧 L1 = Low-level, fine-grained, verbose.
  • 🪛 L2 = Standard, productive, safe.
  • 🏗️ L3 = Opinionated, powerful, but less flexible.
  • 🔁 Custom = Your company’s building blocks, reusable and tailored.

References:

🔙 IAM Roles & Users 🔑 | 🏠 Index | 🔜 CDK Commands 🛠️