awsflow-cloudformation

Use the CloudFormationTool language tool in VS Code to inspect AWS CloudFormation stacks, resources, change sets, types, and drift status.

When to Use

•User wants to list or describe CloudFormation stacks
•User wants to view stack resources, events, or outputs
•User wants to inspect change sets before applying them
•User wants to check stack drift status
•User wants to validate a template
•User wants to view stack set details or operations
•User wants to list or describe CloudFormation resource types
•User wants to estimate template cost

Tool Reference

Tool name: CloudFormationTool

Input Schema

json

{
  "command": "<CommandName>",
  "params": { ... }
}

Commands (51 total)

Command	Description
BatchDescribeTypeConfigurations	Describe configurations for multiple resource types
DescribeAccountLimits	Get CloudFormation account limits
DescribeChangeSet	Describe a specific change set
DescribeChangeSetHooks	Describe hooks for a change set
DescribeGeneratedTemplate	Describe a generated template
DescribeOrganizationsAccess	Describe Organizations access status
DescribePublisher	Describe the calling account as a publisher
DescribeResourceScan	Describe a resource scan
DescribeStackDriftDetectionStatus	Check drift detection status for a stack
DescribeStackEvents	List events for a stack
DescribeStackInstance	Describe a stack instance in a stack set
DescribeStackRefactor	Describe a stack refactor operation
DescribeStackResource	Describe a specific stack resource
DescribeStackResourceDrifts	List resource drift results for a stack
DescribeStackResources	Describe all resources in a stack
DescribeStacks	Describe one or more stacks
DescribeStackSet	Describe a stack set
DescribeStackSetOperation	Describe an operation on a stack set
DescribeType	Describe a CloudFormation resource type
DescribeTypeRegistration	Describe a type registration
DetectStackDrift	Initiate drift detection on a stack
DetectStackResourceDrift	Detect drift on a specific resource
DetectStackSetDrift	Initiate drift detection on a stack set
EstimateTemplateCost	Estimate cost for a template
GetGeneratedTemplate	Retrieve a generated template
GetHookResult	Get result of a hook invocation
GetStackPolicy	Get the stack policy for a stack
GetTemplate	Get the template body for a stack
GetTemplateSummary	Get template metadata and parameters
ListChangeSets	List change sets for a stack
ListExports	List exported output values
ListGeneratedTemplates	List generated templates
ListHookResults	List hook results
ListImports	List stacks importing an export
ListResourceScanRelatedResources	List related resources from a scan
ListResourceScanResources	List resources from a scan
ListResourceScans	List resource scans
ListStackInstanceResourceDrifts	List instance resource drifts
ListStackInstances	List instances in a stack set
ListStackRefactorActions	List refactor actions
ListStackRefactors	List stack refactors
ListStackResources	List resources in a stack
ListStacks	List all stacks (with status filter)
ListStackSetAutoDeploymentTargets	List auto-deployment targets
ListStackSetOperationResults	List results of a stack set operation
ListStackSetOperations	List operations on a stack set
ListStackSets	List all stack sets
ListTypeRegistrations	List type registrations
ListTypes	List registered resource types
ListTypeVersions	List versions of a type
ValidateTemplate	Validate a CloudFormation template

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
StackName	string	Stack name or ID (Required by: DescribeStacks, DescribeStackResources, DescribeStackEvents, DescribeStackDriftDetectionStatus, GetStackPolicy, GetTemplate, GetTemplateSummary, ListStackResources, DetectStackDrift)
StackSetName	string	Stack set name or ID (Required by: DescribeStackSet, DescribeStackSetOperation, ListStackSetAutoDeploymentTargets, ListStackSetOperationResults, ListStackSetOperations, DetectStackSetDrift, ListStackInstances)
ChangeSetName	string	Change set name or ID (Required by: DescribeChangeSet, ListChangeSets)
TypeName	string	Resource type name (Required by: DescribeType, ListTypeVersions, DescribeTypeRegistration)
TypeArn	string	Resource type ARN (Required by: DescribeType)
NextToken	string	Pagination token (Used by: most List commands)
MaxResults	number	Maximum records to return (Used by: most List commands)

Usage Examples

List all stacks

json

{ "command": "ListStacks", "params": {} }

Describe a specific stack

json

{ "command": "DescribeStacks", "params": { "StackName": "my-app-stack" } }

View stack resources

json

{ "command": "DescribeStackResources", "params": { "StackName": "my-app-stack" } }

View stack events

json

{ "command": "DescribeStackEvents", "params": { "StackName": "my-app-stack" } }

Get template body

json

{ "command": "GetTemplate", "params": { "StackName": "my-app-stack" } }

Get template summary

json

{ "command": "GetTemplateSummary", "params": { "StackName": "my-app-stack" } }

List change sets for a stack

json

{ "command": "ListChangeSets", "params": { "ChangeSetName": "my-app-stack" } }

Detect drift on a stack

json

{ "command": "DetectStackDrift", "params": { "StackName": "my-app-stack" } }

Describe resource drift results

json

{ "command": "DescribeStackResourceDrifts", "params": { "StackName": "my-app-stack" } }

Validate a template

json

{ "command": "ValidateTemplate", "params": {} }

List exported values

json

{ "command": "ListExports", "params": {} }

Describe a stack set

json

{ "command": "DescribeStackSet", "params": { "StackSetName": "my-stack-set" } }

List registered resource types

json

{ "command": "ListTypes", "params": {} }

Related Services

CloudFormation manages infrastructure for virtually every AWS service. Related awsflow tools:

Relationship	Tool
Stacks create S3 buckets	`S3Tool` / `S3FileOperationsTool`
Stacks create Lambda functions	`LambdaTool`
Stacks create DynamoDB tables	`DynamoDBTool`
Stacks create EC2 instances	`EC2Tool`
Stacks create IAM roles/policies	`IAMTool`
Stacks create RDS databases	`RDSTool` / `RDSDataTool`
Stacks create SNS topics	`SNSTool`
Stacks create SQS queues	`SQSTool`
Stacks create Step Functions	`StepFuncTool`
Stacks create API Gateways	`APIGatewayTool`
Stacks create Glue jobs	`GlueTool`
Stacks create EMR clusters	`EMRTool`
Stack events in CloudWatch	`CloudWatchLogTool`
Verify identity & permissions	`STSTool`

Tips

•Use ListStacks to get an overview, then DescribeStacks with a specific StackName for details.
•Use GetTemplate to retrieve the actual template body of a deployed stack.
•Use DetectStackDrift → DescribeStackResourceDrifts to check if resources have drifted from the template.
•ListExports + ListImports helps trace cross-stack dependencies.
•ValidateTemplate checks template syntax without deploying.