awsclaw-cloudformation

Use the CloudFormationTool language tool in VS Code to manage and 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
• User wants to create, update, or delete stacks or stack sets
• User wants to execute or delete change sets

Tool Reference

Tool name: CloudFormationTool

Input Schema

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

Commands (66 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
CreateStack	Create a new stack
CreateChangeSet	Create a change set
ExecuteChangeSet	Execute a change set
CreateStackSet	Create a stack set
CreateStackInstances	Create stack instances for a stack set
UpdateStack	Update a stack
UpdateStackSet	Update a stack set
DeleteStack	Delete a stack
DeleteChangeSet	Delete a change set
DeleteStackSet	Delete a stack set
DeleteStackInstances	Delete stack set instances
ContinueUpdateRollback	Continue a rollback after update failure
CancelUpdateStack	Cancel a stack update
SetStackPolicy	Set or update a stack policy
UpdateTerminationProtection	Enable or disable termination protection

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

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

Describe a specific stack

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

View stack resources

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

View stack events

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

Get template body

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

Get template summary

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

List change sets for a stack

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

Detect drift on a stack

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

Describe resource drift results

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

Validate a template

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

List exported values

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

Describe a stack set

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

List registered resource types

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

Related Services

CloudFormation manages infrastructure for virtually every AWS service. Related awsclaw 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.