Examples and Guides - CDK Terrain

Resources to help you learn CDK Terrain, including example projects in Typescript, Java, Python, C#, and Go.

This page contains links to tutorials, example projects in every supported language, explanatory videos, and other resources to help you learn to create and manage CDK Terrain (CDKTN) applications.

Tutorials

Follow these hands-on tutorials:

Tutorial	Description
Install CDKTN and Run a Quick Start Demo	Write TypeScript code that will provision an NGINX server using Docker on Mac, Windows, or Linux.
Build AWS Infrastructure with TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, or Go	Provision an EC2 instance on AWS using TypeScript.
Deploy Multiple Lambda Functions with TypeScript	Deploy a CDKTN application made up of two stacks, each containing a simple AWS Lambda function written in TypeScript.
Deploy Applications with CDK Terrain	Use CDKTN to deploy an application on Kubernetes.

Example Projects

The Terraform Registry and OpenTofu Registry have more information about all of the providers in the following examples.

Typescript

Example	Description	Complexity
aws-ecs-docker-and-static-frontend	Uses a backend service in a Docker container with a static frontend running in Amazon Web Services (AWS). Walk through AWS setup and configuring the backend to run against a Postgres Database.	High
aws-lambda-end-to-end	An end-to-end example for a serverless web application hosted on AWS.	High
aws-prebuilt	Provisions a DynamoDB table on the prebuilt AWS provider.	Low
aws-multiple-stacks	Uses Stacks to pass different settings into the development, staging, and production environments.	Low
aws-cloudfront-proxy	Uses AWS Cloudfront as a SSL proxy server for any existing domain.	Low
azure	Provisions a Virtual Network on Microsoft Azure.	Low
azure-app-service	Uses the Azure App Service to deploy a Docker image.	Low
docker	Starts a Docker container with an NGINX server.	Low
ecs-microservices-cdktn	Creates a microservice architecture on AWS ECS Fargate with Datadog monitoring using the CDK Terrain	High
google	Creates a simple Compute Instance with the Google Cloud Platform Provider.	Low
google-cloudrun	Defines a Google Cloud Run service with a hello world container.	Low
kubernetes	Sets up a Kubernetes Deployment with a NGINX container.	Low
ucloud	Provisions a Linux base image on UCloud.	Low
vault	Creates a Mount in Vault.	Low

Backends

Each CDK Terrain project can specify a backend that defines where and how Terraform operations are performed, where Terraform state snapshots are stored, etc.

Example	Description	Complexity
azurerm	Specifies Azure Resource Manager (azurerm) as the backend.	Low
gcs	Specifies Google Cloud Storage (gcs) as the backend.	Low
remote	Specifies a remote backend. You can use remote backends to run operations in HCP Terraform.	Low
s3	Specifies Amazon S3 (s3) as the backend.	Low

Python

Example	Description	Complexity
aws-lambda-end-to-end	An end-to-end example for a serverless web application hosted on AWS.	High
aws	Provisions an AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).	Low
aws-eks	Provisions an EKS cluster on an AWS Virtual Private Cloud.	Low
google-end-to-end	An end-to-end example for a serverless web application hosted on the Google Cloud Provider.	High
azure	Provisions a Virtual Network on Microsoft Azure.	Low
docker	Starts a Docker container with an NGINX server.	Low
kubernetes	Schedules and exposes a NGINX deployment on a Kubernetes cluster.	Low
ucloud	Provisions a Linux base image on UCloud.	Low

Java

Gradle

Example	Description	Complexity
aws-gradle	Provisions a DynamoDB table on the AWS provider.	Low
azure-gradle	Provisions a Virtual Network on Microsoft Azure.	Low
google-gradle	Creates a simple Compute Instance with the Google Cloud Platform Provider.	Low
gradle-shared-module	Uses gradle to build and share two AWS modules. Modules are distinct configurations that you can package and reuse across projects and teams.	Low
kubernetes-gradle	Schedules and exposes a NGINX deployment on a Kubernetes cluster.	Low
ucloud-gradle	Provisions a Linux base image on UCloud.	Low

Maven

Example	Description	Complexity
aws-lambda-end-to-end	An end-to-end example for a serverless web application hosted on AWS.	High
aws	Provisions a DynamoDB table on the AWS provider.	Low
azure	Provisions a Virtual Network on Microsoft Azure.	Low
google-end-to-end	An end-to-end example for a serverless web application hosted on the Google Cloud Provider.	High
google	Creates a simple Compute Instance with the Google Cloud Platform Provider.	Low
kubernetes	Schedules and exposes a NGINX deployment on a Kubernetes cluster.	Low
ucloud	Provisions a Linux base image on UCloud.	Low

C Sharp

Example	Description	Complexity
aws	Provisions a DynamoDB table on the AWS provider.	Low
azure	Provisions a Virtual Network on Microsoft Azure.	Low
google	Creates a simple Compute Instance with the Google Cloud Platform Provider.	Low
ucloud	Provisions a Linux base image on UCloud.	Low

Go

Example	Description	Complexity
docker	Starts a Docker container with an NGINX server.	Low
aws	Provisions an EKS cluster on an AWS Virtual Private Cloud. High memory usage: The provider generation currently needs ~6 GB of memory, so the maximum for Node.js is currently set to 8GB.	Low
google cloud kubernetes engine + kubernetes	Creates a simple Compute Instance with the Google Cloud Platform Provider.	Low
ucloud	Provisions a Linux base image on UCloud.	Low

Youtube Playlist

• Our official playlist contains a set of videos from community office hours to deep dives into technical topics
• CDK Day 2022 - Hybrid Constructs: How to build CDKTN abstractions that cooperate with your HCL
• The CDKTN engineering team builds a simple end to end serverless application in an end to end livestream
• Getting Started with CDK Terrain and Python, by Charles McLaughlin of ShopStyle
• Extending constructs of the CDK Terrain

Release demos

• 0.4: Go support, Asset construct, Terraform Cloud (now HCP Terraform) integration. This includes a Google Kubernetes Engine demo.

• 0.5: Convert and watch command demos

  If you are interested in extending the cdktn convert command, you may also be interested in the convert deep dive. You do not need to watch this video to use the convert command successfully.

• 0.6: Snapshot testing

Pocket public codebase

Mozilla Pocket is a widely used application for managing reading lists that is built into the Firefox browser. Like many Mozilla projects, Pocket is open source, and the CDK Terrain codebase that Pocket uses to manage infrastructure for the recommendation API is also public and open source. Pocket’s codebase provides a great example of how to lay out a CDK Terrain project.

In order to re-use components, Pocket’s codebase is separated out into a set of reusable modules. These are then used from CDK Terrain code in the recommendation-api codebase. The recommended reading order is to:

1. Read Pocket/recommendation-api/.aws/src/main.ts.
2. Look at the constructs used that are defined in the Pocket/terraform-modules repository, such as PocketALBApplication.
3. Look at the “base” constructs, which are are used in the higher-level constructs in the previous step.