Getting Outputs from aws cloudformation describe-stacks

Question

I am using the below to get the stack information I want via AWS Cli:

aws cloudformation --region ap-southeast-2 describe-stacks --stack-name mystack
         


        

Answer 1

While querying works, it may prove problematic if you have multiple stacks. Realistically, you should probably be leveraging exports for things that are distinct and authoritative.

By way of example - if you modified your CloudFormation snippet to look like this:

"Outputs" : {
  "DbUrl" : {
    "Description" : "My Database Url",
    "Value" : "myUrl",
    "Export" : {
      "Name" : "DbUrl"
    }
  }
}

Then you could use:

aws cloudformation list-exports --query "Exports[?Name==\`DbUrl\`].Value" --no-paginate --output text

to retrieve it. Exports are required to be unique - only one stack can export any given name. This way, you're assured that you get the right value, every time. If you attempt to create a new stack that exports a name that already exists elsewhere, that stack creation will fail.