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AWS Amplify - Runbook & Reference

中文 · GitHub source Facts verified against official AWS documentation: 2026-08-19

Overview

AWS Amplify helps you build and host full-stack web and mobile applications on AWS. Amplify Hosting provides a Git-based workflow with continuous deployment to the AWS global CDN. Amplify Gen 2 is the current code-first backend experience: you define data, auth, and functions in TypeScript and manage them with ampx. Gen 1 apps use the legacy Amplify CLI and Studio.

Key concepts

  • Amplify Hosting: connects a Git repo (GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, or CodeCommit) and deploys the frontend with CI/CD.
  • Feature branches: each connected branch becomes an environment (production/staging) with its own backend.
  • PR previews: preview apps for pull requests; atomic deployments and custom domains included.
  • Amplify Gen 2 backend: TypeScript-defined data, auth, storage, and functions resources with automatic cloud infrastructure.
  • Amplify Libraries: client SDKs (JS, React, Swift, Android, Flutter) that connect to the backend.
  • Pricing: pay-as-you-go for build minutes, hosting, and backend usage.

Common operations

# Gen 2 backend (from a project directory)
npx ampx sandbox            # local development backend
npx ampx generate outputs   # generate client config
npx ampx deploy             # deploy the backend

# Gen 1 CLI (legacy)
amplify init
amplify add auth
amplify push

# Hosting via AWS CLI
aws amplify create-app --name my-app --repository https://github.com/example/my-app \
  --platform WEB
aws amplify list-apps
aws amplify start-deployment --app-id <app-id> --branch-name main --source-url s3://artifact-bucket/app.zip
aws amplify create-branch --app-id <app-id> --branch-name staging

Best practices

  • Use Amplify Gen 2 for new projects; Gen 1 is legacy and only for existing apps.
  • Connect branches per environment and protect production branches; use PR previews for review.
  • Define auth rules in the backend schema and test access patterns with the sandbox.
  • Keep build output deterministic (lock dependencies, pin Node.js) and cache artifacts.
  • Set custom domains with HTTPS and monitor deploy logs and build metrics.
  • Secure build environment variables; never commit secrets to the repo.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Checks and fixes
Build fails Check build logs, dependency versions, and environment variables.
Backend not updated Run ampx deploy (or amplify push for Gen 1) and redeploy the frontend.
Auth issues Verify auth rules, user pool/client config, and client library versions.
Custom domain not resolving Check DNS records and the certificate status in Amplify Hosting.
Preview not appearing Confirm PR branch naming and preview settings for the app.

Limits

Build minutes, hosting storage/transfer, and backend resource usage have account limits; see AWS Amplify pricing for current tiers and quotas.

Official references