AWS CDK how to point to specific aws profile at a project-level

I have a CDK app in typescript to deploy AWS resources for a specific project. I have multiple AWS accounts for different companies. I would usually do the following before running any CDK command:

export AWS_PROFILE=profile1

This would then let me run cdk deploy onto the profile1 account. Should I switch to work on another project that requires profile2, I would run:

export AWS_PROFILE=profile2

and continue.

This works but it's a little dangerous if I ever forget to run the export command.

I wonder if in the CDK typescript app, there is a way to specify the AWS profile for that project so any commands would implicitly use that profile so I do not have to remember to do it.

Any ideas?

Solution

You can set the account ID on each stack explicitly via its env prop:

new MyStack(app, 'MyStack', { env: { account: '111222333444', }, });

You can also create multiple stacks in the scope of a Stage, and set the account ID there:

const dev = new Stage(app, 'DevStage', { env: { account: '111222333444', }, });

new MyStack(dev, 'MyStack'); // will always be deployed to the Stage's account

Keep in mind that this will mean your stacks will be environment-specific. That means that the resulting CloudFormation template will include the environment (account ID) and will not be able to be deployed to a different environment.

NB: the latter solution will lead to a change in logical IDs of all resources.

If you go with stages, you can create your own subclass and create your stacks inside of it:


export class MyAppStage extends cdk.Stage {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StageProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);
    
    // create all your stacks inside the stage
    new MyStack(this, 'MyStack');
    // add more stacks as needed
    // new AnotherStack(this, 'AnotherStack');
  }
}

Then you can use multiple instances of your stage class to define multiple environments:


const devStage = new MyAppStage(app, 'DevStage', {
  env: { 
    account: '111222333444',
    region: 'us-east-1'
  }
});

const prodStage = new MyAppStage(app, 'ProdStage', {
  env: { 
    account: '555666777888',
    region: 'us-east-1'
  }
});

You would then deploy what you want with cdk deploy DevStage