---
name: iac-modern-patterns
description: Skill: Modern IaC Patterns — Pulumi, AWS CDK, Bicep, cdktf
---
# Skill: Modern IaC Patterns — Pulumi, AWS CDK, Bicep, cdktf

## When to Activate

- Choosing between Pulumi, AWS CDK, Terraform, or Bicep for a new project
- Writing Pulumi programs in TypeScript or Python
- Creating reusable AWS CDK Constructs (L2 or L3)
- Testing infrastructure code (unit tests, compliance tests)
- Designing multi-environment IaC strategy
- Migrating from Terraform DSL to a real programming language

---

## Why Modern IaC? (vs Terraform HCL)

| Capability | Terraform HCL | Pulumi / CDK |
|-----------|:-------------:|:------------:|
| Real programming language | ❌ | ✅ |
| Loops & conditionals | ⚠️ `for_each`, `count` | ✅ Native |
| Unit testing | ❌ | ✅ |
| Type safety | ❌ | ✅ (TypeScript) |
| IDE autocomplete | ❌ | ✅ |
| Reusable abstractions | Modules (limited) | Classes / Components |
| Multi-cloud | ✅ | ✅ (Pulumi) / ❌ (CDK = AWS only) |
| Existing provider ecosystem | ✅ Largest | ✅ (Pulumi) / ⚠️ (CDK) |

**When to use Terraform still:** large multi-cloud org with existing HCL expertise, team prefers DSL simplicity, need Terraform Cloud governance features.

---

## Pulumi — Infrastructure as Real Code

### Core Concepts

```typescript
// index.ts — `pulumi up` diffs desired vs current state, then applies
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as aws from "@pulumi/aws";

const config = new pulumi.Config();
const environment = config.require("environment");  // dev / staging / prod
const dbInstanceClass = config.get("dbInstanceClass")
  ?? (environment === "prod" ? "db.t3.large" : "db.t3.micro");

const bucket = new aws.s3.Bucket("uploads", {
  bucket: `myapp-uploads-${environment}`,
  versioning: { enabled: true },
  serverSideEncryptionConfiguration: {
    rule: { applyServerSideEncryptionByDefault: { sseAlgorithm: "AES256" } },
  },
  tags: { Environment: environment, ManagedBy: "pulumi" },
});

export const bucketName = bucket.bucket;
export const bucketArn  = bucket.arn;

// Async outputs — use pulumi.interpolate / pulumi.all instead of string templates
const url = pulumi.interpolate`https://${bucket.bucketDomainName}/uploads`;
const conn = pulumi.all([db.endpoint, db.name, dbPassword]).apply(
  ([ep, name, pw]) => `postgresql://app:${pw}@${ep}:5432/${name}`
);
```

### Stack Management

```bash
pulumi stack init dev && pulumi stack init prod
pulumi config set environment dev
pulumi config set aws:region eu-west-1
pulumi config set --secret dbPassword "$(openssl rand -base64 32)"
pulumi preview     # like terraform plan
pulumi up          # deploy
pulumi stack select prod
```

### ComponentResource — Reusable Abstractions

```typescript
// components/WebService.ts
export class WebService extends pulumi.ComponentResource {
  public readonly url: pulumi.Output<string>;

  constructor(name: string, args: { image: string; port: number; desiredCount?: number },
              opts?: pulumi.ComponentResourceOptions) {
    super("myapp:index:WebService", name, {}, opts);

    const cluster = new aws.ecs.Cluster(`${name}-cluster`, {}, { parent: this });
    const lb      = new awsx.lb.ApplicationLoadBalancer(`${name}-lb`, {}, { parent: this });
    const service = new awsx.ecs.FargateService(`${name}-svc`, {
      cluster: cluster.arn,
      taskDefinitionArgs: {
        container: { name, image: args.image, cpu: 256, memory: 512,
          portMappings: [{ containerPort: args.port }] },
      },
      desiredCount: args.desiredCount ?? 2,
      loadBalancers: [{ targetGroupArn: lb.defaultTargetGroup.arn,
        containerName: name, containerPort: args.port }],
    }, { parent: this });

    this.url = lb.loadBalancer.dnsName.apply((dns) => `https://${dns}`);
    this.registerOutputs({ url: this.url });
  }
}

const api = new WebService("api", { image: "myapp/api:latest", port: 8080 });
export const apiUrl = api.url;
```

### CrossGuard Policies

```typescript
import { PolicyPack, validateResourceOfType } from "@pulumi/policy";
import * as aws from "@pulumi/aws";

new PolicyPack("aws-policies", {
  policies: [{
    name: "s3-no-public-access",
    enforcementLevel: "mandatory",
    validateResource: validateResourceOfType(aws.s3.Bucket, (bucket, _args, reportViolation) => {
      if (bucket.acl === "public-read" || bucket.acl === "public-read-write")
        reportViolation("S3 bucket must not be public");
    }),
  }, {
    name: "require-tags",
    enforcementLevel: "mandatory",
    validateResource: (args, reportViolation) => {
      const tags = args.props.tags ?? {};
      if (!tags.Environment) reportViolation("Missing tag: Environment");
      if (!tags.ManagedBy)   reportViolation("Missing tag: ManagedBy");
    },
  }],
});
```

---

## AWS CDK — Infrastructure as TypeScript / Python

### Core Concepts: App → Stack → Construct

```
App
└── Stack (prod, us-east-1)
    ├── VpcConstruct (L2 — sensible defaults)
    ├── EcsServiceConstruct (L3 — your reusable pattern)
    └── DatabaseConstruct (L3 — your reusable pattern)
```

Construct levels: **L1** = raw CloudFormation wrappers, **L2** = sane defaults + IAM helpers, **L3** = your organisation's opinionated patterns.

### L2 Constructs — Sane Defaults

```typescript
import * as cdk from "aws-cdk-lib";
import * as s3 from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-s3";
import * as ec2 from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-ec2";
import * as ecs from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecs";
import * as ecs_patterns from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecs-patterns";
import { Construct } from "constructs";

export class AppStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    const bucket = new s3.Bucket(this, "Uploads", {
      versioned: true,
      encryption: s3.BucketEncryption.S3_MANAGED,
      blockPublicAccess: s3.BlockPublicAccess.BLOCK_ALL,
      removalPolicy: cdk.RemovalPolicy.RETAIN,
    });

    const vpc = new ec2.Vpc(this, "Vpc", { maxAzs: 2, natGateways: 1 });

    const service = new ecs_patterns.ApplicationLoadBalancedFargateService(this, "Api", {
      vpc,
      cpu: 256,
      memoryLimitMiB: 512,
      desiredCount: 2,
      taskImageOptions: {
        image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromRegistry("myapp/api:latest"),
        containerPort: 8080,
        environment: { NODE_ENV: "production" },
      },
    });

    bucket.grantReadWrite(service.taskDefinition.taskRole);
  }
}
```

### L3 Constructs — Reusable Patterns

```typescript
// constructs/WebService.ts
export interface WebServiceProps {
  vpc: ec2.IVpc;
  image: string;
  port: number;
  cpu?: number;
  memoryMiB?: number;
  desiredCount?: number;
  environment?: Record<string, string>;
}

export class WebService extends Construct {
  public readonly service: ecs_patterns.ApplicationLoadBalancedFargateService;
  public readonly url: string;

  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props: WebServiceProps) {
    super(scope, id);

    this.service = new ecs_patterns.ApplicationLoadBalancedFargateService(this, "Service", {
      vpc: props.vpc,
      cpu: props.cpu ?? 256,
      memoryLimitMiB: props.memoryMiB ?? 512,
      desiredCount: props.desiredCount ?? 2,
      taskImageOptions: {
        image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromRegistry(props.image),
        containerPort: props.port,
        environment: props.environment,
        // Auto-configured: HTTPS listener, health checks, security groups
      },
    });

    this.url = `https://${this.service.loadBalancer.loadBalancerDnsName}`;
  }
}
```

### CDK Aspects — Cross-Cutting Compliance

```typescript
// Enforce encryption on every S3 bucket in the app tree
export class RequireEncryption implements cdk.IAspect {
  public visit(node: IConstruct): void {
    if (node instanceof s3.CfnBucket && !node.bucketEncryption)
      cdk.Annotations.of(node).addError("S3 bucket must have encryption configured");
  }
}

cdk.Aspects.of(app).add(new RequireEncryption());
```

### CDK Unit Testing

```typescript
import { Template, Match } from "aws-cdk-lib/assertions";

const template = Template.fromStack(new AppStack(new App(), "Test"));

template.hasResourceProperties("AWS::S3::Bucket", {
  VersioningConfiguration: { Status: "Enabled" },
  PublicAccessBlockConfiguration: { BlockPublicAcls: true, RestrictPublicBuckets: true },
});

const services = template.findResources("AWS::ECS::Service");
const minCount = Math.min(...Object.values(services).map((s: any) => s.Properties.DesiredCount));
expect(minCount).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(2);
```

---

## Azure Bicep

```bicep
// main.bicep
param environment string = 'dev'
param location string = resourceGroup().location

var storageAccountName = 'myapp${environment}${uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)}'

resource storageAccount 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2023-01-01' = {
  name: storageAccountName
  location: location
  sku: {
    name: environment == 'prod' ? 'Standard_ZRS' : 'Standard_LRS'
  }
  kind: 'StorageV2'
  properties: {
    minimumTlsVersion: 'TLS1_2'
    supportsHttpsTrafficOnly: true
    allowBlobPublicAccess: false
  }
}

output storageAccountName string = storageAccount.name
output storageAccountId string = storageAccount.id
```

```bash
# Deploy Bicep
az deployment group create \
  --resource-group myapp-prod \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters environment=prod
```

---

## CDK for Terraform (cdktf)

Use when you need Terraform providers (non-AWS) but want TypeScript/Python instead of HCL.

```typescript
// main.ts
import { App, TerraformStack, TerraformOutput } from "cdktf";
import { AwsProvider } from "@cdktf/provider-aws/lib/provider";
import { S3Bucket } from "@cdktf/provider-aws/lib/s3-bucket";

class MyStack extends TerraformStack {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string) {
    super(scope, id);

    new AwsProvider(this, "AWS", { region: "eu-west-1" });

    const bucket = new S3Bucket(this, "uploads", {
      bucket: "myapp-uploads-prod",
      versioning: { enabled: true },
      tags: { Environment: "prod", ManagedBy: "cdktf" },
    });

    new TerraformOutput(this, "bucket_name", { value: bucket.bucket });
  }
}

const app = new App();
new MyStack(app, "my-stack");
app.synth();
```

```bash
cdktf deploy    # terraform apply equivalent
cdktf destroy   # terraform destroy equivalent
cdktf synth     # generate Terraform JSON config
```

---

## Multi-Environment Strategy

### Pulumi: Configuration per Stack

```bash
# dev stack
pulumi config set --stack dev environment dev
pulumi config set --stack dev instanceType t3.micro
pulumi config set --stack dev desiredCount 1

# prod stack
pulumi config set --stack prod environment prod
pulumi config set --stack prod instanceType t3.large
pulumi config set --stack prod desiredCount 3
```

```typescript
// index.ts — single program, multiple stack configs
const config = new pulumi.Config();
const environment = config.require("environment");
const instanceType = config.get("instanceType") ?? "t3.micro";
const desiredCount = config.getNumber("desiredCount") ?? 1;

// All resources automatically namespaced by stack
```

### CDK: Environments per Stack

```typescript
// bin/app.ts
const app = new cdk.App();

new AppStack(app, "Dev", {
  env: { account: "111111111", region: "eu-west-1" },
  instanceType: "t3.micro",
  desiredCount: 1,
});

new AppStack(app, "Prod", {
  env: { account: "222222222", region: "eu-west-1" },
  instanceType: "t3.large",
  desiredCount: 3,
});
```

---

## IaC Security & Compliance

### OPA/Conftest Against Generated Templates

```bash
# CDK: test generated CloudFormation
cdk synth > /tmp/template.json
conftest test /tmp/template.json --policy policy/

# Pulumi: test generated resources
pulumi preview --json | conftest test - --policy policy/
```

```rego
# policy/s3.rego
package main

deny[msg] {
  resource := input.Resources[_]
  resource.Type == "AWS::S3::Bucket"
  not resource.Properties.BucketEncryption
  msg := sprintf("S3 bucket '%v' must have encryption configured", [resource])
}
```

### Infrastructure Drift Detection

```bash
# Pulumi: detect drift
pulumi refresh --expect-no-changes

# CDK: detect drift (via CloudFormation)
aws cloudformation detect-stack-drift --stack-name MyStack
aws cloudformation describe-stack-drift-detection-status --stack-drift-detection-id DETECTION_ID
```

---

## Publish CDK Constructs to Construct Hub

```typescript
// .projenrc.ts (using projen)
import { awscdk } from "projen";

const project = new awscdk.AwsCdkConstructLibrary({
  author: "Your Name",
  authorAddress: "you@example.com",
  cdkVersion: "2.0.0",
  defaultReleaseBranch: "main",
  name: "@myorg/web-service-construct",
  repositoryUrl: "https://github.com/myorg/web-service-construct",
  // Automatically publishes to npm, PyPI, Maven, NuGet
  publishToNpm: true,
  publishToPypi: { distName: "myorg.web-service-construct", module: "myorg_web_service_construct" },
});

project.synth();
```

---

## Related Skills

- `terraform-patterns` — Terraform HCL patterns with cross-reference to when to choose Pulumi/CDK
- `kubernetes-patterns` — deploying to Kubernetes with Pulumi/CDK generated manifests
- `devsecops-patterns` — OPA/Conftest integration into IaC CI pipeline
- `ci-cd-patterns` — GitHub Actions for IaC deployment pipelines