Managing AWS Appconfig

AWS AppConfig Management Skill

Analyze and manage AWS AppConfig applications, configurations, and deployments.

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Always list applications and environments before querying specific resources.

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash
export AWS_PAGER=""

echo "=== AppConfig Applications ==="
aws appconfig list-applications --output text \
  --query 'Items[].[Id,Name,Description]'

echo ""
echo "=== Environments ==="
for app_id in $(aws appconfig list-applications --output text --query 'Items[].Id'); do
  aws appconfig list-environments --application-id "$app_id" --output text \
    --query "Items[].[\"$app_id\",Id,Name,State]" &
done
wait

echo ""
echo "=== Configuration Profiles ==="
for app_id in $(aws appconfig list-applications --output text --query 'Items[].Id'); do
  aws appconfig list-configuration-profiles --application-id "$app_id" --output text \
    --query "Items[].[\"$app_id\",Id,Name,Type,LocationUri]" &
done
wait

echo ""
echo "=== Deployment Strategies ==="
aws appconfig list-deployment-strategies --output text \
  --query 'Items[].[Id,Name,DeploymentDurationInMinutes,GrowthFactor,FinalBakeTimeInMinutes,ReplicateTo]'

Phase 2: Analysis

#!/bin/bash
export AWS_PAGER=""

echo "=== Active Deployments ==="
for app_id in $(aws appconfig list-applications --output text --query 'Items[].Id'); do
  for env_id in $(aws appconfig list-environments --application-id "$app_id" --output text --query 'Items[].Id'); do
    aws appconfig list-deployments --application-id "$app_id" --environment-id "$env_id" --output text \
      --query "Items[:3].[\"$app_id\",\"$env_id\",DeploymentNumber,ConfigurationName,State,PercentageComplete,StartedAt]" &
  done
done
wait

echo ""
echo "=== Hosted Configuration Versions ==="
for app_id in $(aws appconfig list-applications --output text --query 'Items[].Id'); do
  for profile_id in $(aws appconfig list-configuration-profiles --application-id "$app_id" --output text --query 'Items[].Id'); do
    aws appconfig list-hosted-configuration-versions --application-id "$app_id" --configuration-profile-id "$profile_id" \
      --output text --query "Items[:3].[\"$app_id\",\"$profile_id\",VersionNumber,ContentType]" 2>/dev/null &
  done
done
wait

Output Format

• Target ≤50 lines per output
• Use --output text --query for all commands
• Tab-delimited fields: AppId, EnvId, ProfileName, State
• Summarize deployment status with percentage complete
• Never dump full configuration content -- show metadata only

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Common Pitfalls

• Deployment state: States are BAKING, VALIDATING, DEPLOYING, COMPLETE, ROLLING_BACK -- only COMPLETE is stable
• Configuration profile types: AWS.Freeform for custom configs, AWS.AppConfig.FeatureFlags for feature flags
• Hosted vs external: Hosted configurations are stored in AppConfig; external use SSM Parameter Store or S3
• Validators: Profiles can have JSON Schema or Lambda validators -- check before deployment
• Rollback triggers: CloudWatch alarms can trigger automatic rollback -- check environment monitors
• Growth factor: Linear deployment grows by this percentage each interval -- 100% means instant deployment