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Design AWS architectures for startups using serverless patterns and IaC templates. Use when asked to design serverless architecture, create CloudFormation templates, optimize AWS costs, set up CI/CD p
The skill file stays in the publisher's repository.
Paste the copied command in a terminal. It installs this SKILL.md into that agent.
npx skills add alirezarezvani/claude-skills --skill aws-solution-architect -a cursor -y
Design AWS architectures for startups using serverless patterns and IaC templates. Use when asked to design serverless architecture, create CloudFormation templates, optimize AWS costs, set up CI/CD pipelines, or migrate to AWS. Covers Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, ECS, Aurora, and cost optimization.
Design AWS architectures for startups using serverless patterns and IaC templates. Use when asked to design serverless architecture, create CloudFormation templates, optimize AWS costs, set up CI/CD pipelines, or migrate to AWS. Covers Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, ECS, Aurora, and cost optimization.
Design scalable, cost-effective AWS architectures for startups with infrastructure-as-code templates.
Collect application specifications:
- Application type (web app, mobile backend, data pipeline, SaaS)
- Expected users and requests per second
- Budget constraints (monthly spend limit)
- Team size and AWS experience level
- Compliance requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2)
- Availability requirements (SLA, RPO/RTO)
Run the architecture designer to get pattern recommendations:
python scripts/architecture_designer.py --input requirements.json
Example output:
{
"recommended_pattern": "serverless_web",
"service_stack": ["S3", "CloudFront", "API Gateway", "Lambda", "DynamoDB", "Cognito"],
"estimated_monthly_cost_usd": 35,
"pros": ["Low ops overhead", "Pay-per-use", "Auto-scaling"],
"cons": ["Cold starts", "15-min Lambda limit", "Eventual consistency"]
}
Select from recommended patterns:
See references/architecture_patterns.md for detailed pattern specifications.
Validation checkpoint: Confirm the recommended pattern matches the team's operational maturity and compliance requirements before proceeding to Step 3.
Create infrastructure-as-code for the selected pattern:
# Serverless stack (CloudFormation)
python scripts/serverless_stack.py --app-name my-app --region us-east-1
Example CloudFormation YAML output (core serverless resources):
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
Transform: AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31
Parameters:
AppName:
Type: String
Default: my-app
Resources:
ApiFunction:
Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
Properties:
Handler: index.handler
Runtime: nodejs20.x
MemorySize: 512
Timeout: 30
Environment:
Variables:
TABLE_NAME: !Ref DataTable
Policies:
- DynamoDBCrudPolicy:
TableName: !Ref DataTable
Events:
ApiEvent:
Type: Api
Properties:
Path: /{proxy+}
Method: ANY
DataTable:
Type: AWS::DynamoDB::Table
Properties:
BillingMode: PAY_PER_REQUEST
AttributeDefinitions:
- AttributeName: pk
AttributeType: S
- AttributeName: sk
AttributeType: S
KeySchema:
- AttributeName: pk
KeyType: HASH
- AttributeName: sk
KeyType: RANGE
Full templates including API Gateway, Cognito, IAM roles, and CloudWatch logging are generated by
serverless_stack.pyand also available inreferences/architecture_patterns.md.
Example CDK TypeScript snippet (three-tier pattern):
import * as ecs from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecs';
import * as ec2 from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-ec2';
import * as rds from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-rds';
const vpc = new ec2.Vpc(this, 'AppVpc', { maxAzs: 2 });
const cluster = new ecs.Cluster(this, 'AppCluster', { vpc });
const db = new rds.ServerlessCluster(this, 'AppDb', {
engine: rds.DatabaseClusterEngine.auroraPostgres({
version: rds.AuroraPostgresEngineVersion.VER_15_2,
}),
vpc,
scaling: { minCapacity: 0.5, maxCapacity: 4 },
});
Analyze estimated costs and optimization opportunities:
python scripts/cost_optimizer.py --resources current_setup.json --monthly-spend 2000
Example output:
{
"current_monthly_usd": 2000,
"recommendations": [
{ "action": "Right-size RDS db.r5.2xlarge → db.r5.large", "savings_usd": 420, "priority": "high" },
{ "action": "Purchase 1-yr Compute Savings Plan at 40% utilization", "savings_usd": 310, "priority": "high" },
{ "action": "Move S3 objects >90 days to Glacier Instant Retrieval", "savings_usd": 85, "priority": "medium" }
],
"total_potential_savings_usd": 815
}
Output includes:
Deploy the generated infrastructure:
# CloudFormation
aws cloudformation create-stack \
--stack-name my-app-stack \
--template-body file://template.yaml \
--capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM
# CDK
cdk deploy
# Terraform
terraform init && terraform apply
Verify deployment and set up monitoring:
# Check stack status
aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name my-app-stack
# Set up CloudWatch alarms
aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm --alarm-name high-errors ...
If stack creation fails:
aws cloudformation describe-stack-events \
--stack-name my-app-stack \
--query 'StackEvents[?ResourceStatus==`CREATE_FAILED`]'
aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name my-app-stack
# Wait for deletion
aws cloudformation wait stack-delete-complete --stack-name my-app-stack
# Redeploy
aws cloudformation create-stack ...
Common failure causes:
--capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM and role trust policiesaws cloudformation validate-template --template-body file://template.yaml before deployingGenerates architecture patterns based on requirements.
python scripts/architecture_designer.py --input requirements.json --output design.json
Input: JSON with app type, scale, budget, compliance needs Output: Recommended pattern, service stack, cost estimate, pros/cons
Creates serverless CloudFormation templates.
python scripts/serverless_stack.py --app-name my-app --region us-east-1
Output: Production-ready CloudFormation YAML with:
Analyzes costs and recommends optimizations.
python scripts/cost_optimizer.py --resources inventory.json --monthly-spend 5000
Output: Recommendations for:
Ask: "Design a serverless MVP backend for a mobile app with 1000 users"
Result:
- Lambda + API Gateway for API
- DynamoDB pay-per-request for data
- Cognito for authentication
- S3 + CloudFront for static assets
- Estimated: $20-50/month
Ask: "Design a scalable architecture for a SaaS platform with 50k users"
Result:
- ECS Fargate for containerized API
- Aurora Serverless for relational data
- ElastiCache for session caching
- CloudFront for CDN
- CodePipeline for CI/CD
- Multi-AZ deployment
Ask: "Optimize my AWS setup to reduce costs by 30%. Current spend: $3000/month"
Provide: Current resource inventory (EC2, RDS, S3, etc.)
Result:
- Idle resource identification
- Right-sizing recommendations
- Savings Plans analysis
- Storage lifecycle policies
- Target savings: $900/month
Ask: "Generate CloudFormation for a three-tier web app with auto-scaling"
Result:
- VPC with public/private subnets
- ALB with HTTPS
- ECS Fargate with auto-scaling
- Aurora with read replicas
- Security groups and IAM roles
Provide these details for architecture design:
| Requirement | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Application type | What you're building | SaaS platform, mobile backend |
| Expected scale | Users, requests/sec | 10k users, 100 RPS |
| Budget | Monthly AWS limit | $500/month max |
| Team context | Size, AWS experience | 3 devs, intermediate |
| Compliance | Regulatory needs | HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2 |
| Availability | Uptime requirements | 99.9% SLA, 1hr RPO |
JSON Format:
{
"application_type": "saas_platform",
"expected_users": 10000,
"requests_per_second": 100,
"budget_monthly_usd": 500,
"team_size": 3,
"aws_experience": "intermediate",
"compliance": ["SOC2"],
"availability_sla": "99.9%"
}
| Document | Contents |
|---|---|
references/architecture_patterns.md | 6 patterns: serverless, microservices, three-tier, data processing, GraphQL, multi-region |
references/service_selection.md | Decision matrices for compute, database, storage, messaging |
references/best_practices.md | Serverless design, cost optimization, security hardening, scalability |