All 7 AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild & CodeDeploy (CI/CD) questions
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What are AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy, and how do they work together to form a CI/CD pipeline? What deployment strategies does AWS CodeDeploy support, such as in place and blue green deployments? How do CodeDeploy lifecycle hooks defined in an appspec file control the deployment process? How does CodePipeline support manual approval stages, and why are they useful in a CI/CD process? How can CodeDeploy support canary deployments, and how does this differ from a standard blue green deployment? How can you design a multi account CI/CD pipeline using CodePipeline that deploys the exact same build to separate development, staging, and production AWS accounts?
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What is a buildspec file in AWS CodeBuild, and what does it control?

Beginner

Answer

A buildspec file is a YAML formatted configuration file that tells CodeBuild exactly what commands to run during each phase of the build process, including installing dependencies, running tests, compiling code, and specifying which files should be included in the final build artifact, giving you complete control over your build process as code stored alongside your application.
version: 0.2
phases:
  install:
    commands:
      - npm install
  build:
    commands:
      - npm run build
artifacts:
  files:
    - '**/*'
Real-world example A web development team defines a buildspec file that installs npm dependencies, runs the project's test suite, and then builds a production optimized bundle, ensuring every build in CodeBuild follows exactly the same repeatable steps.

Common follow-ups: What are the different phases available in a buildspec file?;Can a buildspec file be embedded directly in CodePipeline instead of using a separate file?

AWS CLI & SDKs;Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service)
All 7 AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild & CodeDeploy (CI/CD) questions