What is CodeDeploy?
AWS CodeDeploy is a fully managed service that automates code deployments to:
- Amazon EC2
- On-premises servers
- AWS Lambda
- Amazon ECS
🔹 It’s part of the AWS Developer Tools suite
🔹 It’s scalable — deploy to one EC2 instance or thousands
🔹 Helps reduce errors and speed up deployments
✨ Benefits of Using CodeDeploy
✅ Faster deployments with less manual effort
✅ Automated & standardized deployment process
✅ Supports rolling updates to reduce downtime
✅ Enables blue/green deployments to avoid user impact
✅ For Lambda & ECS, you can shift traffic using:
- Canary
- Linear
- All-at-once
✅ Supports automatic rollback on failure
⚙️ How to Use CodeDeploy
There are two ways to use CodeDeploy:
📌 Manual Deployments using AWS CLI
🔁 Automated Deployments by integrating with AWS CodePipeline
🔹 AWS CodePipeline
The main orchestrator. It automates the whole CI/CD process.
🔹 AWS CodeCommit (Source)
Stores your source code (Git-based repo).
✅ Output: Source Artifact
🔹 AWS CodeBuild (Build)
Compiles, runs unit tests, and builds the artifact.
✅ Output: Build Artifact
🔹 AWS CodeDeploy (Deploy)
Deploys the build artifact to your EC2 instances.
📘 Core CodeDeploy Concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Application | Represents your project in CodeDeploy |
| Compute Platform | Where it runs (EC2, Lambda, ECS) |
| Deployment Group | EC2 instances or Lambda/ECS targets |
| Deployment Configuration | Rules for how deployments succeed/fail |
| Revision | Your app version (includes source + scripts + appspec) |
| Deployment | The actual execution process |
📝 What is AppSpec File?
An AppSpec file defines how CodeDeploy should deploy your app.
- Format: YAML or JSON
- Must be placed in the root of your source code
- Content differs based on platform
🔹 For EC2 Deployments:
File must be named: appspec.yml or appspec.json
Defines:
- Which folders to copy
- Which scripts to run (e.g., install, start app)
🔹 For ECS and Lambda deployments:.
Use appspec.yaml (for YAML) or appspec.json (for JSON).
Make sure the file is placed in the root directory of your source code.
✅ Final Thoughts
AWS CodeDeploy is a powerful and scalable deployment tool that becomes even more useful when combined with CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeCommit.
You don’t need to SSH into EC2 and manually copy files anymore — let AWS handle it all for you 💥
💬 Have you used CodeDeploy before? Share your experience or ask questions in the comments!
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