Amazon CloudFormation
AWS CloudFormation is an infrastructure-as-code service that speeds up cloud provisioning by enabling developers to define and manage AWS resources programmatically through templates. Scale infrastructure globally and manage resources across all AWS accounts and regions through a single operation.
Real signal across most facets with visible, nameable gaps — the contract exists but is thin, or the portal is good while governance and commercial terms are absent.
API Evangelist profiles Amazon CloudFormation the way a machine reads it — 72 machine-readable artifacts across 4 APIs, pulled from the provider's own public surface and indexed so a developer, an analyst, or an AI agent can evaluate it against every other provider on the network.
Every provider in the network is reduced to the same set of machine-readable artifacts — OpenAPI contracts, event specifications, GraphQL schemas, runnable collections, pricing and rate-limit signals, security posture, OAuth scopes, and the agent surfaces (MCP servers and skills) that let software drive the API on its own. We profile them because the interface is the part of a company you can actually inspect: it is a truer signal of what a provider does than any marketing page. From those artifacts we compute the Kin Score — Amazon CloudFormation scores 59.9/100 (developing), with a separate agent-readiness read of 48/100 (agent ready). The full breakdown is below, followed by every artifact we hold — each card links through to its machine-readable definition on apis.io.
Kin Score
This is the API Evangelist rating — a single, repeatable read computed from the artifacts on this page. Green fill is points earned; the red track is points possible, so every bar shows earned-versus-possible at a glance.
Kin Score
How this is scored →scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
How we profile Amazon CloudFormation
Each block below is one kind of artifact we hold for Amazon CloudFormation. For each we say what it is and why it earns a place in the profile, then list every one we've indexed — capped at two rows, scroll within the panel for the rest.
APIs 4
Each API is captured as its own OpenAPI definition — every operation, parameter, and response. This is the single most useful machine-readable description of what an API does, and it's what lets us score, lint, mock, and generate against it without asking the provider for anything.
Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.
Amazon CloudFormation Change Sets API
Operations for managing CloudFormation change sets
Amazon CloudFormation Resources API
Operations for managing stack resources
Amazon CloudFormation Stacks API
Operations for managing CloudFormation stacks
Amazon CloudFormation Templates API
Operations for working with CloudFormation templates
Features 5
The notable capabilities this provider advertises, captured as structured features so they can be searched and compared instead of read one landing page at a time.
Notable capabilities this provider offers.
Infrastructure as Code
Define AWS resources in JSON or YAML templates for repeatable, version-controlled deployments.
Multi-Account Stack Sets
Deploy stacks across multiple AWS accounts and regions with a single operation.
Change Sets
Preview changes to running stacks before executing them to avoid unintended updates.
Drift Detection
Detect when deployed infrastructure has drifted from the CloudFormation template definition.
Registry Extensions
Extend CloudFormation to manage third-party and community resources through the Registry.
Semantic Vocabularies 1
JSON-LD contexts give the data shared meaning across APIs. We profile them because semantics are what let a machine reconcile 'customer' here with 'customer' somewhere else.
JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.
Spectral Rules 2
Governance rulesets we run against this provider's specs — the automated checks behind parts of the score. Profiling them makes the quality bar explicit and re-runnable, not a matter of opinion.
Amazon CloudFormation API Rules
SPECTRALAmazon CloudFormation API Rules
SPECTRALJSON Schema 16
Standalone JSON Schema definitions describe the data models behind the API. We profile them so the shapes are validatable on their own — useful long after a single request is forgotten.
Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.
Amazon CloudFormation Stack
JSON SCHEMAChange
JSON SCHEMAChangeSet
JSON SCHEMACreateChangeSetOutput
JSON SCHEMACreateStackOutput
JSON SCHEMADescribeStacksOutput
JSON SCHEMAListStacksOutput
JSON SCHEMAOutput
JSON SCHEMAParameter
JSON SCHEMARollbackConfiguration
JSON SCHEMAStackDriftInformation
JSON SCHEMAStackResourceDriftInformation
JSON SCHEMAStackResource
JSON SCHEMAStack
JSON SCHEMATag
JSON SCHEMAUpdateStackOutput
JSON SCHEMAScroll within the panel for all 16 ·
JSON Structure 15
JSON Structure captures the data shapes in a form built for tooling — a complement to JSON Schema that keeps the model machine-legible.
JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.
Cloudformation Change Set Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Change Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Create Change Set Output Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Create Stack Output Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Describe Stacks Output Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation List Stacks Output Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Output Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Parameter Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Rollback Configuration Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Stack Drift Information Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Stack Resource Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Stack Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Tag Structure
JSON STRUCTURECloudformation Update Stack Output Structure
JSON STRUCTUREScroll within the panel for all 15 ·
Examples 15
Real request and response payloads are what turn a spec from abstract into obvious — and they're one of the twelve things an agent needs to call an API correctly on the first try.
Example request and response payloads for these APIs.
Cloudformation Stack Example
EXAMPLECloudformation Tag Example
EXAMPLEScroll within the panel for all 15 ·
Security Posture 4
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals — the evidence that a provider takes security seriously enough to document it. We profile it because you can't govern what you can't see.
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.
Agentic Access 1
An x-agentic-access contract marks which operations are safe for an agent to run on its own and which need a human in the loop. It is the difference between an API an agent can use and one it can use safely.
Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.
Use Cases 4
What developers actually build with this provider — captured so the catalogue answers 'what is this for', not just 'what does this expose'.
What developers build with this provider.
DevOps Automation
Automate infrastructure testing and deployment through CI/CD pipelines.
Multi-Region Deployment
Deploy consistent infrastructure across multiple AWS regions.
Compliance Governance
Enforce organizational infrastructure standards through template guardrails.
Disaster Recovery
Rapidly rebuild infrastructure from templates after failures.
Integrations 5
Pre-built integrations with other platforms tell you where this provider already fits in a stack.
Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.
AWS CodePipeline
Automate CloudFormation deployments in CI/CD pipelines.
AWS Config
Track infrastructure changes and detect drift with Config integration.
AWS IAM
Control who can create and update CloudFormation stacks.
AWS Service Catalog
Publish approved CloudFormation templates as self-service products.
Amazon SNS
Receive stack event notifications via SNS topics.
Resources
Every other property we hold for Amazon CloudFormation — documentation, portals, status pages, policies, and corporate surface — grouped by the job it does, following the integrator's arc from getting started to running in production.
Get Started 3
Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call
Documentation 1
Reference material describing how the API behaves
Agent Surfaces 2
MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs
Design & Contract 2
Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events
Build 1
SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with
Access & Security 6
Authentication, authorization, and security posture
Learn 1
Tutorials, courses, talks, and written guidance
Operate 4
Status, limits, changes, and where to get help
Commercial 2
Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use
Company 2
The organization behind the API
← All providers · Data indexed from github.com/api-evangelist/amazon-cloudformation · machine-readable index on apis.io