Use this skill when you encounter:

Category	Terms
Architecture Design	serverless architecture, AWS architecture, cloud design, microservices, three-tier
IaC Generation	CloudFormation, CDK, Terraform, infrastructure as code, deploy template
Serverless	Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, Step Functions, EventBridge, AppSync
Containers	ECS, Fargate, EKS, container orchestration, Docker on AWS
Cost Optimization	reduce AWS costs, optimize spending, right-sizing, Savings Plans
Database	Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB design, database migration, data modeling
Security	IAM policies, VPC design, encryption, Cognito, WAF
CI/CD	CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, GitHub Actions AWS
Monitoring	CloudWatch, X-Ray, observability, alarms, dashboards
Migration	migrate to AWS, lift and shift, replatform, DMS

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Requirements

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)

Step 2: Design Architecture

Run the architecture designer to get pattern recommendations:

python scripts/architecture_designer.py --input requirements.json

Select from recommended patterns:

Serverless Web: S3 + CloudFront + API Gateway + Lambda + DynamoDB
Event-Driven Microservices: EventBridge + Lambda + SQS + Step Functions
Three-Tier: ALB + ECS Fargate + Aurora + ElastiCache
GraphQL Backend: AppSync + Lambda + DynamoDB + Cognito

See references/architecture_patterns.md for detailed pattern specifications.

Step 3: Generate IaC Templates

Create infrastructure-as-code for the selected pattern:

# Serverless stack (CloudFormation)
python scripts/serverless_stack.py --app-name my-app --region us-east-1

# Output: CloudFormation YAML template ready to deploy

Step 4: Review Costs

Analyze estimated costs and optimization opportunities:

python scripts/cost_optimizer.py --resources current_setup.json --monthly-spend 2000

Output includes:

Monthly cost breakdown by service
Right-sizing recommendations
Savings Plans opportunities
Potential monthly savings

Step 5: Deploy

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

Step 6: Validate

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 ...

Tools

architecture_designer.py

Generates 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

serverless_stack.py

Creates serverless CloudFormation templates.

python scripts/serverless_stack.py --app-name my-app --region us-east-1

Output: Production-ready CloudFormation YAML with:

API Gateway + Lambda
DynamoDB table
Cognito user pool
IAM roles with least privilege
CloudWatch logging

cost_optimizer.py

Analyzes costs and recommends optimizations.

python scripts/cost_optimizer.py --resources inventory.json --monthly-spend 5000

Output: Recommendations for:

Idle resource removal
Instance right-sizing
Reserved capacity purchases
Storage tier transitions
NAT Gateway alternatives

Quick Start

MVP Architecture (< $100/month)

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

Scaling Architecture ($500-2000/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

Cost Optimization

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

IaC Generation

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

Input Requirements

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%"
}

Output Formats

Architecture Design

Pattern recommendation with rationale
Service stack diagram (ASCII)
Configuration specifications
Monthly cost estimate
Scaling characteristics
Trade-offs and limitations

IaC Templates

CloudFormation YAML: Production-ready SAM/CFN templates
CDK TypeScript: Type-safe infrastructure code
Terraform HCL: Multi-cloud compatible configs

Cost Analysis

Current spend breakdown
Optimization recommendations with savings
Priority action list (high/medium/low)
Implementation checklist

Reference Documentation

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

Limitations

Lambda: 15-minute execution, 10GB memory max
API Gateway: 29-second timeout, 10MB payload
DynamoDB: 400KB item size, eventually consistent by default
Regional availability varies by service
Some services have AWS-specific lock-in

aws-solution-architect

AWS Solution Architect

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