WA2 — AWS Well-Architected Guidance for VS Code

Real-time CloudFormation validation + Well-Architected best practices as you build infrastructure. Get instant feedback on both syntax errors and architectural decisions.

Built by the creator of the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

✨ Features

Well-Architected Guidance

• 🎯 Intent-based validation - Tag resources with sensitivity and criticality to unlock architectural guidance
• 📚 Educational tooltips - Understand the "why" behind best practices, not just the "what"
• ⚡ Sub-second feedback - No waiting for reviews or scans
• 🔄 Context-aware - Recommendations adapt to your declared intent

Comprehensive CloudFormation Validation

• 1000+ AWS resource types - Official CloudFormation Registry schemas
• Property validation - Required properties, types, allowed values
• All intrinsic functions - Ref, GetAtt, Sub, Join, If, FindInMap, and 10+ more
• AWS::LanguageExtensions - Fn::ForEach, Transform support
• SAM/Serverless - Transform-based resources
• Smart type checking - Mirrors CloudFormation's coercion rules

Developer Experience

• ⚡ 9× faster than AWS Toolkit - 0.37s vs 3.3s validation time
• 🎯 Accurate errors - Precise line/column diagnostics
• 💡 Helpful suggestions - "Did you mean X?" for typos
• 🔍 Go-to-definition - Jump from Ref/GetAtt to resource definitions

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install - Search "WA2" in VS Code Extensions
2. Open - Any CloudFormation .yaml, .yml, or .json file
3. Get guidance - Errors, warnings, and architectural recommendations appear automatically

Example: Start with a simple S3 bucket. WA2 prompts you to tag it with DataSensitivity and DataCriticality. Once tagged, it recommends appropriate protections based on your intent.

📊 What's Validated

✅ CloudFormation syntax & resource types
✅ Property requirements & type checking
✅ Intrinsic functions (Ref, GetAtt, Sub, 13+ more)
✅ Well-Architected principles (data protection, resilience)
✅ Intent-based architectural guidance

💡 Well-Architected in Action

Without intent:

Resources:
  DataBucket:
    Type: AWS::S3::Bucket

❌ WA2: "Tag this resource for DataSensitivity and DataCriticality"

With intent:

Resources:
  DataBucket:
    Type: AWS::S3::Bucket
    Properties:
      Tags:
        - Key: DataCriticality
          Value: BusinessCritical

💡 Hover for guidance: "Business critical data needs backup protection. Consider enabling versioning or cross-region replication."

⚡ Performance

WA2:         0.37 seconds  ████
AWS Toolkit: 3.33 seconds  ████████████████████████████████████

9× faster on typical templates.

🛠️ Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Source: GitHub

Built by the creator of the AWS Well-Architected Framework • Shift left on architecture reviews