Create T3 App AWS CDK Starter Kit

A production-ready AWS CDK infrastructure starter kit for deploying create.t3.app (T3 Stack) applications to AWS. Deploy your full-stack app with a single command: npx cdk deploy.

GitHub: https://github.com/lifeike/create-t3-aws-cdk

Maintained by: Feeco

What Does This Project Do?

This project provides Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using AWS CDK to deploy your T3 Stack application with:

• Containerized Deployment: Runs your Next.js app on ECS Fargate with auto-scaling
• Managed Database: PostgreSQL on RDS with automated backups and encryption
• CI/CD Pipeline: Automated deployments via CodePipeline when you push to your repository
• HTTPS & DNS: SSL certificates and Route53 DNS configuration
• Cost Optimized: Uses ARM-based instances (t4g family) and right-sized resources for development/small production workloads

Prerequisites

Before using this project, ensure you have:

Tools

• Node.js (v18 or later)
• AWS CLI (v2)
• AWS CDK CLI (npm install -g aws-cdk)
• Docker (for building container images)

AWS Setup

• An AWS account with appropriate permissions
• AWS CLI configured with credentials (aws configure)
• A Route53 hosted zone for your domain (if using custom domain)
• CDK bootstrapped in your account (cdk bootstrap aws://ACCOUNT-ID/REGION)

Your T3 App

• A T3 Stack application created with create-t3-app
• A Dockerfile in your app's root directory

How to Use This Project

1. Clone and Install

Clone this project into the root of your T3 app directory (the CDK builds Docker from the parent folder):

cd your-t3-app
git clone https://github.com/lifeike/create-t3-aws-cdk.git cdk
cd cdk
npm install

Your directory structure should look like:

your-t3-app/
├── src/
├── public/
├── Dockerfile
├── package.json
└── cdk/              <-- this project
    ├── bin/
    ├── lib/
    └── package.json

2. Configure Your Settings

Update the following files with your configuration:

lib/stacks/service-stack.ts

• Update domainName to your domain
• Update the Route53 hosted zone lookup to your domain

lib/constructs/compute.ts

• Replace placeholder secrets with your actual values or move to AWS Secrets Manager:
  • AUTH_SECRET: Generate with openssl rand -base64 32
  • AUTH_GITHUB_ID / AUTH_GITHUB_SECRET: From GitHub OAuth App settings
  • AUTH_DISCORD_ID / AUTH_DISCORD_SECRET: From Discord Developer Portal
• Update AUTH_URL to your domain

bin/cdk.ts

• Update codecommitRepoName to your repository name

3. Deploy

# Synthesize CloudFormation template (optional, for review)
npx cdk synth

# Deploy the infrastructure
npx cdk deploy

4. Set Up CI/CD (Optional)

Push your T3 app to AWS CodeCommit to enable automated deployments:

git remote add codecommit https://git-codecommit.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/v1/repos/your-repo
git push codecommit main

Resources Created

This CDK stack creates the following AWS resources:

Resource	Service	Description
VPC	Amazon VPC	2 AZs with public, private, and isolated subnets
NAT Instance	EC2 (t4g.nano)	Cost-effective NAT for private subnet egress
ECS Cluster	Amazon ECS	Container orchestration cluster
Fargate Service	ECS Fargate	Serverless container runtime (256 CPU, 512MB RAM)
Load Balancer	ALB	Application Load Balancer with HTTPS
Database	RDS PostgreSQL	PostgreSQL 16.3 on t4g.micro (20-100GB GP3)
SSL Certificate	ACM	Managed SSL/TLS certificate
DNS Record	Route53	A record pointing to the load balancer
CI/CD Pipeline	CodePipeline	Automated build and deployment pipeline
Build Project	CodeBuild	Docker image builds with layer caching
Logs	CloudWatch	Application logs with 7-day retention

Estimated Monthly Cost

For a minimal deployment (1 Fargate task, t4g.micro RDS):

• ~$15-30/month (varies by region and usage)

Useful Commands

Command	Description
npm run build	Compile TypeScript to JavaScript
npm run watch	Watch for changes and compile
npm run test	Run Jest unit tests
npx cdk synth	Generate CloudFormation template
npx cdk diff	Compare deployed stack with current state
npx cdk deploy	Deploy stack to AWS
npx cdk destroy	Remove all resources

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Fork this repository
• Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
• Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
• Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
• Open a Pull Request

Ideas for Contributions

• Add support for other databases (MySQL, Aurora)
• Add Redis/ElastiCache for caching
• Add CloudFront CDN configuration
• Add monitoring and alerting (CloudWatch Alarms, SNS)
• Add staging/production environment separation
• Improve documentation

License

MIT

Acknowledgments

• create.t3.gg - The T3 Stack
• AWS CDK - Infrastructure as Code