The latest articles on Forem by 0xArchitect (@0xarchitect). https://forem.com/0xarchitect https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3939157%2Fed798478-3ded-4a77-ac44-f5f38dc30359.jpg https://forem.com/0xarchitect en 0xArchitect Wed, 20 May 2026 08:48:15 +0000 https://forem.com/0xarchitect/i-got-tired-of-my-aws-diagram-and-my-cloudformation-being-different-documents-32bp https://forem.com/0xarchitect/i-got-tired-of-my-aws-diagram-and-my-cloudformation-being-different-documents-32bp <p>Here's the thing about infrastructure diagrams: they're optimistic.</p> <p>You draw the diagram at the start of the project, when you still believe everything will stay clean. Six months later, your VPC has a NAT gateway that nobody documented, your RDS instance has a different instance class than the diagram says, and the diagram; the one you show in architecture reviews is describing a system that doesn't exist anymore.</p> <p>This is called diagram drift. It's universal. It's accepted. It's stupid.</p> <p>The real problem isn't that diagrams drift. It's that they're two separate things in the first place.</p> <p>A diagram is a description of a system. A CloudFormation template is a description of a system. If they're the same system, why are they separate documents? Why does "keeping them in sync" require human effort? Why is the answer to this problem always another YAML file?</p> <p>I spent a year asking this question before I realised: the answer isn't a better process for keeping two things in sync. The answer is one thing.</p> aws cloudformation devtools buildinpublic 0xArchitect Tue, 19 May 2026 01:54:53 +0000 https://forem.com/0xarchitect/i-bought-yamlfuneralcom-1lpf https://forem.com/0xarchitect/i-bought-yamlfuneralcom-1lpf <p>I've rewritten the same CloudFormation template from scratch more times than I want to admit.</p> <p>The drill never changes.</p> <p>The design session goes well. The diagram looks clean. Everyone nods.</p> <p>Then a week later someone tweaks the CloudFormation to add a caching layer and does not touch the diagram.</p> <p>Then someone else changes the template again.</p> <p>Then you are in an incident at 2am referencing infrastructure that has not existed for three months.</p> <p>We tried the “update the diagram too” rule.</p> <p>It lasted one sprint.</p> <p>The deeper problem is that the diagram and the template are two completely separate things, maintained in two completely separate workflows. They start identical, then slowly drift apart until nobody fully trusts either one.</p> <p>So I bought a domain about it.</p> <p><a href="https://yamlfuneral.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">yamlfuneral.com</a></p> <p>Something is coming.</p> <p>If you have ever stared at a CloudFormation template wondering why it looks nothing like the architecture diagram from last month, this is for you.</p> <p>More soon.</p> architecture aws devops infrastructure