AWS Amplify

AWS Amplify is a fully managed service that makes it easy to build, deploy, and host modern web applications. It provides features like continuous deployment, serverless functions, authentication, and more - all integrated into a seamless developer experience.

This guide explains how to deploy your TurboStarter app on AWS Amplify. You'll learn how to set up your repository for automated deployments, configure build settings, manage environment variables, and ensure your application runs smoothly in production. AWS Amplify handles the infrastructure management, allowing you to focus on developing your application.

Prerequisite: AWS account

To deploy to AWS Amplify, you need to have an AWS account. You can create one here.

Create configuration file

To deploy your TurboStarter app to AWS Amplify, you need to create a config file. This file will contain the necessary information to connect your repository to AWS Amplify and deploy your application.

Let's create a new file called amplify.yml in the root of your project:

amplify.yml

version: 1
applications:
  - frontend:
      buildPath: "/"
      phases:
        preBuild:
          commands:
            - npm install -g pnpm
            - pnpm install
        build:
          commands:
            - pnpm dlx turbo build --filter=web
      artifacts:
        baseDirectory: apps/web/.next
        files:
          - "**/*"
      cache:
        paths:
          - node_modules/**/*
          - apps/web/.next/cache/**/*
    appRoot: apps/web

This configuration file tells AWS Amplify how to build and deploy your application:

The version field specifies the Amplify configuration version
Under applications, we define the build settings for our web app:
- buildPath indicates where to run the build commands
- preBuild phase installs pnpm and project dependencies
- build phase runs the Turborepo build command for the web app
- artifacts specifies which files to deploy (the Next.js build output)
- cache configures which directories to cache between builds
- appRoot points to the web application directory

AWS Amplify will use this configuration to automatically build and deploy your app whenever you push changes to your repository. It also useful to define other resources that you can use and link to your project.

Create a new Amplify project

We'll use the AWS Amplify web interface to deploy our app. First, let's create a new project.

Amplify create project

Proceed with the option to Deploy an app.

Connect repository

Choose the Git provider of your project and select the repository you want to deploy.

Amplify connect repository

Authorization needed

If your repository is private you need to authorize Amplify to access it. It's recommended to follow a least privileged access approach, so to only grant access to the repository you want to deploy, not the entire account.

Select the branch you want to deploy and make sure to enable the My app is a monorepo option - configure it with the path to the app that you want to deploy (e.g. apps/web).

Amplify repository and branch

Configure build settings

Finalize your deployment by configuring the build settings to match your project's specific needs. Refer to the points below to ensure a seamless deployment process.

Amplify build settings

Make sure that the build command and build output directory is set to the correct values (it should be defined based on your configuration file from Step 1.).

Environment variables

In the Advanced settings section, you can define environment variables that will be available to your application at runtime.

Amplify environment variables

Verify that all required environment variables are defined, so your app can be build and deployed successfully.

Review and deploy!

On the next step, you'll be able to review the configuration that you've created and deploy your app. It's the right time to make sure that everything is set up correctly.

Amplify review and deploy

After making sure that everything is set up correctly, you can click on the Save and deploy button to start the deployment process.

When your app is deployed, you'll be able to access it via the URL provided in the Amplify console:

Amplify deployed app

That's it! Your app is now deployed to AWS Amplify, congratulations! 🎉

Feel free to scale your deployment to multiple regions, add custom domains, and use other Amplify features to make your app more robust and scalable. Check out the AWS Amplify documentation for more information on how to use Amplify to its full potential.