🔧 Initialise Configuration

Set up the foundations of your Stackaroo project before adding stacks. This guide covers the top-level metadata, template directory, and environment contexts inside stackaroo.yaml.

1. Describe the project

Open stackaroo.yaml and populate the metadata block:

project: payment-app
tags:
  Project: payment-app
  Owner: payments-team@example.com
templates:
  directory: templates

• project is a descriptive label you can reuse in dashboards or cost reports.
• tags apply globally; individual stacks can override specific keys later.
• templates.directory avoids repeating the folder path for every stack entry.

2. Define environment contexts

Contexts identify AWS accounts and regions for each environment:

contexts:
  development:
    account: "123456789012"
    region: ap-southeast-4
    tags:
      Environment: development
      CostCentre: dev-payments
  production:
    account: "210987654321"
    region: eu-west-1
    tags:
      Environment: production
      CostCentre: prod-payments

Guidelines:

• Use 12-digit AWS account IDs and keep them in sync with your IAM roles or SSO assignments.
• Apply environment-specific tags (cost centre, owner, business unit) so they propagate to every stack automatically.
• Add staging, disaster recovery, or sandbox contexts using the same structure.

3. Sanity-check the configuration

Before moving on, ensure:

• The project tags match your organisation’s naming scheme.
• Context regions align with the templates you intend to deploy.
• Accounts are restricted to non-production while you test the setup.

Next, follow the remaining how-to guides to add stacks, link dependencies, and validate changes.