Amplify-cli: `amplify push` doesn't read from `backend-config`, but does read from `amplify-meta`

[nagey]

Describe the bug
When running amplify push I expect it to consult the backend-config.json file, especially the dependsOn array for various services.

Apparently though, running amplify env checkout … is the magic sauce to convert the items in backend-config into amplify-meta.

Amplify CLI Version
4.13.1

To Reproduce

1. Make a change to your backend-config.json.
2. Push to the cloud.
3. Stare at your cloudformation stacks in the console, wonder why change isn't being reflected
4. Deliberately break backend-config.json
5. push to the cloud. not broken.
6. google a bunch of things
7. get frustrated
8. have dinner
9. come back, and repeat steps 1-7
10. On a whim, look at amplify-meta.json and see that while it's out of sync with your backend-config.json it's strangely in sync with what seems to be happening in the CF Template.
11. Finally have someone point out to you the 4th item #1 under https://aws-amplify.github.io/docs/cli-toolchain/quickstart#custom-cloudformation-stacks and see the bit about having to run amplify env checkout … to get amplify to read the changes on your local system

Expected behavior
The build processes associated with amplify push should read backend-config in a similar fashion to how it reads all of the various cloudformation templates, schemas, functions, and everything else that're kept in source control.

Additional context
I would really like to get these three hours back, but they're gone forever, sitting contently in a nice crowded room with all of the other (numerous) hours that I've lost to poorly documented, or buggy, pieces of the amplify codebase.

[nagey]

Preemptively sorry for my semi sarcastic tone in my steps to repro, but this was an extremely frustrating thing to find, and honestly makes no sense to me as to why it is done this way.

If there’s a compelling reason that it is the way it is, could there at least be a comment put into the backend config that it only gets read when you do an env pull?

[ammarkarachi]

Hi @nagey we generally don't recommend modifying those files manually. Can you give us more information on what you were trying to do?

[nagey]

"generally don't recommend"?

Unless you mean modifying amplify-meta, which, yeah, I get. I was trying to pipe the endpoint URL of one of the rest services into a function, rather than just the endpoints "friendly" name.

[kaustavghosh06]

@nagey Yes, the amplify-meta.json are runtime files which should not be modified. But yes, you're right the backend-config.json has to be modified for adding custom resources/categories. And yes, as mentioned in step #4 of our documentation, we've mentioned to run amplify env checkout <env-name> after making any changes to your backend-config.json. But at the same time, I agree this could be a part of your amplify push process to make the experience better.

[nagey]

@kaustavghosh06 I've made sure to add the checkout step to our workflow when changing resources, but would love to hear it getting added to the amplify push

[asmajlovicmars]

wow. thanks for this... spent hours trying to figure out why suddenly adding sns to backend-config doesn't work... lol

goes into readme: run amplify env checkout after making any changes to your backend-config.json

[irfan]

I have had same issue today, even you don't have to go to aws console, you can see in your terminal output that there is nothing to push.

I executed amplify env checkout irfansenv and then tried amplify push again, then amplify finally asked me if I want to continue.

$ amplify -v
4.32.1