This section is a reference only. For a conceptual overview of the AppSpec file, seeApplication Specification Files.

The application specification file (AppSpec file) is aYAML-formatted or JSON-formatted file used by CodeDeploy to manage a deployment.

AppSpec files on an Amazon ECS compute platform

For Amazon ECS compute platform applications, the AppSpec file is used by CodeDeploy to determine:

AppSpec files on an AWS Lambda compute platform

For AWS Lambda compute platform applications, the AppSpec file is used by CodeDeploy to determine:

An AppSpec file can be YAML-formatted or JSON-formatted. You can also enter the contents of an AppSpec file directly into CodeDeploy console when you create a deployment.

AppSpec files on an EC2/on-premises compute platform

If your application uses the EC2/On-Premises compute platform, the AppSpec file must be a YAML-formatted file namedappspec.yml and it must be placed in the root of the directory structure of an application's source code. Otherwise, deployments fail. It is used by CodeDeploy to determine:

After you have a completed AppSpec file, you bundle it, along with the content to deploy, into an archive file (zip, tar, or compressed tar). For more information, seeWorking with application revisions for CodeDeploy.

After you have a bundled archive file (known in CodeDeploy as arevision), you upload it to an Amazon S3 bucket or Git repository. Then you use CodeDeploy to deploy the revision. For instructions, seeCreate a deployment with CodeDeploy.

The appspec.yml for an EC2/On-Premises compute platform deployment is saved in the root directory of your revision. For more information, seeAdd an AppSpec file for an EC2/On-Premises deployment andPlan a revision for CodeDeploy.

AppSpec File spacing

The following is the correct format for AppSpec file spacing. The numbers in square brackets indicate the number of spaces that must occur between items. For example,[4] means to insert four spaces between the items. CodeDeploy raises an error that might be difficult to debug if the locations and number of spaces in an AppSpec file are not correct.

version:[1]version-numberos:[1]operating-system-namefiles:[2]-[1]source:[1]source-files-location[4]destination:[1]destination-files-locationpermissions:[2]-[1]object:[1]object-specification[4]pattern:[1]pattern-specification[4]except:[1]exception-specification[4]owner:[1]owner-account-name[4]group:[1]group-name[4]mode:[1]mode-specification[4]acls: [6]-[1]acls-specification [4]context:[6]user:[1]user-specification[6]type:[1]type-specification[6]range:[1]range-specification[4]type:[6]-[1]object-typehooks:[2]deployment-lifecycle-event-name:[4]-[1]location:[1]script-location[6]timeout:[1]timeout-in-seconds[6]runas:[1]user-name

Here is an example of a correctly spaced AppSpec file:

version: 0.0os: linuxfiles:  - source: /    destination: /var/www/html/WordPresshooks:  BeforeInstall:    - location: scripts/install_dependencies.sh      timeout: 300      runas: root  AfterInstall:    - location: scripts/change_permissions.sh      timeout: 300      runas: root  ApplicationStart:    - location: scripts/start_server.sh    - location: scripts/create_test_db.sh      timeout: 300      runas: root  ApplicationStop:    - location: scripts/stop_server.sh      timeout: 300      runas: root

For more information about spacing, see theYAML specification.

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