AWS Solution Architect

Design scalable, cost-effective AWS architectures for startups with infrastructure-as-code templates.

Table of Contents

• Trigger Terms
• Workflow
• Tools
• Quick Start
• Input Requirements
• Output Formats

Trigger Terms

Use this skill when you encounter:

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Requirements

Collect application specifications:

- Application type (web app, mobile backend, data pipeline, SaaS)
- Expected users and requests per second
- Budget constraints (monthly spend limit)
- Team size and AWS experience level
- Compliance requirements (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2)
- Availability requirements (SLA, RPO/RTO)

Step 2: Design Architecture

Run the architecture designer to get pattern recommendations:

python scripts/architecture_designer.py --input requirements.json

Select from recommended patterns:

• Serverless Web: S3 + CloudFront + API Gateway + Lambda + DynamoDB
• Event-Driven Microservices: EventBridge + Lambda + SQS + Step Functions
• Three-Tier: ALB + ECS Fargate + Aurora + ElastiCache
• GraphQL Backend: AppSync + Lambda + DynamoDB + Cognito

See references/architecture_patterns.md for detailed pattern specifications.

Step 3: Generate IaC Templates

Create infrastructure-as-code for the selected pattern:

# Serverless stack (CloudFormation)
python scripts/serverless_stack.py --app-name my-app --region us-east-1

# Output: CloudFormation YAML template ready to deploy

Step 4: Review Costs

Analyze estimated costs and optimization opportunities:

python scripts/cost_optimizer.py --resources current_setup.json --monthly-spend 2000

Output includes:

• Monthly cost breakdown by service
• Right-sizing recommendations
• Savings Plans opportunities
• Potential monthly savings

Step 5: Deploy

Deploy the generated infrastructure:

# CloudFormation
aws cloudformation create-stack \
  --stack-name my-app-stack \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM

# CDK
cdk deploy

# Terraform
terraform init && terraform apply

Step 6: Validate

Verify deployment and set up monitoring:

# Check stack status
aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name my-app-stack

# Set up CloudWatch alarms
aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm --alarm-name high-errors ...

Tools

architecture_designer.py

Generates architecture patterns based on requirements.

python scripts/architecture_designer.py --input requirements.json --output design.json

Input: JSON with app type, scale, budget, compliance needs Output: Recommended pattern, service stack, cost estimate, pros/cons

serverless_stack.py

Creates serverless CloudFormation templates.

python scripts/serverless_stack.py --app-name my-app --region us-east-1

Output: Production-ready CloudFormation YAML with:

• API Gateway + Lambda
• DynamoDB table
• Cognito user pool
• IAM roles with least privilege
• CloudWatch logging

cost_optimizer.py

Analyzes costs and recommends optimizations.

python scripts/cost_optimizer.py --resources inventory.json --monthly-spend 5000

Output: Recommendations for:

• Idle resource removal
• Instance right-sizing
• Reserved capacity purchases
• Storage tier transitions
• NAT Gateway alternatives

Quick Start

MVP Architecture (< $100/month)

Ask: "Design a serverless MVP backend for a mobile app with 1000 users"

Result:
- Lambda + API Gateway for API
- DynamoDB pay-per-request for data
- Cognito for authentication
- S3 + CloudFront for static assets
- Estimated: $20-50/month

Scaling Architecture ($500-2000/month)

Ask: "Design a scalable architecture for a SaaS platform with 50k users"

Result:
- ECS Fargate for containerized API
- Aurora Serverless for relational data
- ElastiCache for session caching
- CloudFront for CDN
- CodePipeline for CI/CD
- Multi-AZ deployment

Cost Optimization

Ask: "Optimize my AWS setup to reduce costs by 30%. Current spend: $3000/month"

Provide: Current resource inventory (EC2, RDS, S3, etc.)

Result:
- Idle resource identification
- Right-sizing recommendations
- Savings Plans analysis
- Storage lifecycle policies
- Target savings: $900/month

IaC Generation

Ask: "Generate CloudFormation for a three-tier web app with auto-scaling"

Result:
- VPC with public/private subnets
- ALB with HTTPS
- ECS Fargate with auto-scaling
- Aurora with read replicas
- Security groups and IAM roles

Input Requirements

Provide these details for architecture design:

JSON Format:

{
  "application_type": "saas_platform",
  "expected_users": 10000,
  "requests_per_second": 100,
  "budget_monthly_usd": 500,
  "team_size": 3,
  "aws_experience": "intermediate",
  "compliance": ["SOC2"],
  "availability_sla": "99.9%"
}

Output Formats

Architecture Design

• Pattern recommendation with rationale
• Service stack diagram (ASCII)
• Configuration specifications
• Monthly cost estimate
• Scaling characteristics
• Trade-offs and limitations

IaC Templates

• CloudFormation YAML: Production-ready SAM/CFN templates
• CDK TypeScript: Type-safe infrastructure code
• Terraform HCL: Multi-cloud compatible configs

Cost Analysis

• Current spend breakdown
• Optimization recommendations with savings
• Priority action list (high/medium/low)
• Implementation checklist

Reference Documentation

Limitations

• Lambda: 15-minute execution, 10GB memory max
• API Gateway: 29-second timeout, 10MB payload
• DynamoDB: 400KB item size, eventually consistent by default
• Regional availability varies by service
• Some services have AWS-specific lock-in