Amazon Q Developer

Customizing with Amazon Q Developer

Challenges of Writing Infrastructure as Code

Writing code presents several challenges that can impact infrastructure development:

Human Error

Code is written by humans who can introduce errors when performing familiar tasks, applying incorrect actions, or forgetting steps

Differing Skill Levels

Developers have different skill levels and coding styles. Problem-solving skills grow with practice

Size and Complexity

Writing templates for basic three-tier architecture quickly becomes complex, even with existing templates or Quick Starts

Security Vulnerabilities

New developers may overlook security when writing code, focusing on error-free delivery rather than security checks

Developer Skill Evolution

Newer Developers:

• Might choose more intricate code than necessary
• Focus on delivering error-free code rather than security considerations

Experienced Developers:

• Write code considering creation, maintenance, and administration
• Goal is to tackle problems to find workable solutions
• Technologies are tools to address challenges

Caution

Security is a top priority when developing software. Focus on delivering error-free code rather than checking security can lead to unintended security vulnerabilities.

Amazon Q Developer

Amazon Q Developer is a generative AI-powered coding assistant designed for developers and IT professionals.

Core Capabilities

AI-Powered

Amazon Q Developer provides:

• Code Generation: Generates code and helps understand, build, extend, and operate AWS applications
• Security Scanning: Scan code for security vulnerabilities
• Natural Language Processing: Describe applications you want to create in natural language
• No-Code Approach: Build applications without writing all code yourself

Training Foundation: Amazon Q Developer is trained on years of high-quality AWS examples and documentation. It can also be trained on your company’s code and systems.

Key Features

Interactive Capabilities:

• Chat about code
• Provide in-line code completions
• Generate new code
• Make code upgrades and improvements (language updates, debugging, optimizations)

Security Focus:

• Secure and private by design
• Scan code for security vulnerabilities
• Provide remediation suggestions

Amazon Q Developer SDLC Support

Amazon Q Developer supports developers across the complete Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC):

Plan

Plan Phase:

• Ask questions and get referenceable and contextual guidance
• Explain code with conversational coding
• Understand code base and get up to speed on projects

Create

Create Phase:

• Receive in-line code recommendations for multiple languages
• Implement features through comments or code prompts
• Chat in your integrated development environment (IDE)
• Use natural language to generate new features

Test & Secure

Test and Secure Phase:

• Generate unit tests
• Scan project code for security vulnerabilities and get remediation suggestions
• Find and fix security vulnerabilities earlier in development cycle

Operate

Operate Phase:

• Troubleshoot errors (Lambda, EC2, ECS)
• Troubleshoot network connectivity with VPC Reachability Analyzer
• Get debug and optimization tips

Maintain & Modernize

Maintain and Modernize Phase:

• Modernize code with Amazon Q Developer Agent for code transformation
• Upgrade projects to more up-to-date language versions

AWS Management Console Integration

In the AWS Management Console, Amazon Q can help you:

• Ask questions and receive best practices and recommendations
• Optimize EC2 instances
• Learn more about the Well-Architected Framework

Example: Using Amazon Q Developer with CloudFormation

Amazon Q Developer can help modify CloudFormation templates through an intuitive process:

1. Developer Input: Developer types the start of a desired resource within a YAML file

2. AI Suggestions: Amazon Q Developer makes suggestions that the developer can accept

3. Code Integration: The accepted code snippet is added into the template

CloudFormation Support:

• Generate suggestions in either YAML or JSON
• Fit seamlessly into your CloudFormation template
• Help write, modify, or delete code when modifying stack templates

Lambda Function Development: Amazon Q Developer also helps write Lambda functions for CloudFormation stacks. Once activated in the Lambda console, Amazon Q Developer can make code recommendations on demand in the Lambda code editor as you develop functions.

Use Case Benefits

Particularly Useful For:

• Creating simple web applications
• Automating business processes
• Building prototypes and proofs of concept
• Developers without extensive experience

Template Development:

• Provides real-time code suggestions
• Offers suggestions for writing CloudFormation templates
• Helps accelerate infrastructure as code development

Note

Amazon Q Developer’s no-code approach can be particularly useful for creating simple web applications, automating business processes, or building prototypes and proofs of concept.

Amazon Q Developer transforms infrastructure as code development by providing AI-powered assistance that reduces complexity, improves security, and accelerates development across the entire software development lifecycle. It makes CloudFormation template development more accessible while maintaining best practices and security standards.