AWS CloudFormation

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This Free service needs no license key. Start Vera as in Get started, then run this in a terminal of its own, from an empty scratch directory. It gives the official AWS CLI dummy credentials and a config file of its own, so no AWS account is needed and your own AWS profile isn't touched.

export VERA_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:5003"
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=test AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=test
export AWS_REGION=us-east-1 AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
export AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE=/dev/null
export AWS_EC2_METADATA_DISABLED=true
export AWS_PAGER="" AWS_CLI_AUTO_PROMPT=off
unset AWS_PROFILE AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE
unset AWS_SESSION_TOKEN AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN
unset AWS_WEB_IDENTITY_TOKEN_FILE AWS_ROLE_ARN AWS_ROLE_SESSION_NAME
unset AWS_CONTAINER_CREDENTIALS_FULL_URI
unset AWS_CONTAINER_CREDENTIALS_RELATIVE_URI
cat > vera-aws-config <<'EOF'
[default]
region = us-east-1
output = json
cli_binary_format = base64
s3 =
    addressing_style = path
EOF
export AWS_CONFIG_FILE="$PWD/vera-aws-config"

When you've finished every example in this terminal, close it and delete vera-aws-config, not before.

Use the AWS CLI’s cloudformation commands. The emulator serves the 2010-05-15 API over the AWS Query protocol, and the examples use us-east-1.

Example

List the stacks. This is a read-only check, not a stack-management walkthrough: it creates nothing, so it needs no cleanup.

aws --endpoint-url "$VERA_ENDPOINT" cloudformation list-stacks --query StackSummaries

On an empty emulator it returns an empty list. Stack records already on the emulator would be listed instead.

Output

[]

Deploying stacks isn’t available in Vera 1.2.0-rc.3. create-stack returns HTTP 501 NotIncluded, with the message “Deploying CloudFormation stacks needs an engine that is not included in this Vera release”, and no stack exists after the failure. A Pro license doesn’t add the engine.

Supported features

• Stack inventory: ListStacks, as in the example.
• Listed in the earlier implementation inventory; not rechecked against Vera 1.2.0-rc.3: describing and deleting stacks, creating and describing change sets, rollbacks, stack sets and their instances, drift detection, template validation and retrieval, stack policies, resource scans and generated templates, imports and exports, and extension types and hooks.

Limitations

The main limits are below. A few more apply to every service, and the API coverage notes cover smaller differences.

• Stacks can’t be deployed in Vera 1.2.0-rc.3. CreateStack, UpdateStack and ExecuteChangeSet return NotIncluded, because this release doesn’t include CloudFormation’s provisioning engine. In Vera 1.2.0 preview, stacks reached CREATE_COMPLETE, but the tested one-bucket template never created its bucket in S3, by direct CreateStack or through a change set.
• Rollbacks, drift detection, stack sets and imports weren’t tested.

API coverage

Every operation in AWS's published 2010-05-15 API (SDK model, botocore 1.43.105), and whether the emulator implements it. Availability combines the earlier implementation inventory with the dated observations below; checking a page's example does not verify every operation. Each note names its evidence first; an observation given without a build or date comes from earlier testing, on 3 November 2026. What the statuses mean

Operation	Status	Notes
ActivateOrganizationsAccess	Implemented
ActivateType	Implemented
BatchDescribeTypeConfigurations	Implemented
CancelUpdateStack	Implemented
ContinueUpdateRollback	Implemented
CreateChangeSet	Implemented	Local observation: Vera 1.2.0 preview, 5 November 2026 — a CREATE change set for a one-bucket template moved from CREATE_IN_PROGRESS to CREATE_COMPLETE, with execution status AVAILABLE. Its stack ID is a full CloudFormation ARN.
CreateGeneratedTemplate	Implemented
CreateStack	Failed in testing	Local observation: Vera 1.2.0-rc.3, 6 November 2026 — returns HTTP 501 NotIncluded: deploying CloudFormation stacks needs an engine that isn't included in this Vera release. No stack exists after the failure. A Pro license doesn't add the engine. The earlier observations that follow don't describe Vera 1.2.0-rc.3. Local observation: earlier testing, 3 November 2026 — reported CREATE_COMPLETE, but the template's resources weren't created: a stack declaring an S3 bucket had no stack resources and no bucket. Local observation: Vera 1.2.0 preview, 5 November 2026 — the same, and this direct path returned a short stack-... ID instead of the stack's ARN.
CreateStackInstances	Implemented
CreateStackRefactor	Implemented
CreateStackSet	Implemented
DeactivateOrganizationsAccess	Implemented
DeactivateType	Implemented
DeleteChangeSet	Implemented
DeleteGeneratedTemplate	Implemented
DeleteStack	Implemented	Right after deletion, ListStacks showed the stack as DELETE_IN_PROGRESS. Local observation: Vera 1.2.0 preview, 5 November 2026 — a later read showed DELETE_COMPLETE. The deleted stack's record can remain.
DeleteStackInstances	Implemented
DeleteStackSet	Implemented
DeregisterType	Implemented
DescribeAccountLimits	Implemented
DescribeChangeSet	Implemented	Local observation: Vera 1.2.0 preview, 5 November 2026 — showed the change set moving from CREATE_IN_PROGRESS to CREATE_COMPLETE and AVAILABLE on later reads, with a full ARN as its stack ID.
DescribeChangeSetHooks	Implemented
DescribeEvents	Implemented
DescribeGeneratedTemplate	Implemented
DescribeOrganizationsAccess	Implemented
DescribePublisher	Implemented
DescribeResourceScan	Implemented
DescribeStackDriftDetectionStatus	Implemented
DescribeStackEvents	Implemented
DescribeStackInstance	Implemented
DescribeStackRefactor	Implemented
DescribeStackResource	Implemented
DescribeStackResourceDrifts	Implemented
DescribeStackResources	Implemented
DescribeStackSet	Implemented
DescribeStackSetOperation	Implemented
DescribeStacks	Implemented	Local observation: Vera 1.2.0 preview, 5 November 2026 — a stack from direct CreateStack was CREATE_COMPLETE at once, with a short stack-... ID; a stack from ExecuteChangeSet had a full ARN. Neither created the template's S3 bucket. In Vera 1.2.0-rc.3, CreateStack and ExecuteChangeSet return NotIncluded, so this can't be repeated with a new stack; this operation itself wasn't retested.
DescribeType	Implemented
DescribeTypeRegistration	Implemented
DetectStackDrift	Implemented
DetectStackResourceDrift	Implemented
DetectStackSetDrift	Implemented
EstimateTemplateCost	Not implemented
ExecuteChangeSet	Failed in testing	Local observation: Vera 1.2.0-rc.3, 6 November 2026 — returns HTTP 501 NotIncluded, because this Vera release doesn't include the provisioning engine. A Pro license doesn't add the engine. The request named a change set and stack that don't exist; the refusal came before either was looked up. The earlier findings that follow don't describe Vera 1.2.0-rc.3. Source inspection: Takes a separate provisioning path from CreateStack. Local observation: Vera 1.2.0 preview, 5 November 2026 — the stack reached CREATE_COMPLETE and recorded its S3 bucket resource as CREATE_COMPLETE, but S3 HeadBucket answered 404 and ListBuckets didn't list the bucket. Only a one-bucket template was checked, so this says nothing about other resource types.
ExecuteStackRefactor	Implemented
GetGeneratedTemplate	Implemented
GetHookResult	Implemented
GetStackPolicy	Implemented
GetTemplate	Implemented
GetTemplateSummary	Not implemented
ImportStacksToStackSet	Implemented
ListChangeSets	Implemented
ListExports	Implemented
ListGeneratedTemplates	Implemented
ListHookResults	Implemented
ListImports	Implemented
ListResourceScanRelatedResources	Implemented
ListResourceScanResources	Implemented
ListResourceScans	Implemented
ListStackInstanceResourceDrifts	Implemented
ListStackInstances	Implemented
ListStackRefactorActions	Implemented
ListStackRefactors	Implemented
ListStackResources	Implemented	Returned no resources for a stack whose template declares one. Local observation: Vera 1.2.0 preview, 5 November 2026 — the same after direct CreateStack; after ExecuteChangeSet, it listed the logical bucket as CREATE_COMPLETE. In neither case did the bucket exist in S3. In Vera 1.2.0-rc.3, CreateStack and ExecuteChangeSet return NotIncluded, so this can't be repeated with a new stack; this operation itself wasn't retested.
ListStackSetAutoDeploymentTargets	Implemented
ListStackSetOperationResults	Implemented
ListStackSetOperations	Implemented
ListStackSets	Implemented
ListStacks	Implemented	Local observation: Vera 1.2.0 preview, 5 November 2026 — listed a deleted stack as DELETE_IN_PROGRESS right after deletion and DELETE_COMPLETE on a later read.
ListTypeRegistrations	Implemented
ListTypeVersions	Implemented
ListTypes	Implemented
PublishType	Implemented
RecordHandlerProgress	Implemented
RegisterPublisher	Implemented
RegisterType	Implemented
RollbackStack	Implemented
SetStackPolicy	Implemented
SetTypeConfiguration	Implemented
SetTypeDefaultVersion	Implemented
SignalResource	Implemented
StartResourceScan	Implemented
StopStackSetOperation	Implemented
TestType	Implemented
UpdateGeneratedTemplate	Implemented
UpdateStack	Failed in testing	Local observation: Vera 1.2.0-rc.3, 6 November 2026 — returns HTTP 501 NotIncluded, because this Vera release doesn't include the provisioning engine. A Pro license doesn't add the engine. The request named a stack that doesn't exist; the refusal came before the stack was looked up.
UpdateStackInstances	Implemented
UpdateStackSet	Implemented
UpdateTerminationProtection	Implemented
ValidateTemplate	Implemented