feat(cli): support CloudFormation simplified resource import

packages/@aws-cdk-testing/cli-integ/tests/cli-integ-tests/cli.integtest.ts

@@ -487,6 +487,65 @@ integTest(
   }),
 );
 
+integTest('deploy with import-existing-resources true', withDefaultFixture(async (fixture) => {
+  const stackArn = await fixture.cdkDeploy('test-2', {
+    options: ['--no-execute', '--import-existing-resources'],
+    captureStderr: false,
+  });
+  // verify that we only deployed a single stack (there's a single ARN in the output)
+  expect(stackArn.split('\n').length).toEqual(1);
+
+  const response = await fixture.aws.cloudFormation.send(new DescribeStacksCommand({
+    StackName: stackArn,
+  }));
+  expect(response.Stacks?.[0].StackStatus).toEqual('REVIEW_IN_PROGRESS');
+
+  // verify a change set was successfully created
+  // Here, we do not test whether a resource is actually imported, because that is a CloudFormation feature, not a CDK feature.
+  const changeSetResponse = await fixture.aws.cloudFormation.send(new ListChangeSetsCommand({
+    StackName: stackArn,
+  }));
+  const changeSets = changeSetResponse.Summaries || [];
+  expect(changeSets.length).toEqual(1);
+  expect(changeSets[0].Status).toEqual('CREATE_COMPLETE');
+  expect(changeSets[0].ImportExistingResources).toEqual(true);
+}));
+
+integTest('deploy without import-existing-resources', withDefaultFixture(async (fixture) => {
+  const stackArn = await fixture.cdkDeploy('test-2', {
+    options: ['--no-execute'],
+    captureStderr: false,
+  });
+  // verify that we only deployed a single stack (there's a single ARN in the output)
+  expect(stackArn.split('\n').length).toEqual(1);
+
+  const response = await fixture.aws.cloudFormation.send(new DescribeStacksCommand({
+    StackName: stackArn,
+  }));
+  expect(response.Stacks?.[0].StackStatus).toEqual('REVIEW_IN_PROGRESS');
+
+  // verify a change set was successfully created and ImportExistingResources = false
+  const changeSetResponse = await fixture.aws.cloudFormation.send(new ListChangeSetsCommand({
+    StackName: stackArn,
+  }));
+  const changeSets = changeSetResponse.Summaries || [];
+  expect(changeSets.length).toEqual(1);
+  expect(changeSets[0].Status).toEqual('CREATE_COMPLETE');
+  expect(changeSets[0].ImportExistingResources).toEqual(false);
+}));
+
+integTest('deploy with method=direct and import-existing-resources fails', withDefaultFixture(async (fixture) => {
+  const stackName = 'iam-test';
+  await expect(fixture.cdkDeploy(stackName, {
+    options: ['--import-existing-resources', '--method=direct'],
+  })).rejects.toThrow('exited with error');
+
+  // Ensure stack was not deployed
+  await expect(fixture.aws.cloudFormation.send(new DescribeStacksCommand({
+    StackName: fixture.fullStackName(stackName),
+  }))).rejects.toThrow('does not exist');
+}));
+
 integTest(
   'update to stack in ROLLBACK_COMPLETE state will delete stack and create a new one',
   withDefaultFixture(async (fixture) => {

packages/aws-cdk/README.md

@@ -397,6 +397,41 @@ $ cdk deploy --method=prepare-change-set --change-set-name MyChangeSetName
 For more control over when stack changes are deployed, the CDK can generate a
 CloudFormation change set but not execute it.
 
+#### Import existing resources
+
+You can utilize the AWS CloudFormation
+[feature](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2023/11/aws-cloudformation-import-parameter-changesets/)
+that automatically imports resources in your template that already exist in your account.
+To do so, pass the `--import-existing-resources` flag to the `deploy` command:
+
+```console
+$ cdk deploy --import-existing-resources
+```
+
+This automatically imports resources in your CDK application that represent
+unmanaged resources in your account. It reduces the manual effort of import operations and 
+avoids deployment failures due to naming conflicts with unmanaged resources in your account.
+
+Use the `--method=prepare-change-set` flag to review which resources are imported or not before deploying a changeset.
+You can inspect the change set created by CDK from the management console or other external tools.
+
+```console
+$ cdk deploy --import-existing-resources --method=prepare-change-set
+```
+
+Use the `--exclusively` flag to enable this feature for a specific stack.
+
+```console
+$ cdk deploy --import-existing-resources --exclusively StackName
+```
+
+Only resources that have custom names can be imported using `--import-existing-resources`.
+For more information, see [name type](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/aws-properties-name.html). 
+To import resources that do not accept custom names, such as EC2 instances,
+use the `cdk import` instead. 
+Visit [Bringing existing resources into CloudFormation management](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/resource-import.html)
+for more details.
+
 #### Ignore No Stacks
 
 You may have an app with multiple environments, e.g., dev and prod. When starting
@@ -619,6 +654,11 @@ To import an existing resource to a CDK stack, follow the following steps:
 5. When `cdk import` reports success, the resource is managed by CDK. Any subsequent
    changes in the construct configuration will be reflected on the resource.
 
+NOTE: You can also import existing resources by passing `--import-existing-resources` to `cdk deploy`.
+This parameter only works for resources that support custom physical names,
+such as S3 Buckets, DynamoDB Tables, etc...
+For more information, see [Request Parameters](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/APIReference/API_CreateChangeSet.html#API_CreateChangeSet_RequestParameters).
+
 #### Limitations
 
 This feature currently has the following limitations:

packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.ts

@@ -270,6 +270,13 @@ export interface ChangeSetDeploymentMethod {
    * If not provided, a name will be generated automatically.
    */
   readonly changeSetName?: string;
+
+  /**
+   * Indicates if the change set imports resources that already exist.
+   *
+   * @default false
+   */
+  readonly importExistingResources?: boolean;
 }
 
 export async function deployStack(options: DeployStackOptions): Promise<DeployStackResult> {
@@ -462,7 +469,8 @@ class FullCloudFormationDeployment {
   private async changeSetDeployment(deploymentMethod: ChangeSetDeploymentMethod): Promise<DeployStackResult> {
     const changeSetName = deploymentMethod.changeSetName ?? 'cdk-deploy-change-set';
     const execute = deploymentMethod.execute ?? true;
-    const changeSetDescription = await this.createChangeSet(changeSetName, execute);
+    const importExistingResources = deploymentMethod.importExistingResources ?? false;
+    const changeSetDescription = await this.createChangeSet(changeSetName, execute, importExistingResources);
     await this.updateTerminationProtection();
 
     if (changeSetHasNoChanges(changeSetDescription)) {
@@ -525,7 +533,7 @@ class FullCloudFormationDeployment {
     return this.executeChangeSet(changeSetDescription);
   }
 
-  private async createChangeSet(changeSetName: string, willExecute: boolean) {
+  private async createChangeSet(changeSetName: string, willExecute: boolean, importExistingResources: boolean) {
     await this.cleanupOldChangeset(changeSetName);
 
     debug(`Attempting to create ChangeSet with name ${changeSetName} to ${this.verb} stack ${this.stackName}`);
@@ -537,6 +545,7 @@ class FullCloudFormationDeployment {
       ResourcesToImport: this.options.resourcesToImport,
       Description: `CDK Changeset for execution ${this.uuid}`,
       ClientToken: `create${this.uuid}`,
+      ImportExistingResources: importExistingResources,
       ...this.commonPrepareOptions(),
     });
 

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli-arguments.ts

@@ -633,6 +633,13 @@ export interface DeployOptions {
    */
   readonly method?: string;
 
+  /**
+   * Indicates if the stack set imports resources that already exist.
+   *
+   * @default - false
+   */
+  readonly importExistingResources?: boolean;
+
   /**
    * Always deploy stack even if templates are identical
    *

packages/aws-cdk/lib/cli.ts

@@ -292,27 +292,33 @@ export async function exec(args: string[], synthesizer?: Synthesizer): Promise<n
             if (args.changeSetName) {
               throw new ToolkitError('--change-set-name cannot be used with method=direct');
             }
+            if (args.importExistingResources) {
+              throw new Error('--import-existing-resources cannot be enabled with method=direct');
+            }
             deploymentMethod = { method: 'direct' };
             break;
           case 'change-set':
             deploymentMethod = {
               method: 'change-set',
               execute: true,
               changeSetName: args.changeSetName,
+              importExistingResources: args.importExistingResources,
             };
             break;
           case 'prepare-change-set':
             deploymentMethod = {
               method: 'change-set',
               execute: false,
               changeSetName: args.changeSetName,
+              importExistingResources: args.importExistingResources,
             };
             break;
           case undefined:
             deploymentMethod = {
               method: 'change-set',
               execute: args.execute ?? true,
               changeSetName: args.changeSetName,
+              importExistingResources: args.importExistingResources,
             };
             break;
         }

packages/aws-cdk/lib/config.ts

@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ export async function makeConfig(): Promise<CliConfig> {
             requiresArg: true,
             desc: 'How to perform the deployment. Direct is a bit faster but lacks progress information',
           },
+          'import-existing-resources': { type: 'boolean', desc: 'Indicates if the stack set imports resources that already exist.', default: false },
           'force': { alias: 'f', type: 'boolean', desc: 'Always deploy stack even if templates are identical', default: false },
           'parameters': { type: 'array', desc: 'Additional parameters passed to CloudFormation at deploy time (STACK:KEY=VALUE)', default: {} },
           'outputs-file': { type: 'string', alias: 'O', desc: 'Path to file where stack outputs will be written as JSON', requiresArg: true },

packages/aws-cdk/lib/parse-command-line-arguments.ts

@@ -401,6 +401,11 @@ export function parseCommandLineArguments(args: Array<string>): any {
           requiresArg: true,
           desc: 'How to perform the deployment. Direct is a bit faster but lacks progress information',
         })
+        .option('import-existing-resources', {
+          default: false,
+          type: 'boolean',
+          desc: 'Indicates if the stack set imports resources that already exist.',
+        })
         .option('force', {
           default: false,
           alias: 'f',

packages/aws-cdk/test/api/deploy-stack.test.ts

@@ -1126,6 +1126,41 @@ describe('disable rollback', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('import-existing-resources', () => {
+  test('is disabled by default', async () => {
+    // WHEN
+    await deployStack({
+      ...standardDeployStackArguments(),
+      deploymentMethod: {
+        method: 'change-set',
+      },
+    });
+
+    // THEN
+    expect(mockCloudFormationClient).toHaveReceivedCommandWith(CreateChangeSetCommand, {
+      ...expect.anything,
+      ImportExistingResources: false,
+    } as CreateChangeSetCommandInput);
+  });
+
+  test('is added to the CreateChangeSetCommandInput', async () => {
+    // WHEN
+    await deployStack({
+      ...standardDeployStackArguments(),
+      deploymentMethod: {
+        method: 'change-set',
+        importExistingResources: true,
+      },
+    });
+
+    // THEN
+    expect(mockCloudFormationClient).toHaveReceivedCommandWith(CreateChangeSetCommand, {
+      ...expect.anything,
+      ImportExistingResources: true,
+    } as CreateChangeSetCommandInput);
+  });
+});
+
 test.each([
   // From a failed state, a --no-rollback is possible as long as there is not a replacement
   [StackStatus.UPDATE_FAILED, 'no-rollback', 'no-replacement', 'did-deploy-stack'],