Allow an app alias to be set in cdk.json

I did try and search for open issues on this. My apologies if one already exists. I would like the cdk.json file to allow for multiple app entries. Currently it defaults to only “app” in cdk.json and if I want to override that, I need to remember a long string: cdk --app "npx ts-node bin/hello-cdk.ts" ls. I propose that a custom alias can be set in the cdk.json file.

Use Case

This would allow me to separate and process my stacks using a memorable alias vs the whole command.

Proposed Solution

I propose that an app alias can also be specified in cdk.json. As an example:

{
  "app": "npx ts-node bin/cdk.ts",
  "helloWorld": "npx ts-node bin/hello-cdk.ts"
}

which would allow me to call cdk --app helloWorld ls.

Other

• 👋 I may be able to implement this feature request
• ⚠️ This feature might incur a breaking change

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This is a 🚀 Feature Request

[eladb]

I like this idea!

[DJAlPee]

I have another use case for a feature like that:

For rolling out a static (SPA) website, we need to create resources in two regions (ACM certs / Lambda@Edge in us-east-1 for CloudFront and everything else like S3, etc. in our region). Because CDK (and CloudFormation) can’t pass references across stacks, which are across different regions, I would split these resources into two different apps and handle passing the references somehow else.