[cdk-pipelines] Pipeline template grows very fast reaching the 460,800 bytes limit from CloudFormation

[JFox]

❓ General Issue

The Question

After adding around 14 stacks (25 counting nested stacks) to a single Pipeline Application (Stage) the pipeline references 27 assets and the template grows above CloudFormation's 460,800 bytes limit, blocking the pipeline and making it unusable.

Is there a way to avoid this by compressing the generated template or by splitting it somehow? I'm facing this on a staging stage and production is way bigger

My suspicion is that the assets make the template grow too fast as each of them generates a build action with the whole chain of roles, policies, etc.

Environment

• CLI Version : 1.51.0 (build 8c2d53c)
• Framework Version: 1.51.0 (build 8c2d53c)
• Node.js Version: v12.18.0
• OS : aws/codebuild/standard:4.0
• Language (Version): TypeScript (3.9.5)

[njlynch]

This sounds related to #9066, but possibly broader in scope.

[srethira]

I ran into same exact problem. Here is the github issue I created - #9237. Is there any workaround for this problem, until further fix to it ?

[njlynch]

Hi @JFox (and @srethira) --

I just merged a change (#9243) that should help with this issue. Given your description (14 stacks, 25 including nested stacks, and 27 assets), I'm not 100% sure that it will be enough, but it should significantly help. (With even just 10 assets, this change cut the template size in half). The fix will go out in the next release; once it does, I would appreciate any feedback on if it was sufficient to solve the problem for you, or if more work is necessary.

Thanks!

[JFox]

Thank you so much for taking care of this and for doing it so quickly.

I would keep a very close eye and give it a try as soon as it is released and get back to you with specific numbers.