Enforce Consistent Resource Naming in AWS SAM Templates

#aws #serverless #devops #cloud

The problem

If you've worked with AWS SAM templates long enough, you've probably run into messy or inconsistent resource names. These inconsistencies aren’t just an eyesore — they can cause confusion in large teams and complex deployments.

The solution

That’s why I created sam-resource-name-linter — a simple CLI tool to enforce consistent, configurable naming conventions for your AWS SAM resources.

It's a tool written in Javascript that scans your template.yaml files and checks the logical resource names against a naming convention that you define.

It was built to help teams maintain readable, standardized CloudFormation templates — especially in larger serverless projects where consistency can quickly fall apart.

Key Features

✅ Works out of the box with sensible defaults
⚙️ Fully configurable naming conventions (regex-based)
🧪 Simple integration into CI/CD pipelines

How It Works

Install the package globally or as a dev dependency:

npm install --save-dev sam-resource-name-linter

Create a new file called named .sam-resource-name-rules.json in the root directory of your SAM project.
Configure the linter: Before running the linter, personalize your configuration file (.sam-resource-name-rules.json) by defining the resource naming rules that suit your project's needs.
Execute the linter using the following command:

sam-resource-name-linter

Use Cases

Team Enforcement: Codify naming rules in CI to enforce consistency across PRs.
Legacy Cleanup: Identify resources that don’t follow your current naming patterns.
Education: Teach new developers your team's conventions automatically.