DEV Community

siegerts
siegerts

Posted on • Originally published at xiegerts.com

4 2

Displaying the active Amplify Environment alongside the current Git branch

Working with a lot of Git branches can get a bit tricky when they align to different Amplify environments. I usually find myself checking amplify status or amplify env list to determine the active environment. Below is an approach that is a bit more dynamic and similar to what Git and Python virtual environments show while working in the terminal.

Prerequisites

You'll need to have the below installed for the function to take effect.

  • git - used to determine the root directory of your Amplify project
  • jq - helps with parsing JSON
  • oh-my-zsh - managing terminal functions and themes

Display the active Amplify env

Add the below into your .zshrc or .bashrc. The output of the function can be adjusted depending on how you'd like to display the information. I display mine to the left of the current working directory by adjusting my zsh custom theme (below). This puts the environment name in a similar spot to where an active Python virtual environment name will show.

# .zshrc

amplify_env () {
    PROJECT_DIR=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null) 

    ENV=$PROJECT_DIR/amplify/.config/local-env-info.json 

    if [ -f "$ENV" ]; then
        env_info=$(cat $ENV | jq -r ".envName") 
        echo "(🚀 $env_info)"
    fi
}

Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

The function checks for the current working environment name in the <project>/amplify/.config/local-env-info.json file. This approach requires a few extra steps but is quicker than re-computing on each terminal input using the amplify status CLI command.

After re-sourcing your .zshrc (below), the environment function can be invoked by running amplify_env in the terminal.

source ~/.zshrc
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Adding to a custom theme

If you're using oh-my-zsh, then you can adjust your theme (or any theme) to add the output of the function so that it shows in the terminal prompts. The updated PROMPT below now includes the Amplify environment function output (${amplify_env}).

# ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/themes/<my-custom-theme>.zsh-theme

- PROMPT='${ret_status} %{$fg[cyan]%}%c%{$reset_color%} '
+ PROMPT='$(amplify_env) ${ret_status} %{$fg[cyan]%}%c%{$reset_color%} '
...

Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Amplify env + Git branch = 🔥

Now the environment is displayed alongside the Git branch that is active. This is a nice way to quickly determine if I need to switch branches or environments to match. Make sure to initialize Git in the project(git init) if the environment name and the Git branch aren't showing.

Alt Text

Hopefully that helps keep your Amplify environments visually in sync with your current Git branch 🌲.

Image of Timescale

🚀 pgai Vectorizer: SQLAlchemy and LiteLLM Make Vector Search Simple

We built pgai Vectorizer to simplify embedding management for AI applications—without needing a separate database or complex infrastructure. Since launch, developers have created over 3,000 vectorizers on Timescale Cloud, with many more self-hosted.

Read full post →

Top comments (0)

Postmark Image

Speedy emails, satisfied customers

Are delayed transactional emails costing you user satisfaction? Postmark delivers your emails almost instantly, keeping your customers happy and connected.

Sign up