Yan Cui
I help clients go faster for less using serverless technologies.
Ok, ok, AWS hasn’t announced a whole new class of intrinsic functions for you to use in CloudFormation. But if you’re using the Serverless framework then I have a treat for you :-) I created a plugin for the Serverless framework that lets you use a number of custom Fn:: functions in your serverless.yml.
The problem
The motivation for this plugin came from a challenge we had encountered at DAZN. We had a use case where we wanted to specify a CloudFormation condition that behaves like Javascript’s startsWith function.
The available set of Condition functions is fairly constrained. Even simple logic such as the one described above proved tricky and the code was not easily comprehensible.
“Extrinsic” functions
This plugin lets you use a number of custom functions anywhere in your serverless.yml as if they’re CloudFormation’s intrinsic functions. For example, you can use them as part of CloudFormation Conditions. To implement the startsWith logic, we can simply use the Fn::StartsWith function:
All and all, 8 custom functions are supported out-of-the-box. And it’s pretty trivial to add support for additional functions in the future. Let me know in the comments below if you have use cases that are difficult to implement with CloudFormation’s intrinsic functions. Maybe I can make your life easier by supporting them as extrinsic functions 
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
- Production-Ready Serverless: Join 20+ AWS Heroes & Community Builders and 1000+ other students in levelling up your serverless game. This is your one-stop shop to level up your serverless skills quickly.
- Do you want to know how to test serverless architectures with a fast dev & test loop? Check out my latest course, Testing Serverless Architectures and learn the smart way to test serverless.
- I help clients launch product ideas, improve their development processes and upskill their teams. If you’d like to work together, then let’s get in touch.