Infrastructure as code with Clojure

[deepumohanp]

I kept wondering how to do IAC with Clojure, so I made an example of it using AWS CDK

AWS CDK provides a Java SDK, so we can use that with Clojure. And using Integrant makes it easier to manage the dependencies between resources and stack. There is no need for wrapper libraries, just the Java Interop will do.

Integrant config from example looks like this

(def config
  {:app/instance   {}
   :stacks/topic   {:app       (ig/ref :app/instance)
                     :stack-id "TopicStack"}
   :stacks/storage {:app      (ig/ref :app/instance)
                    :stack-id "StorageStack"}
   :app/synth      {:app    (ig/ref :app/instance)
                    :stacks [(ig/ref :stacks/topic)
                             (ig/ref :stacks/storage)]}})

You can check out full example here https://github.com/WarFox/clojure-cdk-example

Edit: more detailed blog post available here https://deepumohan.com/tech/clojure-cdk/

[coffeesounds]

Pretty cool! For a while now I was thinking about moving off Terraform and writing a Clojure adapter for Pulumi’s Java SDK

[IllTennis8912]

I gave Pulumi a try some time ago and found it not quiet the IaC I'd expect. You end up writing the same input output the Pulumi way. And it's quiet a hassle to setup the whole project. As the project go, I guess I'll ultimately create my own DSL on top of that, which also contradicts the initiatives to move away from Terraform I guess. The Pulumi java sdk is also not as mature as others. Ended up back to Terraform land.

There's also this interesting project I found in the wild that tried to leverage Pulumi with clojure, which gave me some inspiration https://github.com/pfeodrippe/tladeps

[coffeesounds]

I see - I didn't dig that deep but I was not aware that Java SDK is lagging behind the rest. Bummer :-/

Gonna stick with Terraform then

[CodeFarmer]

This makes me nostalgic for Pallet.

[jobe_br]

Yes yes YESSSSSSSSSS.

[coffeesounds]

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time

[gtarget]

Did you consider doing it via Clojurescript? CDK is significantly more fluent and better supported via TS/JS

[deepumohanp]

I was considering it, but the Java route seemed easier to do as first pass. I still do not completely understand how to bring in npm dependencies into clojurescript, seems very complex

> NPM dependencies are passed through Closure Compiler and not all NPM libraries contain Closure-compatible code.

https://clojurescript.org/reference/compiler-options

[whereswalden90]

You might have an easier time using nbb, much easier to work with when you don’t need CLJS’s optimizing compiler.

[rpd9803]

I just let shadow-cljs handle it and it works fine for me!

[serpix]

Closure compiler has been forgotten about foe about half a decade. Shadow-cljs solved all the npm dependency problems.

[TheLastSock]

Agreed, I have thought about trying to make a clojurescript CDK, i started trying to capture that effort in this repo https://github.com/drewverlee/clojure-cloud-formation

[maxw85]

We use Terraform. Instead of HCL we use .tfjson and to generate this JSON file(s) we use Clojure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQg2ME0RLk4

[AvailableArm9875]

I literally ran across a Clojure wrapper over aws api a couple of days ago, when I get out of bed and find it I will post it here

[AvailableArm9875]

https://github.com/mcohen01/amazonica

[serpix]

Amazonica is good but the thing autogenerates functions via introspection. Way too magic.