(cli): import is not using a custom qualifier

[moltar]

Describe the bug

Similar to #29179, cdk import ignores qualifier set in the cdk.json context and tries to use defaults.

Which results in a failure.

Supplying the stack name fixes the problem, but it's not a scalable approach.

Regression Issue

• [ ] Select this option if this issue appears to be a regression.

Last Known Working CDK Version

2.171.0

Expected Behavior

cdk import to respect the qualifier.

Current Behavior

Does not respect the qualifier.

Reproduction Steps

Use a custom qualifier.

Try to do an import with a large template.

Get an error:

❌ my-stack-name failed: Error: Template too large to deploy ("cdk bootstrap" is required)

Possible Solution

No response

Additional Information/Context

No response

CDK CLI Version

2.171.0

Framework Version

No response

Node.js Version

22

OS

macOs

Language

TypeScript

Language Version

No response

Other information

No response

[ashishdhingra]

@moltar Good afternoon. Somehow, I'm unable to reproduce the issue using cdk import to import resources that generate more than 50KB of CloudFormation template. Used version 2.171.0 of aws-cdk-lib and CDK CLI. STEPS:

• Bootstrapped CDK account for region ap-south-1 using custom qualifier cdk bootstrap aws://<<ACCOUNT-ID>>/ap-south-1 --qualifier abcdefghi.
• Created a new CDK project. Modified cdk.json to add "@aws-cdk/core:bootstrapQualifier": "abcdefghi" context key.
• Using AWS CLI, created 150 test IAM roles using shell script for i in {1..150}; do aws iam create-role --assume-role-policy-document file://comprehend-trust-policy.json --role-name testrole$i; done.
• Using shell script for i in {1..150}; do echo "new iam.Role(this, 'testrole$i', { roleName: 'testrole$i', assumedBy: new iam.ServicePrincipal('comprehend.amazonaws.com')});"; done, generated the TypeScript code.
• Pasted the generated TypeScript code statements into my CDK stack.

• Ensured that bin/cskstack.ts during app creation, region is set to ap-south-1.

  #!/usr/bin/env node
  import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
  import { CdkimportCustomqualifierStack } from '../lib/cdkimport_customqualifier-stack';
  
  const app = new cdk.App();
  new CdkimportCustomqualifierStack(app, 'CdkimportCustomqualifierStack', {
  env: { account: process.env.CDK_DEFAULT_ACCOUNT, region: 'ap-south-1'}, //process.env.CDK_DEFAULT_REGION },
  });

• Executed command cdk import.
  • In S3 bucket, the template size is 68.6 KB.
  • cdk import is successful.

Please let me know if I'm missing anything. Did you also update the version of CDK CLI using command sudo npm install -g aws-cdk@latest?

Thanks, Ashish

[moltar]

Hi @ashishdhingra thank you for the repro steps.

I think the bootstrap stack name plays a role too.

In your repro, you still used the default one (CDKToolkit) which I'm guessing CDK then uses to find/infer some knowledge.

I use a different stack name. And what fixed the import for me was to explicitly set the stack name as the CLI option.

But IMO that should be unnecessary as there's nothing that CDK should need from that stack. Everything it needs to do the work is based on well known resource names based on the qualifier.