AWS CloudFormation accelerates dev-test cycle with adjustable timeouts for custom resources

AWS CloudFormation launches a new property for custom resources called ServiceTimeout. This new property allows customers to set a maximum timeout for the execution of the provisioning logic in a custom resource, enabling faster feedback loops in dev-test cycles.

CloudFormation custom resources allow customers to write their own provisioning logic in CloudFormation templates and have CloudFormation run the logic during a stack operation. Custom resources use a callback pattern where the custom resource must respond to CloudFormation within a timeout of 1 hour. Previously, this timeout value was not configurable, so code bugs in the customer's custom resource logic resulted in long wait times. With the new ServiceTimeout property, customers can set a custom timeout value, after which CloudFormation fails the execution of the custom resource. This accelerates feedback on failures, allowing for quicker dev-test iterations.

The new ServiceTimeout property is available in all AWS Regions where AWS CloudFormation is available. Refer to the AWS Region table for details.

Refer to the custom resources documentation to learn more about the ServiceTimeout property.