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StaticSite

caution

This is the SST v0.x Constructs doc. SST v1 is now released. If you are using v1, see the v1 Constructs doc. If you are looking to upgrade to v1, check out the migration steps.

The StaticSite construct is a higher level CDK construct that makes it easy to create a static website. It provides a simple way to build and deploy the site to an S3 bucket; setup a CloudFront CDN for fast content delivery; and configure a custom domain for the website URL. In addition:

  • Visitors to the http:// url will be redirected to the https:// URL.
  • If a domain alias is configured, visitors to the alias domain will be redirected to the main one. So if www.example.com is the domain alias for example.com, visitors to www.example.com will be redirected to example.com.

See the examples for more details.

Initializer​

new StaticSite(scope: Construct, id: string, props: StaticSiteProps)

Parameters

Examples​

The StaticSite construct is designed to make it easy to get started with, while allowing for a way to fully configure it as well. Let's look at how, through a couple of examples.

Creating a plain HTML site​

Deploys a plain HTML website in the path/to/src directory.

import { StaticSite } from "@serverless-stack/resources";

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
});

Creating a React site​

import { StaticSiteErrorOptions } from "@serverless-stack/resources";

new StaticSite(this, "ReactSite", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  buildOutput: "build",
  buildCommand: "npm run build",
  errorPage: StaticSiteErrorOptions.REDIRECT_TO_INDEX_PAGE,
});

If you are using Create React App, we created the ReactStaticSite construct to make it even easier to deploy React apps.

Creating a Vue.js site​

new StaticSite(this, "VueJSSite", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  buildOutput: "dist",
  buildCommand: "npm run build",
  errorPage: StaticSiteErrorOptions.REDIRECT_TO_INDEX_PAGE,
});

Creating a Gatsby site​

new StaticSite(this, "GatsbySite", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  errorPage: "404.html",
  buildOutput: "public",
  buildCommand: "npm run build",
});

Creating a Jekyll site​

new StaticSite(this, "JekyllSite", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  errorPage: "404.html",
  buildOutput: "_site",
  buildCommand: "bundle exec jekyll build",
});

Creating an Angular site​

new StaticSite(this, "AngularSite", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  buildOutput: "dist",
  buildCommand: "ng build --output-path dist",
  errorPage: StaticSiteErrorOptions.REDIRECT_TO_INDEX_PAGE,
});

Creating a Svelte site​

new StaticSite(this, "SvelteSite", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  buildOutput: "dist",
  buildCommand: "npm run build",
  errorPage: StaticSiteErrorOptions.REDIRECT_TO_INDEX_PAGE,
  environment: {
    // Pass in the API endpoint to our app
    VITE_APP_API_URL: api.url,
  },
});

Configuring environment variables​

The StaticSite construct allows you to set the environment variables that are passed through your build system based on outputs from other constructs in your SST app. So you don't have to hard code the config from your backend.

You need to be using a build tool that supports setting build time environment variables (most do). For example, Create React App supports this through webpack. We'll use it as an example.

In your JS files this looks like:

src/App.js
console.log(process.env.REACT_APP_API_URL);
console.log(process.env.REACT_APP_USER_POOL_CLIENT);

And in your HTML files:

public/index.html
<p>Api endpoint is: %REACT_APP_API_URL%</p>

You can pass these in directly from the construct.

new StaticSite(this, "ReactSite", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  environment: {
    REACT_APP_API_URL: api.url,
    REACT_APP_USER_POOL_CLIENT: auth.cognitoUserPoolClient.userPoolClientId,
  },
});

Where api.url or auth.cognitoUserPoolClient.userPoolClientId are coming from other constructs in your SST app.

While deploying​

On sst deploy, the environment variables will first be replaced by placeholder values, {{ REACT_APP_API_URL }} and {{ REACT_APP_USER_POOL_CLIENT }}, when building the app. And after the referenced resources have been created, the Api and User Pool in this case, the placeholders in the HTML and JS files will then be replaced with the actual values.

While developing​

To use these values while developing, run sst start to start the Live Lambda Development environment.

npx sst start

Then in your app to reference these variables, add the sst-env.

npm install --save-dev @serverless-stack/static-site-env

And tweak the start script to:

package.json
"scripts": {
  "start": "sst-env -- react-scripts start",
  "build": "react-scripts build",
  "test": "react-scripts test",
  "eject": "react-scripts eject"
},

Now you can start your app as usual and it'll have the environment variables from your SST app.

npm run start

There are a couple of things happening behind the scenes here:

  1. The sst start command generates a file with the values specified by StaticSite's environment prop.
  2. The sst-env CLI will traverse up the directories to look for the root of your SST app.
  3. It'll then find the file that's generated in step 1.
  4. It'll load these as environment variables before running the start command.
note

sst-env only works if the app is located inside the SST app or inside one of its subdirectories. For example:

/
  sst.json
  react-app/

Configuring custom domains​

You can configure the website with a custom domain hosted either on Route 53 or externally.

Using the basic config (Route 53 domains)​

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  customDomain: "domain.com",
});

Redirect www to non-www (Route 53 domains)​

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  customDomain: {
    domainName: "domain.com",
    domainAlias: "www.domain.com",
  },
});

Configuring domains across stages (Route 53 domains)​

export default class MyStack extends Stack {
  constructor(scope, id, props) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
      path: "path/to/src",
      customDomain: {
        domainName:
          scope.stage === "prod" ? "domain.com" : `${scope.stage}.domain.com`,
        domainAlias: scope.stage === "prod" ? "www.domain.com" : undefined,
      },
    });
  }
}

Using the full config (Route 53 domains)​

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  customDomain: {
    domainName: "domain.com",
    domainAlias: "www.domain.com",
    hostedZone: "domain.com",
  },
});

Importing an existing certificate (Route 53 domains)​

import { Certificate } from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-certificatemanager";

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  customDomain: {
    domainName: "domain.com",
    certificate: Certificate.fromCertificateArn(this, "MyCert", certArn),
  },
});

Note that, the certificate needs be created in the us-east-1(N. Virginia) region as required by AWS CloudFront.

Specifying a hosted zone (Route 53 domains)​

If you have multiple hosted zones for a given domain, you can choose the one you want to use to configure the domain.

import { HostedZone } from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-route53";

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  customDomain: {
    domainName: "domain.com",
    hostedZone: HostedZone.fromHostedZoneAttributes(this, "MyZone", {
      hostedZoneId,
      zoneName,
    }),
  },
});

Configuring externally hosted domain​

import { Certificate } from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-certificatemanager";

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  customDomain: {
    isExternalDomain: true,
    domainName: "domain.com",
    certificate: Certificate.fromCertificateArn(this, "MyCert", certArn),
  },
});

Note that the certificate needs be created in the us-east-1(N. Virginia) region as required by AWS CloudFront, and validated. After the Distribution has been created, create a CNAME DNS record for your domain name with the Distribution's URL as the value. Here are more details on configuring SSL Certificate on externally hosted domains.

Also note that you can also migrate externally hosted domains to Route 53 by following this guide.

Configure caching​

Configure the Cache Control settings based on different file types.

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  buildOutput: "build",
  buildCommand: "npm run build",
  errorPage: StaticSiteErrorOptions.REDIRECT_TO_INDEX_PAGE,
  fileOptions: [
    {
      exclude: "*",
      include: "*.html",
      cacheControl: "max-age=0,no-cache,no-store,must-revalidate",
    },
    {
      exclude: "*",
      include: ["*.js", "*.css"],
      cacheControl: "max-age=31536000,public,immutable",
    },
  ],
});

This configures all the .html files to not be cached by the, while the .js and .css files to be cached forever.

Note that, you need to specify the exclude: "*" along with the include option. It allows you to pick the files you want, while excluding everything else.

Replace deployed values​

Replace placeholder values in your website content with the deployed values. So you don't have to hard code the config from your backend.

new StaticSite(this, "ReactSite", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  buildOutput: "build",
  buildCommand: "npm run build",
  errorPage: StaticSiteErrorOptions.REDIRECT_TO_INDEX_PAGE,
  replaceValues: [
    {
      files: "**/*.js",
      search: "{{ API_URL }}",
      replace: api.url,
    },
    {
      files: "**/*.js",
      search: "{{ COGNITO_USER_POOL_CLIENT_ID }}",
      replace: auth.cognitoUserPoolClient.userPoolClientId,
    },
  ],
});

This replaces {{ API_URL }} and {{ COGNITO_USER_POOL_CLIENT_ID }} with the deployed API endpoint and Cognito User Pool Client Id in all the .js files in your React app.

Configuring the S3 Bucket​

Configure the internally created CDK Bucket instance.

import { RemovalPolicy } from "aws-cdk-lib";

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  s3Bucket: {
    removalPolicy: RemovalPolicy.DESTROY,
  },
});

Configuring the CloudFront Distribution​

Configure the internally created CDK Distribution instance.

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  cfDistribution: {
    comment: "Distribution for my React website",
  },
});

Configuring the CloudFront default behavior​

The default behavior of the CloudFront distribution uses the internally created S3 bucket as the origin. You can configure this behavior.

import {
  ViewerProtocolPolicy,
  AllowedMethods,
} from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudfront";

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  cfDistribution: {
    defaultBehavior: {
      viewerProtocolPolicy: ViewerProtocolPolicy.HTTPS_ONLY,
      allowedMethods: AllowedMethods.ALLOW_ALL,
    },
  },
});

Using Lambda@Edge​

import { LambdaEdgeEventType, experimental } from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudfront";

const edgeFunc = new experimental.EdgeFunction(this, "MyFunction", {
  runtime: lambda.Runtime.NODEJS_12_X,
  handler: "lambda.handler",
  code: lambda.Code.fromAsset("path/to/dir"),
  stackId: `${scope.logicalPrefixedName("edge-lambda")}`,
});

new StaticSite(this, "Site", {
  path: "path/to/src",
  cfDistribution: {
    defaultBehavior: {
      edgeLambdas: [
        {
          functionVersion: edgeFunc.currentVersion,
          eventType: LambdaEdgeEventType.VIEWER_RESPONSE,
        },
      ],
    },
  },
});

Note that, Lambda@Edge functions will be created in the us-east-1 region, regardless of the region of your SST app. If the app is in us-east-1, the Lambda function is created directly in the stack. If the app is not in us-east-1, the Lambda function will be created in a new stack with the provided stackId. And the new stack will be deployed to us-east-1.

caution

On sst remove, the Lambda@Edge functions cannot be removed right away. CloudFront needs to remove the function replicas from the edge locations. This can take up to a few hours. If the stack fails to remove, simply wait for some time and retry.

Properties​

An instance of StaticSite contains the following properties.

url​

Type: string

The CloudFront URL of the website.

customDomainUrl?​

Type: string

If the custom domain is enabled, this is the URL of the website with the custom domain.

bucketArn​

Type: string

The ARN of the internally created CDK Bucket instance.

bucketName​

Type: string

The name of the internally created CDK Bucket instance.

distributionId​

Type: string

The ID of the internally created CDK Distribution instance.

distributionDomain​

Type: string

The domain name of the internally created CDK Distribution instance.

s3Bucket​

Type : cdk.aws-s3.Bucket

The internally created CDK Bucket instance.

cfDistribution​

Type : cdk.aws-cloudfront.Distribution

The internally created CDK Distribution instance.

hostedZone?​

Type : cdk.aws-route53.IHostedZone

The Route 53 hosted zone for the custom domain.

acmCertificate?​

Type : cdk.aws-certificatemanager.ICertificate

The AWS Certificate Manager certificate for the custom domain.

StaticSiteProps​

path​

Type : string

Path to the directory where the website source is located.

indexPage?​

Type : string, defaults to index.html

The name of the index page (e.g. "index.html") of the website.

errorPage?​

Type : string | StaticSiteErrorOptions

The error page behavior for this website. Takes either an HTML page.

404.html

Or the StaticSiteErrorOptions to redirect to the index page.

StaticSiteErrorOptions.REDIRECT_TO_INDEX_PAGE

Note that, if the error pages are redirected to the index page, the HTTP status code is set to 200. This is necessary for single page apps, that handle 404 pages on the client side.

buildCommand?​

Type : string, defaults to no build command

The command for building the website (e.g. "npm run build").

buildOutput?​

Type : string, defaults to the path

The directory with the content that will be uploaded to the S3 bucket. If a buildCommand is provided, this is usually where the build output is generated. The path is relative to the path where the website source is located.

customDomain?​

Type : string | StaticSiteDomainProps

The customDomain for this website. SST supports domains that are hosted either on Route 53 or externally.

Note that you can also migrate externally hosted domains to Route 53 by following this guide.

Takes either the domain as a string.

"domain.com"

Or the StaticSiteDomainProps.

{
  domainName: "domain.com",
  domainAlias: "www.domain.com",
  hostedZone: "domain.com",
}

fileOptions?​

Type : StaticSiteDomainProps[]

Pass in a list of file options to configure cache control for different files. Behind the scenes, the StaticSite construct uses a combination of the s3 cp and s3 sync commands to upload the website content to the S3 bucket. An s3 cp command is run for each file option block, and the options are passed in as the command options.

For example, the follow configuration:

{
  exclude: "*",
  include: "*.js",
  cacheControl: "max-age=31536000,public,immutable",
}

runs the s3 cp commands:

s3 cp CONTENT_DIR s3://BUCKET_NAME/deploy-2021-06-21T06:05:37.720Z --recursive --exclude * --include *.js --cache-control max-age=31536000,public,immutable

After the s3 cp commands are run, the construct will run an s3 sync command to upload all files not explicitely configured in fileOptions.

environment?​

Type : { [key: string]: string }

An associative array with the key being the environment variable name. Note, this requires your build tool to support build time environment variables.

{
  REACT_APP_API_URL: api.url;
}

replaceValues?​

Type : StaticSiteReplaceProps[]

Pass in a list of placeholder values to be replaced in the website content. For example, the follow configuration:

{
  files: "*.js",
  search: "{{ API_URL }}",
  replace: api.url,
}

Replaces {{ API_URL }} with the deployed API url in all the .js files.

s3Bucket?​

Type: cdk.aws-s3.BucketProps

Pass in a cdk.aws-s3.BucketProps value to override the default settings this construct uses to create the CDK Bucket internally.

cfDistribution?​

Type: StaticSiteCdkDistributionProps

Pass in a StaticSiteCdkDistributionProps value to override the default settings this construct uses to create the CDK Distribution internally.

purgeFiles?​

Type : boolean, defaults to true

While deploying, SST removes old files that no longer exist. Pass in false to keep the old files around.

waitForInvalidation?​

Type : boolean, defaults to true

While deploying, SST waits for the CloudFront cache invalidation process to finish. This ensures that the new content will be served once the deploy command finishes. However, this process can sometimes take more than 5 mins. For non-prod environments it might make sense to pass in false. That'll skip waiting for the cache to invalidate and speed up the deploy process.

disablePlaceholder?​

Type : boolean, defaults to false

When running sst start, a placeholder site is deployed. This is to ensure that the site content remains unchanged, and subsequent sst start can start up quickly.

StaticSiteDomainProps​

domainName​

Type : string

The domain to be assigned to the website URL (ie. domain.com).

Supports domains that are hosted either on Route 53 or externally.

domainAlias?​

Type : string, defaults to no alias configured

An alternative domain to be assigned to the website URL. Visitors to the alias will be redirected to the main domain. (ie. www.domain.com).

Use this to create a www. version of your domain and redirect visitors to the root domain.

hostedZone?​

Type : string | cdk.aws-route53.IHostedZone, defaults to the domain name

The hosted zone in Route 53 that contains the domain. Takes the name of the hosted zone as a string or the hosted zone construct cdk.aws-route53.HostedZone. By default, SST will look for a hosted zone matching the domainName that's passed in.

Set this option if SST cannot find the hosted zone in Route 53.

certificate?​

Type : cdk.aws-certificatemanager.ICertificate, defaults to undefined

The certificate for the domain. By default, SST will create a certificate with the domain name from the domainName option. The certificate will be created in the us-east-1(N. Virginia) region as required by AWS CloudFront.

Set this option if you have an existing certificate in the us-east-1 region in AWS Certificate Manager you want to use.

alternateNames?​

Type : string[], defaults to []

Specify additional names that should route to the Cloudfront Distribution. Note, certificates for these names will not be automatically generated so the certificate option must be specified.

isExternalDomain?​

Type : boolean, defaults to false

Set this option if the domain is not hosted on Amazon Route 53.

StaticSiteFileOption​

exclude​

Type : string | string[]

Exclude all files that matches the given pattern.

include​

Type : string | string[]

Don't exclude files that match the given pattern.

cacheControl​

Type : string

Specifies caching behavior for the included files.

StaticSiteReplaceProps​

files​

Type : string

The glob pattern of all files to be searched.

Type : string

A string that is to be replaced by the replace prop. Note that this isn't a regular expression. And all the occurrences will be replaced.

replace​

Type : string

The string that replaces the substring specified by the specified search prop.

StaticSiteCdkDistributionProps​

StaticSiteCdkDistributionProps extends cdk.aws-cloudfront.DistributionProps with the exception that the defaultBehavior field is optional and takes a cdk.aws-cloudfront.AddBehaviorOptions object.

You can use StaticSiteCdkDistributionProps to configure the CloudFront distribution properties.

StaticSiteErrorOptions​

An enum with the following members representing the field types.

MemberDescription
REDIRECT_TO_INDEX_PAGERedirect any invalid url to the indexPage.