# AWS Amplify

> A shortcut for building and publishing web and mobile apps on AWS.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: AWS
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/aws-amplify/
- In Spanish: [AWS Amplify](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/aws-amplify/)

**AWS Amplify** is a set of tools for people who want to build an app, not learn fifty AWS services first. It covers the two halves of a typical web or mobile app: putting the frontend online, and giving it a backend with sign-in, a database and file uploads.

The hosting part is what most people meet first. You connect a Git repository, and every time you push a change Amplify builds the site and publishes it at a URL with HTTPS, served through a global CDN. Each branch can get its own preview address, so a teammate can try a change before it goes live. It works with common frameworks like React, Next.js or Vue.

For the backend, Amplify sets up real AWS services behind the scenes: Amazon Cognito for user accounts, a database on Amazon DynamoDB, file storage on Amazon S3. You describe what you need in a few lines of code, and its client libraries let the app sign users in or save a record without writing that plumbing yourself. The trade-off is the usual one for shortcuts: it is fast to start, and very custom architectures may eventually outgrow it.

## An analogy

A furnished apartment instead of an empty plot of land. You move in and start living right away; the wiring and plumbing are already there, even if you cannot easily move the walls.

## Keep in mind

- Hosts web apps straight from a Git repository, rebuilding on every push.
- Sets up sign-in, data and storage using Cognito, DynamoDB and S3.
- Gives each branch its own preview URL.
- Aimed at frontend and full-stack developers who want speed over fine control.

## Go deeper

- [What is AWS Amplify Hosting? (official docs)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amplify/latest/userguide/welcome.html)
- [AWS Amplify documentation](https://docs.amplify.aws/)
- [AWS Amplify](https://aws.amazon.com/amplify/)

## Related terms

- [Frontend and backend](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/frontend-and-backend/): The part of an app you see and touch, and the part that works behind it.
- [Database](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/database/): An organized store of data that programs can search and update safely.
- [Git](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/git/): A time machine for code: every change saved, by whom and why.
- [URL](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/url/): The full address of something on the web: protocol, site and path.
- [HTTPS](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/https/): The padlock in your browser: web traffic nobody in between can read.
- [CDN](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/cdn/): Copies of a website kept on servers around the world, close to whoever asks.
- [Framework](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/framework/): A ready-made skeleton for an app: it sets the structure and calls your code.
- [Amazon Cognito](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/amazon-cognito/): Sign-up, login and passwords for your app, handled by AWS instead of you.