Best practices for Application Composer external reference files

Use Application Composer with a local IDE

When you use Application Composer with a local IDE in local sync mode, you can use your local IDE to view and modify external files. Content from supported external files that are referenced on your template will automatically update in the Application Composer canvas. To learn more, see Connect the Application Composer console with your local IDE.

Keep external files within your project’s parent directory

You can create subdirectories within your project’s parent directory to organize your external files. Application Composer can’t access external files that are stored in a directory outside of your project’s parent directory.

Deploy your application using the AWS SAM CLI

When deploying your application to the AWS Cloud, local external files need to first be uploaded to an accessible location, such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). You can use the AWS SAM CLI to automatically facilitate this process. To learn more, see Upload local files at deployment in the AWS Serverless Application Model Developer Guide.