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aws-ami-builder

✓ Official★ 697

by hashicorp · part of hashicorp/agent-skills

Build Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) with Packer using the amazon-ebs builder. Use when creating custom AMIs for EC2 instances.

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🧩 One of 7 skills in the hashicorp/agent-skills package — works on its own, and pairs well with its siblings.

Build Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) with Packer using the amazon-ebs builder. Use when creating custom AMIs for EC2 instances.

Inspect the full instructions your agent will receiveExpand

This is the exact playbook injected into your agent when the skill activates — shown here so you can audit it before installing. You don't need to read it to use the skill.

name: aws-ami-builder description: Build Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) with Packer using the amazon-ebs builder. Use when creating custom AMIs for EC2 instances.

AWS AMI Builder

Build Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) using Packer's amazon-ebs builder.

Reference: Amazon EBS Builder

Note: Building AMIs incurs AWS costs (EC2 instances, EBS storage, data transfer). Builds typically take 10-30 minutes depending on provisioning complexity.

Basic AMI Template

Copy & paste — that's it
packer {
  required_plugins {
    amazon = {
      source  = "github.com/hashicorp/amazon"
      version = "~> 1.3"
    }
  }
}

variable "region" {
  type    = string
  default = "us-west-2"
}

locals {
  timestamp = regex_replace(timestamp(), "[- TZ:]", "")
}

source "amazon-ebs" "ubuntu" {
  region        = var.region
  instance_type = "t3.micro"

  source_ami_filter {
    filters = {
      name                = "ubuntu/images/*ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"
      root-device-type    = "ebs"
      virtualization-type = "hvm"
    }
    most_recent = true
    owners      = ["099720109477"] # Canonical
  }

  ssh_username = "ubuntu"
  ami_name     = "my-app-${local.timestamp}"

  tags = {
    Name      = "my-app"
    BuildDate = local.timestamp
  }
}

build {
  sources = ["source.amazon-ebs.ubuntu"]

  provisioner "shell" {
    inline = [
      "sudo apt-get update",
      "sudo apt-get upgrade -y",
    ]
  }
}

Common Source AMI Filters

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Copy & paste — that's it
source_ami_filter {
  filters = {
    name                = "ubuntu/images/*ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"
    root-device-type    = "ebs"
    virtualization-type = "hvm"
  }
  most_recent = true
  owners      = ["099720109477"] # Canonical
}

Amazon Linux 2023

Copy & paste — that's it
source_ami_filter {
  filters = {
    name                = "al2023-ami-*-x86_64"
    root-device-type    = "ebs"
    virtualization-type = "hvm"
  }
  most_recent = true
  owners      = ["amazon"]
}

Multi-Region AMI

Copy & paste — that's it
source "amazon-ebs" "ubuntu" {
  region        = "us-west-2"
  instance_type = "t3.micro"

  source_ami_filter {
    filters = {
      name = "ubuntu/images/*ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"
    }
    most_recent = true
    owners      = ["099720109477"]
  }

  ssh_username = "ubuntu"
  ami_name     = "my-app-${local.timestamp}"

  # Copy to additional regions
  ami_regions = ["us-east-1", "us-east-2", "eu-west-1"]
}

Authentication

Packer uses AWS credential resolution:

  1. Environment variables: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
  2. AWS credentials file: ~/.aws/credentials
  3. IAM instance profile (when running on EC2)
Copy & paste — that's it
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
export AWS_REGION="us-west-2"

packer build .

Build Commands

Copy & paste — that's it
# Initialize plugins
packer init .

# Validate template
packer validate .

# Build AMI
packer build .

# Build with variables
packer build -var "region=us-east-1" .

References