Migrate CloudFront distribution: Origin cache refresh

Summary

Move CDN delivery from CloudFront distribution to Ample, one component at a time. Destination verified on Ample: a no-cache object overwritten in the published bucket and the CDN URL serving the new content on the next fetch (refresh=ok before=v1 after=v2), verified by the app fetching its own public URL. Source procedure: Record the distribution's origins, cache behaviors, TTLs and the object keys the app references. Not migrated automatically: CloudFront cache behaviors, Lambda@Edge and CloudFront Functions, signed URLs and custom TTLs are not migrated; Ample verifies delivery of published bucket objects only. Cutover: Redeploy the app with the new asset base URL, verify delivery from the CDN URL, keep the distribution until confirmed, then disable it. Rollback: keep the source untouched until you confirm; nothing at the source is changed or deleted by this guide.

Infrastructure requirements

• CDN: verified (The CDN host serves objects from published buckets. It does not front app compute and is not a cache or key-value store.)

Prerequisites

• Authorized access to the CloudFront distribution source and its export tooling
• An inventory of every component in scope and out of scope
• A validated backup or copy before any cutover
• An Ample account token with servers:write, buckets:write

Exact tested configuration

• template: node-22
• runtime: node
• size: s-1vcpu-1gb
• install: npm install
• build: npm run build --if-present
• start: npm run start

Steps

1. Inventory the source. List what CloudFront distribution provides beyond the component you are moving. Out of scope here: CloudFront cache behaviors, Lambda@Edge and CloudFront Functions, signed URLs and custom TTLs are not migrated; Ample verifies delivery of published bucket objects only.
2. Source step 1. Record the distribution's origins, cache behaviors, TTLs and the object keys the app references.
3. Source step 2. Copy the public assets into a published Ample bucket under versioned keys with immutable Cache-Control.
4. Source step 3. Update the app to build asset URLs from the Ample public URL.
5. Publish the destination bucket. Create and publish the asset bucket, upload versioned assets with immutable Cache-Control, and point the app at the public URL.

   ample bucket publish <bucket-name>

6. Validate before cutover. Run the app's own checks and, for data, compare counts and checksums; the example checks are the pattern self-tests (/p/origin-cache-refresh).
7. Cut over. Redeploy the app with the new asset base URL, verify delivery from the CDN URL, keep the distribution until confirmed, then disable it.
8. Rollback. Point DNS or configuration back to the source. The source was never modified; deletion is a separate, user-executed step after validation.

Tested examples

• Next.js pattern fixture (destination) (tests/deploy-canaries/next-js-patterns): Verified destination basis: origin cache refresh.

Success checks

• destination app responds on its public URL (/ on the live URL, expect ample canary next js patterns)
• origin-cache-refresh check from the destination example (/p/origin-cache-refresh on the live URL, expect to see the pattern fixture checks)
• data or object counts and checksums match the source

Limitations

• Documentation only: nothing is executed automatically and no execution binding is offered.
• The source-side procedure is documented from CloudFront distribution's standard tooling and was not executed in this catalog's evidence; the destination side was verified with the pattern fixture.
• No full source-product parity is claimed: CloudFront cache behaviors, Lambda@Edge and CloudFront Functions, signed URLs and custom TTLs are not migrated; Ample verifies delivery of published bucket objects only.
• Verified on the node-22 template at s-1vcpu-1gb; region, compliance and request-duration limits are unknown.
• PutObject and GetObject with path-style addressing are verified; bulk copy tooling and other S3 operations are not.

Cost estimate

Estimated 5.00 USD per month (size prices from pricing.toml at build revision a1b8c38919e59cd035ebabaced73cf84ece24371).

• app server x1 s-1vcpu-1gb: 5.00 USD

Verification evidence

• canary_run on 2026-09-21T02:34:39Z at revision 1d28ae0-dirty (CLI 0.1.21): Destination side verified: the Next.js pattern fixture deployed on Ample (next build then next start -H 0.0.0.0 -p $PORT on the node-22 template) and its checks passed (a no-cache object overwritten in the published bucket and the CDN URL serving the new content on the next fetch (refresh=ok before=v1 after=v2), verified by the app fetching its own public URL). The source-side export from CloudFront distribution is documented from the vendor's standard tooling and was not executed by this catalog's evidence. (expires 2027-03-20T02:34:39Z)

Execution binding

No execution binding. This recipe is documentation only; nothing is executed automatically.