Multiple Frontends with AWS Amplify

Goal

Build a React content management system that persists data (videos, images, etc.) to multiple React Native mobile apps.

Utilizing the following AWS Services for the backend:

• Hosting: Amplify Console
• Database: DynamoDB
• User Authentication: Cognito
• Storage: S3

Utilizing React for the website and React Native for the mobile apps.

Step 1: Create your GraphQL API

Run the following command:

amplify add api

Edit your schema:

type User 
@model(
  queries: { get: "getUser" },
  mutations: { create: "registerUser", update: "updateUser" },
  subscriptions: null
) {
  id: ID!
  username: String!
  email: String!
  registered: Boolean
  avatar: S3Object!
  createdAt: String
}

type Post @model @searchable @auth(rules: [{ allow: owner, identityClaim: "sub" }]) {
  id: ID!
  name: String!
  description: String!
  tags: [String]
  thumbnail: S3Object!
  video: S3Object!
  owner: String
  createdAt: String
  updatedAt: String
}

type S3Object {
  bucket: String!
  region: String!
  key: String!
}

Deploy the API:

amplify api push

You should now have a graphql folder in your project that lists all of your queries, mutations and subscriptions.

You can view your database in the DynamoDB dashboard.

Step 2: Add Authentication

amplify add auth

Create user groups:

❯ Manual configuration

Do you want to add User Pool Groups? (Use arrow keys)
❯ Yes

? Provide a name for your user pool group: Admins
? Do you want to add another User Pool Group Yes
? Provide a name for your user pool group: Editors
? Do you want to add another User Pool Group No
? Sort the user pool groups in order of preference …  (Use <shift>+<right/left> to change the order)
  Admins
  Editors

You can view user information in the Cognito dashboard.

Configure your Amplify application:

npm install aws-amplify

In App.js:

import Amplify, { Auth } from 'aws-amplify';
import awsconfig from './aws-exports';
Amplify.configure(awsconfig);

For more details on adding the Authentication UI, read the Amplify docs.

Step 3: Add Storage

amplify add storage

? Please select from one of the below mentioned services (Use arrow keys)
❯ Content (Images, audio, video, etc.)
  NoSQL Database

amplify push

Note: If you would like public read access for your files, be sure to set the appropriate permissions.

Configure:

import Amplify, { Storage } from 'aws-amplify';
import awsconfig from './aws-exports';
Amplify.configure(awsconfig);

You can view your files in the S3 dashboard.

For more details on adding Storage, read the Amplify docs.

Step 4: The fun part

Now let's connect the backend you created to a different frontend.

1. Go to your Amplify Console.
2. Click on the app you're working on.
3. Click "Backend Environments".
4. Click "Edit Backend".

Copy the line of code that looks like this:

amplify pull --appId ************* --envName *******

and run that command in your new frontend environment.

Important: Choose ‘No’ when asked if you want to modify or add new categories to your backend. Choosing ‘Yes’ will work, but it is highly recommended that you don't have your backend stored in two separate repositories for this can lead to unintended consequences with multiple sources of truth.

You will now have access to your amplifyconfiguration folder in src. This means you can now use the following in this second frontend:

import awsconfig from './aws-exports';
Amplify.configure(awsconfig);

You can now also copy over the graphql folder from your initial frontend over to your second frontend to utilize all of your queries, mutations and subscriptions.

Note: Whenever updating your API in your backend, make sure to copy over the new graphql files into your new frontend.

You did it!

You can now use AWS Amplify to access your backend data with multiple frontends. This can especially be useful when you need to share data between web and mobile.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message or ask in the comments!