Creating infrastructure

Clanker’s maker mode generates executable infrastructure plans from natural language requests. Instead of just querying your infrastructure, you can create, modify, and deploy resources using AI-generated AWS CLI commands.

How maker mode works

Maker mode uses a two-phase workflow:

Plan generation: AI analyzes your request and generates a JSON plan with AWS CLI commands
Plan execution: Clanker executes the plan with automatic error handling and retries

This approach gives you full control—you can review the plan before applying it, save plans for later, or modify them as needed.

Generate your first plan

Use the --maker flag to generate an infrastructure plan:

clanker ask --maker "create a small EC2 instance with a security group"

Clanker will analyze your request and output a JSON plan:

{
  "version": 1,
  "createdAt": "2026-03-01T10:30:00Z",
  "provider": "aws",
  "question": "create a small EC2 instance with a security group",
  "summary": "Creates EC2 instance with security group allowing SSH",
  "commands": [
    {
      "args": ["aws", "ec2", "create-security-group", 
               "--group-name", "my-instance-sg",
               "--description", "Security group for EC2 instance"],
      "reason": "Create security group for EC2 instance",
      "produces": {"SG_ID": "$.GroupId"}
    },
    {
      "args": ["aws", "ec2", "authorize-security-group-ingress",
               "--group-id", "<SG_ID>",
               "--protocol", "tcp", "--port", "22",
               "--cidr", "0.0.0.0/0"],
      "reason": "Allow SSH access"
    },
    {
      "args": ["aws", "ec2", "run-instances",
               "--image-id", "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0",
               "--instance-type", "t3.small",
               "--security-group-ids", "<SG_ID>",
               "--tag-specifications", "ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=my-instance}]"],
      "reason": "Launch EC2 instance",
      "produces": {"INSTANCE_ID": "$.Instances[0].InstanceId"}
    }
  ]
}

Notice the <SG_ID> placeholder—Clanker automatically chains outputs from one command as inputs to the next.

Review and save the plan

Before applying, save the plan to review it:

clanker ask --maker "create a small EC2 instance" > ec2-plan.json

Review the plan:

Check that AMI IDs are valid for your region
Verify security group rules match your requirements
Confirm instance types and sizes
Review IAM permissions if creating roles

You can edit the JSON manually if needed, but be careful to maintain valid structure.

Apply the plan

Once you’re satisfied with the plan, apply it:

clanker ask --apply < ec2-plan.json

Clanker will execute each command in order, with automatic:

Placeholder resolution: Fills in <SG_ID>, <INSTANCE_ID>, etc. from previous command outputs
Dependency ordering: Ensures resources are created in the correct sequence
Error handling: Retries transient failures, handles “already exists” gracefully
Progress updates: Shows real-time execution status

Example execution output:

[maker] executing command 1/3: create-security-group
[maker] ✓ security group created: sg-0a1b2c3d4e5f6 (SG_ID)

[maker] executing command 2/3: authorize-security-group-ingress  
[maker] ✓ ingress rule added

[maker] executing command 3/3: run-instances
[maker] ✓ instance launched: i-0a1b2c3d4e5f6 (INSTANCE_ID)

[maker] plan completed successfully (3/3 commands)

Create more complex infrastructure

Maker mode can handle complex multi-resource deployments:RDS database with VPC

clanker ask --maker "create a postgres RDS instance in a private subnet with a bastion host for access" > rds-plan.json

Lambda with API Gateway

clanker ask --maker "create a Python Lambda function with an HTTP API Gateway endpoint" > lambda-api-plan.json

ECS Fargate service

clanker ask --maker "deploy a containerized web app using ECS Fargate with an application load balancer" > ecs-plan.json

S3 website with CloudFront

clanker ask --maker "create an S3 bucket configured for static website hosting with CloudFront CDN" > s3-cdn-plan.json

Use profiles and regions

Specify AWS profile and region for plan generation:

# Generate plan for specific profile
clanker ask --maker --profile prod "create an EC2 instance" > prod-ec2.json

# Execute plan with specific profile
clanker ask --apply --profile prod --plan-file prod-ec2.json

The plan inherits region and account details from your profile configuration.

Advanced features

Automatic enrichment

Clanker automatically enriches plans with existing infrastructure context:

clanker ask --maker "add an EC2 instance to my existing VPC"

Clanker will:

Discover your existing VPC ID
Find appropriate subnets
Generate a plan using those resources
Bind placeholders to actual VPC/subnet IDs

No manual lookup required.

Error remediation

When execution fails, Clanker can automatically fix common issues: IAM propagation delays

[maker] error: role cannot be assumed by Lambda (propagation delay)
[maker] remediation: waiting 10s for IAM propagation...
[maker] ✓ retry successful

CIDR conflicts

[maker] error: CIDR block 10.0.0.0/16 conflicts with existing VPC
[maker] remediation: using AI to select alternative CIDR block
[maker] ✓ retrying with 10.1.0.0/16

Missing dependencies

[maker] error: subnet subnet-xxx does not exist
[maker] remediation: discovering available subnets...
[maker] ✓ using subnet-abc123 instead

Destructive operations

By default, maker mode rejects destructive operations. Use --destroyer to allow deletions:

# This will fail without --destroyer
clanker ask --maker "delete the test-db RDS instance"

# Allow destructive operations
clanker ask --maker --destroyer "delete the test-db RDS instance" > delete-plan.json
clanker ask --apply --destroyer < delete-plan.json

Always review plans with --destroyer carefully. Deletions are permanent.

Multi-cloud support

Maker mode supports multiple cloud providers:

GCP

# Generate GCP plan
clanker ask --gcp --maker "create a Cloud Run service" > gcp-plan.json

# Apply GCP plan
clanker ask --apply --gcp-project my-project < gcp-plan.json

Azure

# Generate Azure plan
clanker ask --azure --maker "create a virtual machine" > azure-plan.json

# Apply Azure plan  
clanker ask --apply --azure-subscription my-sub-id < azure-plan.json

Cloudflare

# Generate Cloudflare plan
clanker ask --cloudflare --maker "create a Workers function" > cf-plan.json

# Apply Cloudflare plan
clanker ask --apply < cf-plan.json

Best practices

Review before applying

Always inspect generated plans before execution. Look for unexpected resources, excessive permissions, or incorrect configurations.

Use version control

Store your plans in Git. This provides an audit trail and makes it easy to recreate environments.

Start small

Begin with simple resources (security groups, S3 buckets) before tackling complex multi-tier architectures.

Test in dev first

Apply plans to development environments before production. Use --profile dev to target specific accounts.

Example workflows

Complete web application

# 1. Generate complete infrastructure plan
clanker ask --maker "create a complete web application infrastructure with:
- VPC with public and private subnets
- Application Load Balancer
- ECS Fargate cluster
- RDS PostgreSQL database in private subnet
- ElastiCache Redis cluster
- S3 bucket for static assets
- CloudFront distribution
- Route53 DNS record" > webapp-infra.json

# 2. Review the plan
cat webapp-infra.json | jq '.commands[] | .reason'

# 3. Apply to staging
clanker ask --apply --profile staging --plan-file webapp-infra.json

# 4. After testing, apply to production
clanker ask --apply --profile prod --plan-file webapp-infra.json

Disaster recovery

# 1. Generate plan to recreate a failed instance
clanker ask --maker "recreate the api-server instance with the same configuration"

# 2. Apply immediately
clanker ask --maker --apply "recreate the api-server instance"

Troubleshooting

Plan generation fails

If plan generation fails:

# Use debug mode to see the LLM interaction
clanker ask --maker --debug "create an EC2 instance"

Common issues:

Request is too vague (be specific about instance types, regions, etc.)
AI quota exceeded (try a different provider with --ai-profile)
Invalid resource combinations (e.g., incompatible instance types)

Execution fails midway

If a plan fails during execution:

Clanker checkpoints progress—already created resources remain
Review error messages for the failed command
Fix the issue (e.g., add missing permissions)
Re-run --apply with the same plan (idempotent)

Example:

# Failed due to missing IAM permissions
[maker] error: User is not authorized to perform ec2:CreateSecurityGroup

# Add permissions, then re-run
clanker ask --apply < plan.json
# Clanker skips already-created resources

Placeholder not resolved

If you see unresolved placeholders like <VPC_ID> in execution:

Check that the producing command succeeded
Verify the JSONPath in produces is correct
Use --debug to see placeholder resolution

Manual resolution:

# Edit plan to replace placeholder with actual value
sed 's/<VPC_ID>/vpc-0a1b2c3d4e5f6/g' plan.json > plan-fixed.json
clanker ask --apply < plan-fixed.json

Next steps

Kubernetes setup

Create and manage Kubernetes clusters

Cost optimization

Use maker mode to implement cost-saving changes

Security best practices

Generate secure infrastructure configurations

Multi-environment

Manage dev, staging, and production with profiles

Tutorials

Use Cases

Best Practices

Creating infrastructure

How maker mode works

Advanced features

Automatic enrichment

Error remediation

Destructive operations

Multi-cloud support

GCP

Azure

Cloudflare

Best practices

Review before applying

Use version control

Start small

Test in dev first

Example workflows

Complete web application

Disaster recovery

Troubleshooting

Next steps

Kubernetes setup

Cost optimization

Security best practices

Multi-environment

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Tutorials

Use Cases

Best Practices

​How maker mode works

​Advanced features

​Automatic enrichment

​Error remediation

​Destructive operations

​Multi-cloud support

​GCP

​Azure

​Cloudflare

​Best practices

Review before applying

Use version control

Start small

Test in dev first

​Example workflows

​Complete web application

​Disaster recovery

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

Kubernetes setup

Cost optimization

Security best practices

Multi-environment

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

How maker mode works

Advanced features

Automatic enrichment

Error remediation

Destructive operations

Multi-cloud support

GCP

Azure

Cloudflare

Best practices

Example workflows

Complete web application

Disaster recovery

Troubleshooting

Next steps