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Support CloudFormation/CDK Express mode for faster sandbox deployments #3261

Description

@fossamagna

Environment information

System:
  OS: macOS 26.5.1
  CPU: (10) arm64 Apple M5
  Memory: 159.33 MB / 32.00 GB
  Shell: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node: 24.18.0 - /Users/fossamagna/.vite-plus/js_runtime/node/24.18.0/bin/node
  Yarn: 1.22.22 - /Users/fossamagna/.vite-plus/bin/yarn
  npm: 11.16.0 - /Users/fossamagna/.vite-plus/js_runtime/node/24.18.0/bin/npm
  pnpm: 10.33.4 - /Users/fossamagna/.vite-plus/bin/pnpm
NPM Packages:
  @aws-amplify/ai-constructs: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/auth-construct: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend: 1.22.0
  @aws-amplify/backend-ai: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend-auth: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend-cli: 1.8.2
  @aws-amplify/backend-data: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend-deployer: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend-function: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend-output-schemas: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend-output-storage: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend-secret: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/backend-storage: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/cli-core: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/client-config: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/data-construct: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/data-schema: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/deployed-backend-client: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/form-generator: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/model-generator: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/platform-core: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/plugin-types: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/sandbox: Not Found
  @aws-amplify/schema-generator: Not Found
  @aws-cdk/toolkit-lib: Not Found
  aws-amplify: 6.17.0
  aws-cdk-lib: 2.253.1
  typescript: 6.0.3
AWS environment variables:
  AWS_EC2_METADATA_DISABLED = true
No CDK environment variables

Describe the feature

I'd like ampx sandbox to support the newly released CloudFormation and CDK Express mode as an opt-in deployment option.

Express mode lets stack operations complete once resource configuration is applied, instead of waiting for extended stabilization (e.g. traffic-readiness checks, region propagation). AWS reports up to ~4x faster deployments, and it disables rollback by default to enable fast fix-and-retry iteration — a good fit for the sandbox development loop.

Today the sandbox deploy path uses @aws-cdk/toolkit-lib programmatically (Toolkit.deploy()), and for sandbox it passes:

deploymentMethod: { method: 'hotswap', fallback: { method: 'direct' } }

The request is to wire Express mode into this path — e.g. an opt-in flag such as ampx sandbox --express (or a config option) that enables Express mode when the underlying @aws-cdk/toolkit-lib exposes it (the corresponding CLI/SDK surface is cdk deploy --express / --deployment-config '{"mode":"EXPRESS"}').

Use case

When AI coding agents are iterating on amplify source code, the deployment feedback loop against the sandbox environment is a major bottleneck. Faster sandbox deployments via Express mode would let both human developers and AI agents receive deploy feedback significantly sooner, tightening the edit → deploy → verify cycle.

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