CDK Integration Tests and the Alpha Package Version Dance

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction Link to heading

So… we have a bunch of small CDK construct libraries that are mostly just a Lambda function. We added integration tests, like you do these days. And renovate, because we aren’t barbarians. And then I got this error while trying to address stupid nodejs runtime issues:

TypeError: (0 , core_1.determineLatestNodeRuntimeName) is not a function

The root cause is simple: CDK’s alpha packages (@aws-cdk/integ-tests-alpha, @aws-cdk/integ-runner) must exactly match your aws-cdk-lib version. And when you’re using Projen with experimentalIntegRunner: true, it adds these packages as latest, which works great until it doesn’t.

The NODEJS_LATEST Saga: A CDK Runtime Version Tale (with a Happy Ending)

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction Link to heading

I am of the strong opinion that infrastructure as code should actually, you know, manage your infrastructure. So you don’t have to.

That’s kind of the whole point of CDK.

Which is why it was so frustrating when our security team (reasonably!) demanded we update hundreds of Lambda functions to Node 22, and CDK’s NODEJS_LATEST was stuck on Node 18. And then Node 18 hit end-of-life in April 2025… and NODEJS_LATEST was still pointing at it.

Nodejs on agh1973

CDK Integration Tests and the Alpha Package Version Dance

Introduction Link to heading

The NODEJS_LATEST Saga: A CDK Runtime Version Tale (with a Happy Ending)

Introduction Link to heading