AWS Amplify/CLI vs AWS mobile hub

Question

I'm new with AWS mobile hub and today I just notice there is a new AWS Amplify/CL, now I'm super confused with these two libs.

My understanding was AWS mobile cli is a tool that create aws backend service, and amplify js just client library that hook up with the aws backend.

But now I see this AWS Amplify/CLI, it also can create aws service and also creates the aws-exports.js file, and now AWS Amplify docs has changed, it no longer tell you how would it works with mobile hub, instead use Amplify/CLI to create services.

Dose it mean I should use AWS Amplify/CLI instead?

Carmelocarmen

Answer 1

Use the Amplify CLI going forward, it's more flexible architecture that allows a comprehensive feature set. See the information in this post:

Existing Mobile Hub projects continue to work without requiring any app changes. If you’re using the AWS Mobile CLI for existing projects, you can also continue to use that older CLI. However, going forward, new features will be added to the AWS Amplify CLI toolchain which does not use Mobile Hub.

If you’re building a new mobile or web app, or adding cloud capabilities to brownfield apps, use the new AWS Amplify CLI. The new Amplify CLI will allow you to take advantage of all the new features outlined in this blog, as well as the rich CloudFormation functionality to unlock more workflows and future tooling.

Section: Existing tooling, https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/mobile/announcing-the-aws-amplify-cli-toolchain/

Koo

The problem with the amplify project at the time of this posting (late December '18) is that it is egregiously not ready for prime time. Multiple of the out-of-the-box starter tutorials simply don't work. Just look at the issue queue on GitHub. It's an embarrassment for AWS, really, that it's as bad as it is. Having wasted a few days trying to get various options to work, I couldn't in good conscience recommend that anyone place any reliance whatsoever on this system until Amazon figures out how to get it stabilized – Featurelength

@KevinS there are a lot of issues in the repo which are feature requests and not actual problems with the project. There are also many which are specific to frameworks/build tooling rather than the library. However could you let me know what you struggled with and I can look into it? – Koo

@KevinS Multiple environments probably isn't ready for primetime, but can you give specific examples of other features which do not work? I use both Amplify and Amplify CLI pretty extensively and they mostly solve problems rather than cause them. – Iroquoian

Answer 2

For current Mobile Hub users, we just released a Mobile Hub to Amplify CLI migrator that you can access here: https://github.com/awslabs/amplify-mobilehub-migrator. This will help you import your Mobile Hub resources into an Amplify project, give you an exports file, and allow you to leverage Amplify CLI features such as GraphQL APIs, Codegen, and the GraphQL Transform.

Kuehl

Answer 3

Update - AWS Mobile Hub will be replaced by AWS Amplify on October 30, 2021. Existing users should plan a migration strategy. For apps already deployed with Mobile Hub, resources created by Mobile Hub will continue to function.

"If you don't migrate your project to Amplify, your app will continue to function, and all your related cloud resources will continue to be available. However, you won't be able to access the Mobile Hub project container after October 15, 2021." - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-mobile/latest/developerguide/what-is-aws-mobile.html#migrate-to-amplify

Polyphonic