Leverage Amplify with Frontend Frameworks all while using Warp

July 05, 2025
3 min read
Adrianna Guevarra
Vite Warp Amplify Aws Fullstack

When it comes to building modern full-stack applications, I love tools that help me move quickly without compromising scalability. AWS Amplify is one of those tools — it lets you go from idea to deployment with minimal friction while still giving you serious backend power. Combined with React on the frontend and the sleek productivity boost of Warp, you’ve got a winning setup for both solo projects and collaborative team workflows.

In this post, I’ll walk you through:

  • What Amplify is and why I use it
  • How to set up a new React project (with Vite, my go-to)
  • How to hook up AWS Amplify for deployment
  • Team workflows that make Amplify shine

You can also check out the full slide deck here and watch the talk here.

What is AWS Amplify?

At its core, Amplify is AWS’s service for building, shipping, and hosting full-stack apps. Think of it as Backend-as-a-Service that plays nicely with almost any frontend you choose. It handles the heavy lifting so you can focus on features, not infrastructure headaches.

Backend Capabilities

  • REST APIs (Python, Node, etc.)
  • GraphQL APIs via AppSync
  • DynamoDB for NoSQL storage
  • Authentication via Cognito
  • S3 storage for files and assets

And on the frontend side? Use whatever framework you want — I use React, but it works just as well with Vue, Angular, or vanilla JavaScript.

Step 1: Create Your App

You can start your React app however you like, but I prefer Vite because it’s fast, lightweight, and simple to set up.

npm create vite@latest <name-of-app>
cd <name-of-app>
npm i vite
npm run dev

After verifying your local server is running, create a GitHub repo and push your new Vite project. That way, you’ll be ready to integrate it into a CI/CD workflow later.

Step 2: Hook Up Amplify

Before we connect Amplify, make sure the Amplify CLI is installed and that your AWS CLI profiles are set up on your machine (~/.aws/config and ~/.aws/credentials).

Here’s the flow I use:

  1. Initialize Amplify in your project root:
   amplify init
  • Specify your output directory (e.g., dist for Vite).
  1. Add hosting:
   amplify add hosting
  • Choose Amazon CloudFront and S3 or hook into GitHub for CI/CD.
  • Decide between dev (HTTP) or prod (HTTPS).
  • Set your hosting bucket name and index/error docs.
  1. Push changes:
   amplify publish

Boom — your app is live!

Step 3: Amplify Team Workflow

If you’re collaborating with others, Amplify makes syncing environments smooth. Here’s how we handle it:

  1. In a dev branch:
  • Run amplify init
  • Create or select your dev environment
  • Make sure your AWS profile has access to Amplify resources
  • Run amplify push to deploy your changes
  1. Commit and push your updates:
   git add -A && git commit -m "add API"

Create a PR, get approval, merge — and you’re done.

Step 4: Syncing Back to Your Local

Once changes are merged:

amplify status
amplify pull

You now have the updated backend locally without having to manually reconfigure.

Final Thoughts

Amplify isn’t just for solo projects — it’s built to handle collaborative workflows, CI/CD, and multi-env deployments without making you wade through endless AWS console pages.

With React on the frontend, Amplify powering the backend, and Warp streamlining your terminal workflow, you’ve got a stack that’s both fast to build and easy to maintain.

If you want to explore further, here are some helpful resources:

Happy coding — and have fun building your next app with the full power of Amplify!

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