There are more AWS SDK examples available in the AWS Doc SDK Examples
Use CreateDistribution with an AWS SDK or CLI
The following code examples show how to use CreateDistribution.
Action examples are code excerpts from larger programs and must be run in context. You can see this action in context in the following code example:
- CLI
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- AWS CLI
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Example 1: To create a CloudFront distribution
The following
create-distributionexample creates a distribution for an S3 bucket namedamzn-s3-demo-bucket, and also specifiesindex.htmlas the default root object, using command line arguments.aws cloudfront create-distribution \ --origin-domain-nameamzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com\ --default-root-objectindex.htmlOutput:
{ "Location": "https://cloudfront.amazonaws.com/2019-03-26/distribution/EMLARXS9EXAMPLE", "ETag": "E9LHASXEXAMPLE", "Distribution": { "Id": "EMLARXS9EXAMPLE", "ARN": "arn:aws:cloudfront::123456789012:distribution/EMLARXS9EXAMPLE", "Status": "InProgress", "LastModifiedTime": "2019-11-22T00:55:15.705Z", "InProgressInvalidationBatches": 0, "DomainName": "d111111abcdef8.cloudfront.net", "ActiveTrustedSigners": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "DistributionConfig": { "CallerReference": "cli-example", "Aliases": { "Quantity": 0 }, "DefaultRootObject": "index.html", "Origins": { "Quantity": 1, "Items": [ { "Id": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket---s3.amazonaws.com.rproxy.govskope.ca-cli-example", "DomainName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com", "OriginPath": "", "CustomHeaders": { "Quantity": 0 }, "S3OriginConfig": { "OriginAccessIdentity": "" } } ] }, "OriginGroups": { "Quantity": 0 }, "DefaultCacheBehavior": { "TargetOriginId": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket---s3.amazonaws.com.rproxy.govskope.ca-cli-example", "ForwardedValues": { "QueryString": false, "Cookies": { "Forward": "none" }, "Headers": { "Quantity": 0 }, "QueryStringCacheKeys": { "Quantity": 0 } }, "TrustedSigners": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "ViewerProtocolPolicy": "allow-all", "MinTTL": 0, "AllowedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": [ "HEAD", "GET" ], "CachedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": [ "HEAD", "GET" ] } }, "SmoothStreaming": false, "DefaultTTL": 86400, "MaxTTL": 31536000, "Compress": false, "LambdaFunctionAssociations": { "Quantity": 0 }, "FieldLevelEncryptionId": "" }, "CacheBehaviors": { "Quantity": 0 }, "CustomErrorResponses": { "Quantity": 0 }, "Comment": "", "Logging": { "Enabled": false, "IncludeCookies": false, "Bucket": "", "Prefix": "" }, "PriceClass": "PriceClass_All", "Enabled": true, "ViewerCertificate": { "CloudFrontDefaultCertificate": true, "MinimumProtocolVersion": "TLSv1", "CertificateSource": "cloudfront" }, "Restrictions": { "GeoRestriction": { "RestrictionType": "none", "Quantity": 0 } }, "WebACLId": "", "HttpVersion": "http2", "IsIPV6Enabled": true } } }Example 2: To create a CloudFront distribution using a JSON file
The following
create-distributionexample creates a distribution for an S3 bucket namedamzn-s3-demo-bucket, and also specifiesindex.htmlas the default root object, using a JSON file.aws cloudfront create-distribution \ --distribution-configfile://dist-config.jsonContents of
dist-config.json:{ "CallerReference": "cli-example", "Aliases": { "Quantity": 0 }, "DefaultRootObject": "index.html", "Origins": { "Quantity": 1, "Items": [ { "Id": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket---s3.amazonaws.com.rproxy.govskope.ca-cli-example", "DomainName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com", "OriginPath": "", "CustomHeaders": { "Quantity": 0 }, "S3OriginConfig": { "OriginAccessIdentity": "" } } ] }, "OriginGroups": { "Quantity": 0 }, "DefaultCacheBehavior": { "TargetOriginId": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket---s3.amazonaws.com.rproxy.govskope.ca-cli-example", "ForwardedValues": { "QueryString": false, "Cookies": { "Forward": "none" }, "Headers": { "Quantity": 0 }, "QueryStringCacheKeys": { "Quantity": 0 } }, "TrustedSigners": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "ViewerProtocolPolicy": "allow-all", "MinTTL": 0, "AllowedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": [ "HEAD", "GET" ], "CachedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": [ "HEAD", "GET" ] } }, "SmoothStreaming": false, "DefaultTTL": 86400, "MaxTTL": 31536000, "Compress": false, "LambdaFunctionAssociations": { "Quantity": 0 }, "FieldLevelEncryptionId": "" }, "CacheBehaviors": { "Quantity": 0 }, "CustomErrorResponses": { "Quantity": 0 }, "Comment": "", "Logging": { "Enabled": false, "IncludeCookies": false, "Bucket": "", "Prefix": "" }, "PriceClass": "PriceClass_All", "Enabled": true, "ViewerCertificate": { "CloudFrontDefaultCertificate": true, "MinimumProtocolVersion": "TLSv1", "CertificateSource": "cloudfront" }, "Restrictions": { "GeoRestriction": { "RestrictionType": "none", "Quantity": 0 } }, "WebACLId": "", "HttpVersion": "http2", "IsIPV6Enabled": true }See Example 1 for sample output.
Example 3: To create a CloudFront multi-tenant distribution with a certificate
The following
create-distributionexample creates a CloudFront distribution with multi-tenant support and a specifies a TLS certificate.aws cloudfront create-distribution \ --distribution-configfile://dist-config.jsonContents of
dist-config.json:{ "CallerReference": "cli-example-with-cert", "Comment": "CLI example distribution", "DefaultRootObject": "index.html", "Origins": { "Quantity": 1, "Items": [ { "Id": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "DomainName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "OriginPath": "/{{tenantName}}", "CustomHeaders": { "Quantity": 0 }, "S3OriginConfig": { "OriginAccessIdentity": "" } } ] }, "DefaultCacheBehavior": { "TargetOriginId": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "CachePolicyId": "658327ea-f89d-4fab-a63d-7e88639e5ABC", "ViewerProtocolPolicy": "allow-all", "AllowedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": ["HEAD", "GET"], "CachedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": ["HEAD", "GET"] } } }, "Enabled": true, "ViewerCertificate": { "ACMCertificateArn": "arn:aws:acm:us-east-1:123456789012:certificate/191306a1-db01-49ca-90ef-fc414ee5dabc", "SSLSupportMethod": "sni-only" }, "HttpVersion": "http2", "ConnectionMode": "tenant-only", "TenantConfig": { "ParameterDefinitions": [ { "Name": "tenantName", "Definition": { "StringSchema": { "Comment": "tenantName parameter", "DefaultValue": "root", "Required": false } } } ] } }Output:
{ "Location": "https://cloudfront.amazonaws.com/2020-05-31/distribution/E1HVIAU7UABC", "ETag": "E20LT7R1BABC", "Distribution": { "Id": "E1HVIAU7U12ABC", "ARN": "arn:aws:cloudfront::123456789012:distribution/E1HVIAU7U12ABC", "Status": "InProgress", "LastModifiedTime": "2025-07-10T20:33:31.117000+00:00", "InProgressInvalidationBatches": 0, "DomainName": "example.com", "ActiveTrustedSigners": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "ActiveTrustedKeyGroups": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "DistributionConfig": { "CallerReference": "cli-example-with-cert", "DefaultRootObject": "index.html", "Origins": { "Quantity": 1, "Items": [ { "Id": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "DomainName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "OriginPath": "/{{tenantName}}", "CustomHeaders": { "Quantity": 0 }, "S3OriginConfig": { "OriginAccessIdentity": "" }, "ConnectionAttempts": 3, "ConnectionTimeout": 10, "OriginShield": { "Enabled": false }, "OriginAccessControlId": "" } ] }, "OriginGroups": { "Quantity": 0 }, "DefaultCacheBehavior": { "TargetOriginId": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "TrustedKeyGroups": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "ViewerProtocolPolicy": "allow-all", "AllowedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": ["HEAD", "GET"], "CachedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": ["HEAD", "GET"] } }, "Compress": false, "LambdaFunctionAssociations": { "Quantity": 0 }, "FunctionAssociations": { "Quantity": 0 }, "FieldLevelEncryptionId": "", "CachePolicyId": "658327ea-f89d-4fab-a63d-7e88639e5ABC", "GrpcConfig": { "Enabled": false } }, "CacheBehaviors": { "Quantity": 0 }, "CustomErrorResponses": { "Quantity": 0 }, "Comment": "CLI example distribution", "Logging": { "Enabled": false, "IncludeCookies": false, "Bucket": "", "Prefix": "" }, "Enabled": true, "ViewerCertificate": { "CloudFrontDefaultCertificate": false, "ACMCertificateArn": "arn:aws:acm:us-east-1:123456789012:certificate/1954f095-11b6-4daf-9952-0c308a00abc", "SSLSupportMethod": "sni-only", "MinimumProtocolVersion": "TLSv1.2_2021", "Certificate": "arn:aws:acm:us-east-1:123456789012:certificate/1954f095-11b6-4daf-9952-0c308a00abc", "CertificateSource": "acm" }, "Restrictions": { "GeoRestriction": { "RestrictionType": "none", "Quantity": 0 } }, "WebACLId": "", "HttpVersion": "http2", "TenantConfig": { "ParameterDefinitions": [ { "Name": "tenantName", "Definition": { "StringSchema": { "Comment": "tenantName parameter", "DefaultValue": "root", "Required": false } } } ] }, "ConnectionMode": "tenant-only" } } }For more information, see Working with distributions in the Amazon CloudFront Developer Guide.
Example 4: To create a CloudFront multi-tenant distribution without a certificate
The following
create-distributionexample creates a CloudFront distribution with multi-tenant support but without a TLS certificate.aws cloudfront create-distribution \ --distribution-configfile://dist-config.jsonContents of
dist-config.json:{ "CallerReference": "cli-example", "Comment": "CLI example distribution", "DefaultRootObject": "index.html", "Origins": { "Quantity": 1, "Items": [ { "Id": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "DomainName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "OriginPath": "/{{tenantName}}", "CustomHeaders": { "Quantity": 0 }, "S3OriginConfig": { "OriginAccessIdentity": "" } } ] }, "DefaultCacheBehavior": { "TargetOriginId": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "CachePolicyId": "658327ea-f89d-4fab-a63d-7e88639e5ABC", "ViewerProtocolPolicy": "allow-all", "AllowedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": [ "HEAD", "GET" ], "CachedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": [ "HEAD", "GET" ] } } }, "Enabled": true, "HttpVersion": "http2", "ConnectionMode": "tenant-only", "TenantConfig": { "ParameterDefinitions": [ { "Name": "tenantName", "Definition": { "StringSchema": { "Comment": "tenantName parameter", "DefaultValue": "root", "Required": false } } } ] } }Output:
{ "Location": "https://cloudfront.amazonaws.com/2020-05-31/distribution/E2GJ5J9QN12ABC", "ETag": "E37YLVVQIABC", "Distribution": { "Id": "E2GJ5J9QNABC", "ARN": "arn:aws:cloudfront::123456789012:distribution/E2GJ5J9QN12ABC", "Status": "InProgress", "LastModifiedTime": "2025-07-10T20:35:20.565000+00:00", "InProgressInvalidationBatches": 0, "DomainName": "example.com", "ActiveTrustedSigners": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "ActiveTrustedKeyGroups": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "DistributionConfig": { "CallerReference": "cli-example-no-cert", "DefaultRootObject": "index.html", "Origins": { "Quantity": 1, "Items": [ { "Id": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "DomainName": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "OriginPath": "/{{tenantName}}", "CustomHeaders": { "Quantity": 0 }, "S3OriginConfig": { "OriginAccessIdentity": "" }, "ConnectionAttempts": 3, "ConnectionTimeout": 10, "OriginShield": { "Enabled": false }, "OriginAccessControlId": "" } ] }, "OriginGroups": { "Quantity": 0 }, "DefaultCacheBehavior": { "TargetOriginId": "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com", "TrustedKeyGroups": { "Enabled": false, "Quantity": 0 }, "ViewerProtocolPolicy": "allow-all", "AllowedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": [ "HEAD", "GET" ], "CachedMethods": { "Quantity": 2, "Items": [ "HEAD", "GET" ] } }, "Compress": false, "LambdaFunctionAssociations": { "Quantity": 0 }, "FunctionAssociations": { "Quantity": 0 }, "FieldLevelEncryptionId": "", "CachePolicyId": "658327ea-f89d-4fab-a63d-7e88639e5ABC", "GrpcConfig": { "Enabled": false } }, "CacheBehaviors": { "Quantity": 0 }, "CustomErrorResponses": { "Quantity": 0 }, "Comment": "CLI example distribution", "Logging": { "Enabled": false, "IncludeCookies": false, "Bucket": "", "Prefix": "" }, "Enabled": true, "ViewerCertificate": { "CloudFrontDefaultCertificate": true, "SSLSupportMethod": "sni-only", "MinimumProtocolVersion": "TLSv1", "CertificateSource": "cloudfront" }, "Restrictions": { "GeoRestriction": { "RestrictionType": "none", "Quantity": 0 } }, "WebACLId": "", "HttpVersion": "http2", "TenantConfig": { "ParameterDefinitions": [ { "Name": "tenantName", "Definition": { "StringSchema": { "Comment": "tenantName parameter", "DefaultValue": "root", "Required": false } } } ] }, "ConnectionMode": "tenant-only" } } }For more information, see Configure distributions in the Amazon CloudFront Developer Guide.
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For API details, see CreateDistribution
in AWS CLI Command Reference.
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- Java
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- SDK for Java 2.x
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Note
There's more on GitHub. Find the complete example and learn how to set up and run in the AWS Code Examples Repository
. The following example uses an Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket as a content origin.
After creating the distribution, the code creates a CloudFrontWaiter
to wait until the distribution is deployed before returning the distribution. import org.slf4j.Logger; import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory; import software.amazon.awssdk.core.internal.waiters.ResponseOrException; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.cloudfront.CloudFrontClient; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.cloudfront.model.CreateDistributionResponse; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.cloudfront.model.Distribution; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.cloudfront.model.GetDistributionResponse; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.cloudfront.model.ItemSelection; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.cloudfront.model.Method; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.cloudfront.model.ViewerProtocolPolicy; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.cloudfront.waiters.CloudFrontWaiter; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.s3.S3Client; import java.time.Instant; public class CreateDistribution { private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CreateDistribution.class); public static Distribution createDistribution(CloudFrontClient cloudFrontClient, S3Client s3Client, final String bucketName, final String keyGroupId, final String originAccessControlId) { final String region = s3Client.headBucket(b -> b.bucket(bucketName)).sdkHttpResponse().headers() .get("x-amz-bucket-region").get(0); final String originDomain = bucketName + ".s3." + region + ".amazonaws.com"; String originId = originDomain; // Use the originDomain value for the originId. // The service API requires some deprecated methods, such as // DefaultCacheBehavior.Builder#minTTL and #forwardedValue. CreateDistributionResponse createDistResponse = cloudFrontClient.createDistribution(builder -> builder .distributionConfig(b1 -> b1 .origins(b2 -> b2 .quantity(1) .items(b3 -> b3 .domainName(originDomain) .id(originId) .s3OriginConfig(builder4 -> builder4 .originAccessIdentity( "")) .originAccessControlId( originAccessControlId))) .defaultCacheBehavior(b2 -> b2 .viewerProtocolPolicy(ViewerProtocolPolicy.ALLOW_ALL) .targetOriginId(originId) .minTTL(200L) .forwardedValues(b5 -> b5 .cookies(cp -> cp .forward(ItemSelection.NONE)) .queryString(true)) .trustedKeyGroups(b3 -> b3 .quantity(1) .items(keyGroupId) .enabled(true)) .allowedMethods(b4 -> b4 .quantity(2) .items(Method.HEAD, Method.GET) .cachedMethods(b5 -> b5 .quantity(2) .items(Method.HEAD, Method.GET)))) .cacheBehaviors(b -> b .quantity(1) .items(b2 -> b2 .pathPattern("/index.html") .viewerProtocolPolicy( ViewerProtocolPolicy.ALLOW_ALL) .targetOriginId(originId) .trustedKeyGroups(b3 -> b3 .quantity(1) .items(keyGroupId) .enabled(true)) .minTTL(200L) .forwardedValues(b4 -> b4 .cookies(cp -> cp .forward(ItemSelection.NONE)) .queryString(true)) .allowedMethods(b5 -> b5.quantity(2) .items(Method.HEAD, Method.GET) .cachedMethods(b6 -> b6 .quantity(2) .items(Method.HEAD, Method.GET))))) .enabled(true) .comment("Distribution built with java") .callerReference(Instant.now().toString()))); final Distribution distribution = createDistResponse.distribution(); logger.info("Distribution created. DomainName: [{}] Id: [{}]", distribution.domainName(), distribution.id()); logger.info("Waiting for distribution to be deployed ..."); try (CloudFrontWaiter cfWaiter = CloudFrontWaiter.builder().client(cloudFrontClient).build()) { ResponseOrException<GetDistributionResponse> responseOrException = cfWaiter .waitUntilDistributionDeployed(builder -> builder.id(distribution.id())) .matched(); responseOrException.response() .orElseThrow(() -> new RuntimeException("Distribution not created")); logger.info("Distribution deployed. DomainName: [{}] Id: [{}]", distribution.domainName(), distribution.id()); } return distribution; } }-
For API details, see CreateDistribution in AWS SDK for Java 2.x API Reference.
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- PowerShell
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- Tools for PowerShell V4
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Example 1: Creates a basic CloudFront distribution, configured with logging and caching.
$origin = New-Object Amazon.CloudFront.Model.Origin $origin.DomainName = "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com" $origin.Id = "UniqueOrigin1" $origin.S3OriginConfig = New-Object Amazon.CloudFront.Model.S3OriginConfig $origin.S3OriginConfig.OriginAccessIdentity = "" New-CFDistribution ` -DistributionConfig_Enabled $true ` -DistributionConfig_Comment "Test distribution" ` -Origins_Item $origin ` -Origins_Quantity 1 ` -Logging_Enabled $true ` -Logging_IncludeCookie $true ` -Logging_Bucket amzn-s3-demo-logging-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com ` -Logging_Prefix "help/" ` -DistributionConfig_CallerReference Client1 ` -DistributionConfig_DefaultRootObject index.html ` -DefaultCacheBehavior_TargetOriginId $origin.Id ` -ForwardedValues_QueryString $true ` -Cookies_Forward all ` -WhitelistedNames_Quantity 0 ` -TrustedSigners_Enabled $false ` -TrustedSigners_Quantity 0 ` -DefaultCacheBehavior_ViewerProtocolPolicy allow-all ` -DefaultCacheBehavior_MinTTL 1000 ` -DistributionConfig_PriceClass "PriceClass_All" ` -CacheBehaviors_Quantity 0 ` -Aliases_Quantity 0-
For API details, see CreateDistribution in AWS Tools for PowerShell Cmdlet Reference (V4).
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- Tools for PowerShell V5
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Example 1: Creates a basic CloudFront distribution, configured with logging and caching.
$origin = New-Object Amazon.CloudFront.Model.Origin $origin.DomainName = "amzn-s3-demo-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com" $origin.Id = "UniqueOrigin1" $origin.S3OriginConfig = New-Object Amazon.CloudFront.Model.S3OriginConfig $origin.S3OriginConfig.OriginAccessIdentity = "" New-CFDistribution ` -DistributionConfig_Enabled $true ` -DistributionConfig_Comment "Test distribution" ` -Origins_Item $origin ` -Origins_Quantity 1 ` -Logging_Enabled $true ` -Logging_IncludeCookie $true ` -Logging_Bucket amzn-s3-demo-logging-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com ` -Logging_Prefix "help/" ` -DistributionConfig_CallerReference Client1 ` -DistributionConfig_DefaultRootObject index.html ` -DefaultCacheBehavior_TargetOriginId $origin.Id ` -ForwardedValues_QueryString $true ` -Cookies_Forward all ` -WhitelistedNames_Quantity 0 ` -TrustedSigners_Enabled $false ` -TrustedSigners_Quantity 0 ` -DefaultCacheBehavior_ViewerProtocolPolicy allow-all ` -DefaultCacheBehavior_MinTTL 1000 ` -DistributionConfig_PriceClass "PriceClass_All" ` -CacheBehaviors_Quantity 0 ` -Aliases_Quantity 0-
For API details, see CreateDistribution in AWS Tools for PowerShell Cmdlet Reference (V5).
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Actions
CreateFunction