AppSync API Key Authentication

What this rule checks

Detects AppSync APIs using API key authentication or lacking additional authentication providers.

How to fix it

1. 1Use AWS_IAM, Cognito User Pools, or OIDC for production workloads
2. 2Configure AdditionalAuthenticationProviders for client flexibility

import * as appsync from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-appsync';

new appsync.CfnGraphQLApi(this, 'Api', {
  name: 'my-api',
  authenticationType: 'API_KEY',
});

import * as appsync from 'aws-cdk-lib/aws-appsync';

new appsync.CfnGraphQLApi(this, 'Api', {
  name: 'my-api',
  authenticationType: 'AWS_IAM',
});

CDK Insights pinpoints the exact file and line in your CDK source for every finding, so you can jump straight to the fix.

Affected resource types

Intentional? Suppress this finding

Sometimes a flag is deliberate — a genuinely public endpoint, say. You can dismiss appsync-api-key-auth and the reason is kept in the report, not silently hidden.

In .cdk-insights.json:

{
  "ignoreRules": [
    { "id": "appsync-api-key-auth", "reason": "Why this is intentional" }
  ]
}

Or inline in your CDK code:

Validations.of(scope).acknowledge({
  id: 'cdk-insights::appsync-api-key-auth',
  reason: 'Why this is intentional',
});

Use the rule ID appsync-api-key-auth shown above — not the CDK-* ID from SARIF / GitHub code scanning. To dismiss every finding on one construct instead, use ignorePaths. Suppression docs →

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