(cli): cdk deploy specific-stack should not synthesize all stacks

[Dzhuneyt]

Describe the bug

When synthesizing or deploying a single stack, CDK synthesizes ALL stacks that are part of the app, regardless of any .addDependency() clauses.

Expected Behavior

I would expect CDK to synthesize only the stack that was requested as well as its direct dependencies.

Current Behavior

CDK synthesizes the whole app, causing a tremendous overhead and bad developer experience.

A typical setup of splitting the stacks by lifecycle:
e.g. Layer 1 - DB stacks, VPC/Networking stacks, Storage stacks
Layer 2 - Compute
Layer 3 - Domains and Certificates and CloudFront related

When working on Layer 2 stuff on a daily basis, one is forced to "wait" for the Layer 1 stacks to be synthesized all the time, considering that they rarely change and I've never requested to deploy them (e.g. I'm only deploying some specific stack from Layer 2).

Reproduction Steps

Create a DB stack
Create an API Gateway stack
Create a stack to hold a bunch of Lambdas
Don't touch the DB or API Gateway stacks
Work on the Lambdas on a daily basis (a typical setup for a lot of companies)
Synthesize and deploy the Lambda stacks
You get a bunch of latency in the whole list of stacks being synthesized

Possible Solution

Propagate the provided stack name to the framework, so CDK can skip the synthesis of skipped stacks

Additional Information/Context

No response

CDK CLI Version

2.43.1 (build c1ebb85)

Framework Version

No response

Node.js Version

18

OS

MacOS

Language

Typescript

Language Version

No response

Other information

No response

[khushail]

Hi @Dzhuneyt , thanks for reaching out.
Is this something you are trying to do ?

Skipping synthesis

The cdk deploy command normally synthesizes your app's stacks before deploying to make sure that the deployment reflects the latest version of your app. If you know that you haven't changed your code since your last cdk synth, you can suppress the redundant synthesis step when deploying. To do so, specify your project's cdk.out directory in the --app option.

cdk deploy --app cdk.out StackOne StackTwo

let me know if this doesn't help.

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[Dzhuneyt]

@khushail that's actually a different scenario. What you are describing is:
Skipping synthesis completely and jumping straight to deploy

The issue I describe is:
In a multi-stack environment, synthesize and deploy just specific stack(s) and skip others.

Any chance this issue can be reopened? I missed the time window before GH bot closed it.

[peterwoodworth]

Seems to be a duplicate of this #6743 or this #26589

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