# atmos aws cloudformation backend describe

Check whether the component’s template-packaging bucket exists in S3.
The result includes the target name, bucket, region, and existence status.

> ⚠️ Experimental

**CloudFormation Configuration**

Configure templates, parameters, and delivery targets for your component.
Configuration Reference[Read more](/stacks/components/aws-cloudformation#delivery-targets)

## Usage

```shell
atmos aws cloudformation backend describe <component> --stack <stack> [options]
```

## Examples

```shell
atmos aws cloudformation backend describe vpc -s plat-ue2-dev
atmos aws cloudformation backend describe vpc -s plat-ue2-dev --format json
```

Disambiguate when the component declares more than one `kind: aws/s3` target:

```shell
atmos aws cloudformation backend describe vpc -s plat-ue2-dev --target artifacts
```

## Arguments

- **`component` (required)**
  CloudFormation component name in the Atmos stack.

## Flags

- **`--stack`, `-s` (required)**
  Atmos stack.
- **`--target` (optional)**
  The 
  `kind: aws/s3`
   provision target to use. Required when more than one is declared.
- **`--format`, `-f` (optional)**
  Output format: 
  `table`
   (default), 
  `yaml`
  , or 
  `json`
  .
- **`--identity`, `-i` (optional)**
  Atmos identity to authenticate with.

## Behavior

The command checks the bucket in S3 using the selected target’s identity.

The `table` format prints a header row (`TARGET`, `BUCKET`, `REGION`,
`STATUS`). The `json` and `yaml` formats use snake\_case keys, matching the rest
of the CloudFormation output:

```json
[
  {
    "target": {
      "name": "artifacts",
      "bucket": "my-org-cfn-templates",
      "prefix": "vpc",
      "region": "us-east-1"
    },
    "region": "us-east-1",
    "exists": true
  }
]
```