# atmos aws cloudformation backend describe

Show whether the S3 bucket referenced by the component's resolved `kind:
  aws/s3` provision target currently exists, along with its resolved
bucket/region — a real, non-stub `HeadBucket` check, not a description of
the declared configuration alone.

> ⚠️ Experimental

## Usage

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

```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
```

## 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

`backend describe` calls the same S3 `HeadBucket` existence check the
provisioner uses internally to decide whether to create or reuse a bucket
during `backend create`/`backend update`.