Cli: Uploaded file must be a non-empty zip

[mostafasany]

Describe the bug

Title: CDK Deploy Creates Empty Bootstrap File: "Uploaded file must be a non-empty zip" Error

---

Description:

When running cdk deploy, the deployment process fails with the following error:

Error: Uploaded file must be a non-empty zip (Service: Lambda, Status Code: 400)

This issue occurs due to the creation of an empty or invalid bootstrap file in the cdk.out directory.

---

Environment:

• CDK Version: 2.175.1
• Node.js Version: 18
• OS: macOS
• Additional Details:
  • Manually clearing the cdk.out folder does not resolve the issue.
  • File permissions and ownership of the cdk.out directory appear correct.
  • Running cdk bootstrap before deployment does not prevent the error.

---

Logs and Debug Information:
Relevant logs from cdk deploy --verbose:

Error: Uploaded file must be a non-empty zip

---

Here is package.json of the CDK project written in TS

{
  "name": "cdk",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "bin": {
    "cdk": "bin/cdk.js"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "watch": "tsc -w",
    "test": "jest",
    "cdk": "cdk",
    "cdk:deploy:default": "cdk deploy --profile default",
    "cdk:deploy:dev": "ENV=dev cdk deploy",
    "cdk:synth:dev": "ENV=dev cdk synth",
    "cdk:deploy:stage": "ENV=stage cdk deploy",
    "cdk:synth:stage": "ENV=stage cdk synth",
    "cdk:deploy:prod": "ENV=prod cdk deploy",
    "cdk:synth:prod": "ENV=prod cdk synth"

  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/jest": "^29.5.14",
    "@types/node": "22.10.5",
    "aws-cdk": "^2.175.1",
    "jest": "^29.7.0",
    "ts-jest": "^29.2.5",
    "ts-node": "^10.9.2",
    "typescript": "~5.7.3"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "aws-cdk-lib": "^2.175.1",
    "cdk-ecr-deployment": "^3.1.4",
    "constructs": "^10.4.2",
    "source-map-support": "^0.5.21"
  }
}

Regression Issue

• Select this option if this issue appears to be a regression.

Last Known Working CDK Version

No response

Expected Behavior

Expected Behavior:

The deployment should proceed without errors, and all generated files, including the bootstrap file, should be valid and non-empty.

---

Current Behavior

Observed Behavior:

The cdk.out directory contains an empty or invalid file for the relevant custom resource, leading to the error:

Error: Uploaded file must be a non-empty zip (Service: Lambda, Status Code: 400)

---

Reproduction Steps

1. Create a CDK stack containing resources like AWS::Lambda::Function or AWS::S3::Bucket.
2. Run:

   npm install
   cdk synth
   cdk deploy

3. Observe the error during deployment.

---

Possible Solution

No response

Additional Information/Context

No response

CDK CLI Version

2.175.1

Framework Version

No response

Node.js Version

18

OS

macOS

Language

TypeScript

Language Version

No response

Other information

No response

[pahud]

Create a CDK stack containing resources like AWS::Lambda::Function or AWS::S3::Bucket.

Are you able to provide a self-containing minimal reproducible code snippets that I can paste into my IDE and see what happens there?

[jarrodallan]

@pahud I am also facing this issue when using particularly on the Custom Resource Lambda for ECR Deployments when using the ecr_assets.DockerImageAsset to build my docker images in my CDK stack. Below is an example of the code I am using and when I run the synth I also see a zero byte bootstrap file in the cdk.out directory - CDK version 2.175.1 (build afe6e87).

When the stack tries to deploy I receive the error -
Custom::CDKECRDeployment... (CustomCDKECRDeployment...) Resource handler returned message: "Uploaded file must be a non-empty zip (Service: Lambda, Status Code: 400 ...

When I synth the stack using cdk version 2.160.0 (build 7a8ae02) the bootstrap file is non-zero as expected but I haven't been able to test a deploy with the lower version yet.

import time
from os import environ, listdir
from os.path import basename, dirname, isfile, join

import __main__
import cdk_ecr_deployment as imagedeploy
from aws_cdk import Duration, RemovalPolicy, Stack
from aws_cdk import aws_ecr as ecr
from aws_cdk import aws_ecr_assets as ecr_assets
from aws_cdk import aws_iam as iam
from constructs import Construct


def strip_string_suffix(string, suffix):
    return string[0 : -len(suffix)]


class DemoDockerImagesStack(Stack):

    def __init__(self, scope: Construct, construct_id: str, **kwargs) -> None:
        super().__init__(scope, construct_id, **kwargs)

        # Create repository
        repository = ecr.Repository(
            self,
            "Repository",
            removal_policy=RemovalPolicy.DESTROY,
            repository_name="demo",
        )
        # Add repository lifecycle rule
        repository.add_lifecycle_rule(
            max_image_age=Duration.days(1),
            tag_status=ecr.TagStatus.UNTAGGED,
        )

        # List files in the containers directory that end with `.Dockerfile`
        suffix = ".Dockerfile"
        path = dirname(__main__.__file__) + "/containers"
        dockerfiles = [
            f for f in listdir(path) if isfile(f"{path}/{f}") and f.endswith(suffix)
        ]
        for dockerfile in dockerfiles:
            tag = strip_string_suffix(dockerfile, suffix)
            self.deploy_docker_image(repository, tag, f"{path}/{dockerfile}")

    def deploy_docker_image(self, repository, tag, file):
        image = ecr_assets.DockerImageAsset(
            self,
            f"{tag}Image",
            directory=dirname(file),
            file=basename(file),
            extra_hash=str(time.time()),
        )
        deployment = imagedeploy.ECRDeployment(
            self,
            f"{tag}Deployment",
            dest=imagedeploy.DockerImageName(repository.repository_uri_for_tag(tag)),
            src=imagedeploy.DockerImageName(image.image_uri),
        )

[mostafasany]

@jarrodallan

Comment:

Can you try using these versions? When I downgraded aws-cdk-lib to 2.143.1, it worked. However, I occasionally observed that the Docker image gets uploaded to ECR with zero bytes.

"devDependencies": {
  "aws-cdk": "^2.173.4"
},
"dependencies": {
  "aws-cdk-lib": "^2.143.1",
  "cdk-ecr-deployment": "^3.0.23",
  "constructs": "^10.4.2"
}

To overcome the Zero Bytes docker image i do to things

• Clean CDK.out folder
• Delete the empty image from ECR

[jarrodallan]

@mostafasany - Thank you those versions did get my builds working again for the moment. Much appreciated.

Curious to learn what in the later version is causing this bug.

[pahud]

related #33201
I'm bringing it up to the team for further input.