Amazon CodeCatalyst is no longer open to new customers. Existing customers can continue to use the service as normal. For more information, see [How to migrate from CodeCatalyst](migration.md).

# Adding the 'Render Amazon ECS task definition' action
<a name="render-ecs-action-add"></a>

 Use the following instructions to add the **Render Amazon ECS task definition** action to your workflow. 

**Prerequisite**  
Before you begin, make sure you have a workflow that includes a build action that dynamically generates a Docker image. See the preceding [example workflow](render-ecs-action-example-workflow.md) for details.

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#### [ Visual ]

**To add the 'Render Amazon ECS task definition' action using the visual editor**

1. Open the CodeCatalyst console at [https://codecatalyst.aws/](https://codecatalyst.aws/).

1. Choose your project.

1. In the navigation pane, choose **CI/CD**, and then choose **Workflows**.

1. Choose the name of your workflow. You can filter by the source repository or branch name where the workflow is defined, or filter by workflow name or status.

1. Choose **Edit**.

1. Choose **Visual**.

1. At the top-left, choose **\$1 Actions** to open the action catalog.

1. From the drop-down list, choose **Amazon CodeCatalyst**.

1. Search for the **Render Amazon ECS task definition** action, and do one of the following:
   + Choose the plus sign (**\$1**) to add the action to the workflow diagram and open its configuration pane.

     Or
   + Choose **Render Amazon ECS task definition**. The action details dialog box appears. On this dialog box:
     + (Optional) Choose **View source** to [view the action's source code](workflows-view-source.md#workflows-view-source.title).
     + Choose **Add to workflow** to add the action to the workflow diagram and open its configuration pane.

1. In the **Inputs** and **Configuration** tabs, complete the fields according to your needs. For a description of each field, see the ['Render Amazon ECS task definition' action YAML](render-ecs-action-ref.md). This reference provides detailed information about each field (and corresponding YAML property value) as it appears in both the YAML and visual editors.

1. (Optional) Choose **Validate** to validate the workflow's YAML code before committing.

1. Choose **Commit**, enter a commit message, and choose **Commit** again.

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#### [ YAML ]

**To add the 'Render Amazon ECS task definition' action using the YAML editor**

1. Open the CodeCatalyst console at [https://codecatalyst.aws/](https://codecatalyst.aws/).

1. Choose your project.

1. In the navigation pane, choose **CI/CD**, and then choose **Workflows**.

1. Choose the name of your workflow. You can filter by the source repository or branch name where the workflow is defined, or filter by workflow name or status.

1. Choose **Edit**.

1. Choose **YAML**.

1. At the top-left, choose **\$1 Actions** to open the action catalog.

1. From the drop-down list, choose **Amazon CodeCatalyst**.

1. Search for the **Render Amazon ECS task definition** action, and do one of the following:
   + Choose the plus sign (**\$1**) to add the action to the workflow diagram and open its configuration pane.

     Or
   + Choose **Render Amazon ECS task definition**. The action details dialog box appears. On this dialog box:
     + (Optional) Choose **View source** to [view the action's source code](workflows-view-source.md#workflows-view-source.title).
     + Choose **Add to workflow** to add the action to the workflow diagram and open its configuration pane.

1. Modify the properties in the YAML code according to your needs. An explanation of each available property is provided in the ['Render Amazon ECS task definition' action YAML](render-ecs-action-ref.md).

1. (Optional) Choose **Validate** to validate the workflow's YAML code before committing.

1. Choose **Commit**, enter a commit message, and choose **Commit** again.

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**Next steps**

After adding the render action, add the **Deploy to Amazon ECS** action to your workflow following the instructions in [Deploying to Amazon ECS with a workflow](deploy-action-ecs.md). While adding the deploy action, do the following:

1. In the **Inputs** tab of the deploy action, in **Artifacts - optional**, select the artifact that was generated by the render action. It contains the updated task definition file.

   For more information about artifacts, see [Sharing artifacts and files between actions](workflows-working-artifacts.md).

1. In the **Configuration** tab of the deploy action, in the **Task definition** field, specify the following action variable: `${action-name.task-definition}` where *action-name* is the name of your render action, for example, `RenderTaskDef`. The render action sets this variable to the new name of the task definition file.

   For more information about variables, see [Using variables in workflows](workflows-working-with-variables.md).

   For more information about how to configure the deploy action, see the preceding [example workflow](render-ecs-action-example-workflow.md).