Build Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) with Packer using the amazon-ebs builder. Use when creating custom AMIs for EC2 instances.
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packer-builders
February 1, 2026
Select agents to install to:
npx add-skill https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills/blob/main/packer/builders/skills/aws-ami-builder/SKILL.md -a claude-code --skill aws-ami-builderInstallation paths:
.claude/skills/aws-ami-builder/# AWS AMI Builder
Build Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) using Packer's `amazon-ebs` builder.
**Reference:** [Amazon EBS Builder](https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/integrations/hashicorp/amazon/latest/components/builder/ebs)
> **Note:** Building AMIs incurs AWS costs (EC2 instances, EBS storage, data transfer). Builds typically take 10-30 minutes depending on provisioning complexity.
## Basic AMI Template
```hcl
packer {
required_plugins {
amazon = {
source = "github.com/hashicorp/amazon"
version = "~> 1.3"
}
}
}
variable "region" {
type = string
default = "us-west-2"
}
locals {
timestamp = regex_replace(timestamp(), "[- TZ:]", "")
}
source "amazon-ebs" "ubuntu" {
region = var.region
instance_type = "t3.micro"
source_ami_filter {
filters = {
name = "ubuntu/images/*ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"
root-device-type = "ebs"
virtualization-type = "hvm"
}
most_recent = true
owners = ["099720109477"] # Canonical
}
ssh_username = "ubuntu"
ami_name = "my-app-${local.timestamp}"
tags = {
Name = "my-app"
BuildDate = local.timestamp
}
}
build {
sources = ["source.amazon-ebs.ubuntu"]
provisioner "shell" {
inline = [
"sudo apt-get update",
"sudo apt-get upgrade -y",
]
}
}
```
## Common Source AMI Filters
### Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
```hcl
source_ami_filter {
filters = {
name = "ubuntu/images/*ubuntu-jammy-22.04-amd64-server-*"
root-device-type = "ebs"
virtualization-type = "hvm"
}
most_recent = true
owners = ["099720109477"] # Canonical
}
```
### Amazon Linux 2023
```hcl
source_ami_filter {
filters = {
name = "al2023-ami-*-x86_64"
root-device-type = "ebs"
virtualization-type = "hvm"
}
most_recent = true
owners = ["amazon"]
}
```
## Multi-Region AMI
```hcl
source "amazon-ebs" "ubuntu" {
region = "us-west-2"
instance_