Provision AWS IoT thing using template and CLI

Question

I wanted to use the aws CLI to provision thing devices, using a (edit: pre-written) provisioning template
My end goal is to allow devices to self-request any thingname they want.. but for it to be automatically blocked if that name already exists.

Initially I thought I'd use "aws iot register-thing" but that doesnt have an option to specify template.
So then I thought I would use

aws iot-data publish $aws/provisioning-templates/templateName/provision/json

but the command complained, 
"An error occurred (InvalidRequestException) when calling the Publish operation: Topic can't start with $"

So.. what are my options?
I'd prefer not to have to use a whole python program for ONE stupid operation.

My underlying motivation, is to be able to use a provisioning cred in a way that it isnt allowed to mess with a thing that already exists.

I was so happy when I found that I supposedly could do all the thing and cert creation stuff from the aws cli.
but this is taking the wind out of my sails :(

Answer

Hi,

perhaps the provisioning exercises from the [IoT Device Management workshop](https://catalog.us-east-1.prod.workshops.aws/workshops/7c2b04e7-8051-4c71-bc8b-6d2d7ce32727/en-US/provisioning-options/just-in-time-provisioning) might help.

Cheers,  
Philipp

Answer

Looking at the AWS CLI documentation, I thought I could use the provisioning template by doing the following.  
https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/iot/register-thing.html
```
aws iot register-thing --template-body file:///provisioning-templates/templateName/provision/json
```

If you get an error when specifying a provisioning template in file format, try passing JSON as a string as is, as shown below.  
```
aws iot register-thing \
    --template-body '{"Parameters":{"ThingName":{"Type":"String"},"AWS::IoT::Certificate::Id":{"Type":"String"}},"Resources": {"certificate":{"Properties":{"CertificateId":{"Ref":"AWS::IoT::Certificate::Id"},"Status":"Active"},"Type":"AWS::IoT::Certificate"},"policy":{"Properties":{"PolicyName":"MyIotPolicy"},"Type":"AWS::IoT::Policy"},"thing":{"OverrideSettings":{"AttributePayload":"MERGE","ThingGroups":"DO_NOTHING","ThingTypeName":"REPLACE"},"Properties":{"AttributePayload":{},"ThingGroups":[],"ThingName":{"Ref":"ThingName"},"ThingTypeName":"VirtualThings"},"Type":"AWS::IoT::Thing"}}}'
```

Provision AWS IoT thing using template and CLI

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