A real account needs a credit card, and forgotten stacks keep billing. LocalStack 63,725 (github.com/localstack/localstack (https://github.com/localstack/localstack 65,128 )) answers AWS 24 API calls on one local port, so the AWS CLI 24 and SAM 24 work unchanged against it. Since the March 2026 single-image change, releases need a LocalStack account and auth token, and the free plan forbids commercial use. The last Community releases, 4.13.1 and 4.14.0, still start without one, and this book pins localstack/localstack:4.13.1. LocalStack and cfn-lint explains the change and starts the container; earlier examples assume it is running.
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Why LocalStack
Why This Chapter Runs on LocalStack Instead of a Real AWS Account