Migration from LocalStack
Technical path for migrating from LocalStack to fakecloud, targeting users frustrated with LocalStack's 2026 account requirements and proprietary tier shifts.
If your local development workflow is blocked by LocalStack's account requirements or proprietary tier shifts, fakecloud offers a drop-in replacement for core services with zero internet dependency. This page is the technical reference card; for the full step-by-step walkthrough with docker-compose, CI, Terraform, CDK, and Serverless snippets, see Migrating from LocalStack to fakecloud in 10 minutes.
Key Differences
- No API Key: fakecloud is fully functional offline. No
ACTIVATE_PROor account login required. - Single Binary: Replace heavy Docker-in-Docker setups with a ~19MB binary that starts in <300ms.
- Parity: 100% API conformance across 2,592 operations, including features LocalStack gates behind Pro (like ECR and Bedrock).
Service Mapping
| Feature | LocalStack | fakecloud |
|---|---|---|
| ECR | Paid (Pro) | Included (Full OCI Support) |
| Bedrock | Limited/Paid | Included (214 ops across 4 APIs) |
| IAM | Partial (Community) | 100% Conformance |
| S3/Lambda/SQS | Included | Included (High Fidelity) |
Step-by-Step Migration
1. Swap the Runtime
Stop your LocalStack container and run the fakecloud binary. fakecloud defaults to port 4566 for maximum compatibility.
# Stop LocalStack
docker-compose down
# Start fakecloud
./fakecloud2. Update Environment Variables
Ensure your environment points to the local endpoint. fakecloud respects standard AWS SDK environment variables:
export AWS_ENDPOINT_URL="http://localhost:4566"3. Tooling Compatibility
Existing wrappers like tflocal or cdklocal will continue to work as they target localhost:4566 by default. No changes to your Infrastructure as Code (IaC) logic are required.