I'm running a CloudFormation template in the AWS Console.

Running Stack Directly

I started with a template that used IAM resources, and the console prompts me to acknowledge IAM capabilities when running the stack directly.

Running Stack as a child

I then tried to call the same stack from a parent stack and did not receive the same prompt.

The stack then failed with the message:

Requires capabilities : [CAPABILITY_IAM]

Research

The docs indicate that I can run CF scripts in a number of ways. There's plenty of docs around CLI/API and supplying the capability parameter, but there appears to be no information about how to make sure it's applied when running through the console.

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/using-iam-template.html

IAM Resources in AWS CloudFormation Templates

• CF Console
• CLI
• API

What I've done / What I think

I've raised an issue via the forum for now, but no response (yet): https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=139160

I suspect this is a bug in the Console, as there doesn't appear to be any documentation of how to change the behaviour via the console and as far as I'm aware this should just work.

Anyone came across the same problem, or can report that it's working fine for them?