Go(ing) to the clouds complete example.

main.go

package main
// This command will allow you to provision, delete, describe, or estimate the cost of the specified CloudFormation template.
//
// Once compiled use the -help flag for details.

import (
	"bufio"
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"io/ioutil"
	"log"
	"os"

	"github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-go/aws"
	"github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-go/aws/awsutil"
	awscf "github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-go/service/cloudformation"
)

func provisionStack(svc *awscf.CloudFormation, b []byte, params []*awscf.Parameter, stackName string) {
	input := &awscf.CreateStackInput{
		StackName: aws.String(stackName),
		Capabilities: []*string{
			aws.String("CAPABILITY_IAM"),
		},
		OnFailure:        aws.String("DELETE"),
		Parameters:       params,
		TemplateBody:     aws.String(string(b)),
		TimeoutInMinutes: aws.Long(20),
	}
	resp, err := svc.CreateStack(input)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	log.Println(awsutil.StringValue(resp))
}

func delStack(svc *awscf.CloudFormation, stackName string) {
	input := &awscf.DeleteStackInput{
		StackName: aws.String(stackName),
	}

	resp, err := svc.DeleteStack(input)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	log.Println(awsutil.StringValue(resp))
}

func descStack(svc *awscf.CloudFormation, stackName string) {
	input := &awscf.DescribeStackEventsInput{
		StackName: aws.String(stackName),
	}
	resp, err := svc.DescribeStackEvents(input)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	if len(resp.StackEvents) > 0 {
		log.Println(awsutil.StringValue(resp.StackEvents[0]))
	}
}

func cost(svc *awscf.CloudFormation, b []byte, params []*awscf.Parameter) {
	estInput := &awscf.EstimateTemplateCostInput{
		Parameters:   params,
		TemplateBody: aws.String(string(b)),
	}

	cost, err := svc.EstimateTemplateCost(estInput)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	fmt.Println(awsutil.StringValue(cost.URL))
}

func main() {
	var templateFile string
	var outputCost bool
	var provision bool
	var desc bool
	var del bool
	var b []byte
	var params []*awscf.Parameter
	var stackName string
	var region string

	flag.StringVar(&region, "region", "eu-west-1", "AWS region to provision script to.")
	flag.StringVar(&templateFile, "template", "", "Template to validate.")
	flag.StringVar(&stackName, "name", "", "Stack name (required).")
	flag.BoolVar(&outputCost, "cost", false, "Output cost URL.")
	flag.BoolVar(&provision, "provision", false, "Provision template.")
	flag.BoolVar(&desc, "desc", false, "Describe stack.")
	flag.BoolVar(&del, "del", false, "Delete stack.")
	flag.Parse()

	if stackName == "" {
		fmt.Println("Stack name cannot be empty!\n")
		flag.Usage()
		return
	}

	config := &aws.Config{Region: region}
	svc := awscf.New(config)

	if outputCost || provision {
		f, err := os.Open(templateFile)
		if err != nil {
			log.Fatal(err)
		}

		b, err = ioutil.ReadAll(f)
		if err != nil {
			log.Fatal(err)
		}

		input := &awscf.ValidateTemplateInput{
			TemplateBody: aws.String(string(b)),
		}
		resp, err := svc.ValidateTemplate(input)
		if err != nil {
			log.Fatal(err)
		}

		// output the template description
		fmt.Println(awsutil.StringValue(resp.Description))
		params = make([]*awscf.Parameter, len(resp.Parameters))

		// fill out the parameters from the template
		stdin := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin)
		for i, p := range resp.Parameters {
			fmt.Printf("%v (%v): ", awsutil.StringValue(p.Description), awsutil.StringValue(p.DefaultValue))

			// don't care about isMore if someone's typing so much oh well
			b, _, err := stdin.ReadLine()
			if err != nil {
				log.Fatal(err)
			}
			line := string(b)

			params[i] = &awscf.Parameter{
				ParameterKey:     p.ParameterKey,
				UsePreviousValue: aws.Boolean(true),
			}

			if line != "" {
				params[i].ParameterValue = aws.String(line)
			} else {
				params[i].ParameterValue = p.DefaultValue
			}
		}
	}

	if outputCost {
		cost(svc, b, params)
		return
	} else if provision {
		provisionStack(svc, b, params, stackName)
	} else if desc {
		descStack(svc, stackName)
	} else if del {
		delStack(svc, stackName)
	}
}

vpc_With_PublicIPs_And_DNS.template.json

{
  "AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",

  "Description" : "AWS CloudFormation Sample Template VPC_with_PublicIPs_And_DNS: Sample template showing how to create a VPC with DNS and Public IPs enabled. You will be billed for the AWS resources used if you create a stack from this template.",

  "Parameters" : {

    "KeyName" : {
      "Description" : "Name of an existing EC2 KeyPair to enable SSH access to the bastion host",
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::KeyPair::KeyName",
      "ConstraintDescription" : "must be the name of an existing EC2 KeyPair.",
      "Default" : "nfisher.macair"
    },

    "SSHLocation" : {
      "Description" : "Lockdown SSH access to the bastion host (default can be accessed from anywhere)",
      "Type" : "String",
      "MinLength": "9",
      "MaxLength": "18",
      "Default" : "0.0.0.0/0",
      "AllowedPattern" : "(\\d{1,3})\\.(\\d{1,3})\\.(\\d{1,3})\\.(\\d{1,3})/(\\d{1,2})",
      "ConstraintDescription" : "must be a valid CIDR range of the form x.x.x.x/x."
    },

    "EC2InstanceType" : {
      "Description" : "EC2 instance type",
      "Type" : "String",
      "Default" : "t2.micro",
      "AllowedValues" : [ "t1.micro", "t2.micro", "t2.small", "t2.medium", "m1.small", "m1.medium", "m1.large", "m1.xlarge", "m2.xlarge", "m2.2xlarge", "m2.4xlarge", "m3.medium", "m3.large", "m3.xlarge", "m3.2xlarge", "c1.medium", "c1.xlarge", "c3.large", "c3.xlarge", "c3.2xlarge", "c3.4xlarge", "c3.8xlarge", "c4.large", "c4.xlarge", "c4.2xlarge", "c4.4xlarge", "c4.8xlarge", "g2.2xlarge", "r3.large", "r3.xlarge", "r3.2xlarge", "r3.4xlarge", "r3.8xlarge", "i2.xlarge", "i2.2xlarge", "i2.4xlarge", "i2.8xlarge", "d2.xlarge", "d2.2xlarge", "d2.4xlarge", "d2.8xlarge", "hi1.4xlarge", "hs1.8xlarge", "cr1.8xlarge", "cc2.8xlarge", "cg1.4xlarge"]
,
      "ConstraintDescription" : "must be a valid EC2 instance type."
    }
  },

  "Mappings" : {
    "SubnetConfig" : {
      "VPC"     : { "CIDR" : "10.0.0.0/16" },
      "Public"  : { "CIDR" : "10.0.0.0/24" }
    },
    "AWSInstanceType2Arch" : {
      "t1.micro"    : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "t2.micro"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "t2.small"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "t2.medium"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "m1.small"    : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m1.medium"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m1.large"    : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m1.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m2.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m2.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m2.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "m3.medium"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "m3.large"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "m3.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "m3.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c1.medium"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "c1.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "PV64"   },
      "c3.large"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c3.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c3.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c3.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c3.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.large"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "c4.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "g2.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVMG2"  },
      "r3.large"    : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "r3.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "r3.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "r3.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "r3.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "i2.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "i2.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "i2.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "i2.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "d2.xlarge"   : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "d2.2xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "d2.4xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "d2.8xlarge"  : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "hi1.4xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "hs1.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "cr1.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  },
      "cc2.8xlarge" : { "Arch" : "HVM64"  }
    }
,
    "AWSRegionArch2AMI" : {
      "us-east-1"        : {"PV64" : "ami-1ccae774", "HVM64" : "ami-10cae778", "HVMG2" : "ami-8c6b40e4"},
      "us-west-2"        : {"PV64" : "ami-ff527ecf", "HVM64" : "ami-e9527ed9", "HVMG2" : "ami-abbe919b"},
      "us-west-1"        : {"PV64" : "ami-d514f291", "HVM64" : "ami-cb14f28f", "HVMG2" : "ami-f31ffeb7"},
      "eu-west-1"        : {"PV64" : "ami-bf0897c8", "HVM64" : "ami-a30897d4", "HVMG2" : "ami-d5bc24a2"},
      "eu-central-1"     : {"PV64" : "ami-ac221fb1", "HVM64" : "ami-ae221fb3", "HVMG2" : "ami-7cd2ef61"},
      "ap-northeast-1"   : {"PV64" : "ami-27f90e27", "HVM64" : "ami-c7f90ec7", "HVMG2" : "ami-6318e863"},
      "ap-southeast-1"   : {"PV64" : "ami-acd9e8fe", "HVM64" : "ami-64d8e936", "HVMG2" : "ami-3807376a"},
      "ap-southeast-2"   : {"PV64" : "ami-ff9cecc5", "HVM64" : "ami-f39cecc9", "HVMG2" : "ami-89790ab3"},
      "sa-east-1"        : {"PV64" : "ami-bb2890a6", "HVM64" : "ami-b72890aa", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"},
      "cn-north-1"       : {"PV64" : "ami-fa39abc3", "HVM64" : "ami-e839abd1", "HVMG2" : "NOT_SUPPORTED"}
    }

  },

  "Resources" : {

    "VPC" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::VPC",
      "Properties" : {
        "EnableDnsSupport" : "true",
        "EnableDnsHostnames" : "true",
        "CidrBlock" : { "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "SubnetConfig", "VPC", "CIDR" ]},
        "Tags" : [
          { "Key" : "Application", "Value" : { "Ref" : "AWS::StackName" } },
          { "Key" : "Network", "Value" : "Public" }
        ]
      }
    },

    "PublicSubnet" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::Subnet",
      "Properties" : {
        "VpcId" : { "Ref" : "VPC" },
        "CidrBlock" : { "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "SubnetConfig", "Public", "CIDR" ]},
        "Tags" : [
          { "Key" : "Application", "Value" : { "Ref" : "AWS::StackName" } },
          { "Key" : "Network", "Value" : "Public" }
        ]
      }
    },

    "InternetGateway" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::InternetGateway",
      "Properties" : {
        "Tags" : [
          { "Key" : "Application", "Value" : { "Ref" : "AWS::StackName" } },
          { "Key" : "Network", "Value" : "Public" }
        ]
      }
    },

    "GatewayToInternet" : {
       "Type" : "AWS::EC2::VPCGatewayAttachment",
       "Properties" : {
         "VpcId" : { "Ref" : "VPC" },
         "InternetGatewayId" : { "Ref" : "InternetGateway" }
       }
    },

    "PublicRouteTable" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::RouteTable",
      "Properties" : {
        "VpcId" : { "Ref" : "VPC" },
        "Tags" : [
          { "Key" : "Application", "Value" : { "Ref" : "AWS::StackName" } },
          { "Key" : "Network", "Value" : "Public" }
        ]
      }
    },

    "PublicRoute" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::Route",
      "DependsOn" : "GatewayToInternet",
      "Properties" : {
        "RouteTableId" : { "Ref" : "PublicRouteTable" },
        "DestinationCidrBlock" : "0.0.0.0/0",
        "GatewayId" : { "Ref" : "InternetGateway" }
      }
    },

    "PublicSubnetRouteTableAssociation" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::SubnetRouteTableAssociation",
      "Properties" : {
        "SubnetId" : { "Ref" : "PublicSubnet" },
        "RouteTableId" : { "Ref" : "PublicRouteTable" }
      }
    },

    "PublicNetworkAcl" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::NetworkAcl",
      "Properties" : {
        "VpcId" : { "Ref" : "VPC" },
        "Tags" : [
          { "Key" : "Application", "Value" : { "Ref" : "AWS::StackName" } },
          { "Key" : "Network", "Value" : "Public" }
        ]
      }
    },

    "InboundHTTPPublicNetworkAclEntry" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::NetworkAclEntry",
      "Properties" : {
        "NetworkAclId" : { "Ref" : "PublicNetworkAcl" },
        "RuleNumber" : "100",
        "Protocol" : "6",
        "RuleAction" : "allow",
        "Egress" : "false",
        "CidrBlock" : "0.0.0.0/0",
        "PortRange" : { "From" : "80", "To" : "80" }
      }
    },

    "InboundHTTPSPublicNetworkAclEntry" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::NetworkAclEntry",
      "Properties" : {
        "NetworkAclId" : { "Ref" : "PublicNetworkAcl" },
        "RuleNumber" : "101",
        "Protocol" : "6",
        "RuleAction" : "allow",
        "Egress" : "false",
        "CidrBlock" : "0.0.0.0/0",
        "PortRange" : { "From" : "443", "To" : "443" }
      }
    },

    "InboundSSHPublicNetworkAclEntry" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::NetworkAclEntry",
      "Properties" : {
        "NetworkAclId" : { "Ref" : "PublicNetworkAcl" },
        "RuleNumber" : "102",
        "Protocol" : "6",
        "RuleAction" : "allow",
        "Egress" : "false",
        "CidrBlock" : { "Ref" : "SSHLocation" },
        "PortRange" : { "From" : "22", "To" : "22" }
      }
    },

    "InboundEphemeralPublicNetworkAclEntry" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::NetworkAclEntry",
      "Properties" : {
        "NetworkAclId" : { "Ref" : "PublicNetworkAcl" },
        "RuleNumber" : "103",
        "Protocol" : "6",
        "RuleAction" : "allow",
        "Egress" : "false",
        "CidrBlock" : "0.0.0.0/0",
        "PortRange" : { "From" : "1024", "To" : "65535" }
      }
    },

    "OutboundPublicNetworkAclEntry" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::NetworkAclEntry",
      "Properties" : {
        "NetworkAclId" : { "Ref" : "PublicNetworkAcl" },
        "RuleNumber" : "100",
        "Protocol" : "6",
        "RuleAction" : "allow",
        "Egress" : "true",
        "CidrBlock" : "0.0.0.0/0",
        "PortRange" : { "From" : "0", "To" : "65535" }
      }
    },

    "PublicSubnetNetworkAclAssociation" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::SubnetNetworkAclAssociation",
      "Properties" : {
        "SubnetId" : { "Ref" : "PublicSubnet" },
        "NetworkAclId" : { "Ref" : "PublicNetworkAcl" }
      }
    },

    "EC2Host" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::Instance",
      "DependsOn" : "GatewayToInternet",
      "Properties" : {
        "InstanceType" : { "Ref" : "EC2InstanceType" },
        "KeyName"  : { "Ref" : "KeyName" },
        "ImageId"  : { "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "AWSRegionArch2AMI", { "Ref" : "AWS::Region" }, 
                         { "Fn::FindInMap" : [ "AWSInstanceType2Arch", { "Ref" : "EC2InstanceType" }, "Arch" ] } ] },
        "NetworkInterfaces" : [{
          "GroupSet"                 : [{ "Ref" : "EC2SecurityGroup" }],
          "AssociatePublicIpAddress" : "true",
          "DeviceIndex"              : "0",
          "DeleteOnTermination"      : "true",
          "SubnetId"                 : { "Ref" : "PublicSubnet" }
        }]
      }
    },

    "EC2SecurityGroup" : {
      "Type" : "AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup",
      "Properties" : {
        "GroupDescription" : "Enable access to the EC2 host",
        "VpcId" : { "Ref" : "VPC" },
        "SecurityGroupIngress" : [ { 
          "IpProtocol" : "tcp",
          "FromPort" : "22",  
          "ToPort" : "22",
          "CidrIp" : { "Ref" : "SSHLocation" }
        } ]
      }
    }
  },

  "Outputs" : {
    "VPCId" : {
      "Description" : "VPCId of the newly created VPC",
      "Value" :  { "Ref" : "VPC" }
    },
    "PublicSubnet" : {
      "Description" : "SubnetId of the public subnet",
      "Value" :  { "Ref" : "PublicSubnet" }
    },
    "DNSName" : {
      "Description" : "DNS Name of the EC2 host",
      "Value" :  { "Fn::GetAtt" : ["EC2Host", "PublicDnsName"] }
    }
  }
}