diff --git a/devops/common.lib b/devops/common.lib
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..89f21e8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devops/common.lib
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+#################################
+# Validate that a string has the following characteristics:
+#   - At least 2 chars
+#   - No more than 5 chars
+#   - Has no whitespace
+# Globals:
+#   None
+# Arguments:
+#   initials
+#################################
+function validateInitials() {
+  MIN=2
+  MAX=5
+
+  initials=$1
+
+  if [ -z "$initials" ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "Error: initials can't be empty" >&2
+    return 1
+  elif [[ "${initials}" =~ [^a-zA-Z] ]]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "Error: initials must only contain letters, a-z" >&2
+    return 1
+  elif [[ "${#initials}" < $MIN ]]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "Error: initials must be at least $MIN characters" >&2
+    return 1
+  elif [[ "${#initials}" > $MAX ]]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "Error: initials must be no more than $MAX characters" >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+  return 0
+}
diff --git a/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.bash b/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.bash
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..b29f5bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+SCRIPT_PATH=$(dirname "$0")
+
+# import validateInitials from common.lib
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$SCRIPT_PATH/../common.lib"
+
+RANDOM_STRING=$(cat /dev/urandom | base64 | tr -dc 'a-z0-9' | fold -w 5 | head -n 1)
+BUCKET_TEMPLATE="$SCRIPT_PATH/makeReactBucket.yml"
+INITIALS_PROMPT="What are your initials? ('q' to quit)"
+
+initials="$1"
+skipPrompt=false
+
+while :; do
+  # get and validate user initials if not passed as arg
+  if [[ -z "$initials" ]]; then
+    printf "%s\n" "$INITIALS_PROMPT" >&1
+    printf "%s" "> " >&1
+    while read -r initials && [ "$initials" != "q" ]; do
+      if validateInitials "$initials"; then
+        break
+      fi
+      printf "%s\n" "$INITIALS_PROMPT" >&1
+      printf "%s" "> " >&1
+    done
+  elif validateInitials "$initials"; then
+    skipPrompt=true
+    answer=y
+  else
+    break
+  fi
+
+  if [ "$initials" == "q" ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "Done" >&1
+    break
+  fi
+
+  formattedInitials="$(echo "${initials}" | tr -d '[:space:]' | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
+  todayDate=$(date +'%Y%m%d')
+  uniqueName=$formattedInitials-$RANDOM_STRING-$todayDate
+
+  bucketName=$uniqueName-bucket
+  stackName=$uniqueName-stack
+
+  if [ "$skipPrompt" = false ]; then
+    # show user name of bucket and stack, get confirmation to create resources
+    printf "%s\n" "Your bucket and stack will be named as follows:" \
+      "    - bucket: $bucketName" \
+      "    - stack: $stackName" \
+      "Create bucket and stack? (y/n)" >&1
+    printf "%s" "> " >&1
+    while read -r answer && [ "$answer" != "q" ]; do
+      if [ "${answer:0:1}" == "y" ] || [ "${answer:0:1}" == "n" ]; then
+        break
+      else
+        printf "%s\n" "Create bucket? (y/n)" >&1
+        printf "%s" "> " >&1
+      fi
+    done
+  fi
+
+  if [ "${answer:0:1}" == "y" ]; then
+    printf '%s\n' "aws cloudformation deploy --template-file $BUCKET_TEMPLATE --stack-name $stackName --parameter-overrides BucketName=$bucketName" >&1
+    aws cloudformation deploy --template-file "$BUCKET_TEMPLATE" --stack-name "$stackName" --parameter-overrides BucketName="$bucketName"
+  fi
+  printf '%s\n' "Done" >&1
+  break
+done
diff --git a/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.json b/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.json
deleted file mode 100644
index d7a6c367..00000000
--- a/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,69 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "AWSTemplateFormatVersion": "2010-09-09",
-  "Parameters": {
-    "BucketName": {
-      "Description": "Name of your S3 bucket. Must be unique.",
-      "Type": "String"
-    }
-  },
-  "Resources": {
-    "ReactBucket": {
-      "Type": "AWS::S3::Bucket",
-      "Properties": {
-        "BucketName" : { "Ref": "BucketName" },
-        "AccessControl": "PublicRead",
-        "WebsiteConfiguration": {
-          "IndexDocument": "index.html",
-          "ErrorDocument": "index.html"
-        }
-      }
-    },
-    "ReactBucketPolicy": {
-      "Type": "AWS::S3::BucketPolicy",
-      "Properties": {
-        "Bucket" : { "Ref": "ReactBucket" },
-        "PolicyDocument": {
-          "Id": "MyPolicy",
-          "Version": "2012-10-17",
-          "Statement": {
-              "Sid": "PublicReadGetObject",
-              "Effect": "Allow",
-              "Principal": "*",
-              "Action": "s3:GetObject",
-              "Resource": {
-                "Fn::Join": ["", ["arn:aws:s3:::", {"Ref":"ReactBucket"}, "/*"]]
-              }
-          }
-        }
-      }
-    }
-  },
-  "Outputs": {
-    "WebsiteURL": {
-      "Value": {
-        "Fn::GetAtt": [
-            "ReactBucket",
-            "WebsiteURL"
-        ]
-      },
-      "Description": "URL for website hosted on S3"
-    },
-    "S3BucketSecureURL": {
-      "Value": {
-          "Fn::Join": [
-              "",
-              [
-                  "https://",
-                  {
-                      "Fn::GetAtt": [
-                          "ReactBucket",
-                          "DomainName"
-                      ]
-                  }
-              ]
-          ]
-      },
-      "Description": "Name of S3 bucket to hold website content"
-    }
-  }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.sh b/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index e30cf64b..00000000
--- a/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,64 +0,0 @@
-# !/bin/sh
-
-MIN=2
-MAX=5
-RANDOM_STRING=$(cat /dev/urandom | base64 | tr -dc 'a-z0-9' | fold -w 5 | head -n 1)
-INITIALS_PROMPT="What are your initials? ('q' to quit)"
-BUCKET_TEMPLATE="./makeReactBucket.json"
-
-while :
-  do
-    # get and validate user initials
-    printf "%s\n" "$INITIALS_PROMPT" >&1
-    printf "%s" "> " >&1
-    while read initials && [ "$initials" != "q" ];
-      do
-        if [ -z "$initials" ]; then
-          printf '%s\n' "Error: initials can't be empty" >&2
-        elif [[ "${initials}" =~ [^a-zA-Z] ]]; then
-          printf '%s\n' "Error: initials must only contain letters, a-z" >&2
-        elif [[ "${#initials}" < $MIN ]]; then
-          printf '%s\n' "Error: initials must be at least $MIN characters" >&2
-        elif [[ "${#initials}" > $MAX ]]; then
-          printf '%s\n' "Error: initials must be no more than $MAX characters" >&2
-        else
-          break
-        fi
-          printf "%s\n" "$INITIALS_PROMPT" >&1
-          printf "%s" "> " >&1
-      done
-
-    if [ "$initials" == "q" ]; then
-      printf '%s\n' "Done" >&1
-      break
-    fi
-    
-    formattedInitials="$(echo "${initials}" | tr -d '[:space:]' | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
-    todayDate=$(date +'%Y%m%d')
-    uniqueName=$formattedInitials-$RANDOM_STRING-$todayDate
-    
-    bucketName=$uniqueName-bucket
-    stackName=$uniqueName-stack
-
-    # show user name of bucket and stack, get confirmation to create resources
-    printf "%s\n" "Your bucket and stack will be named as follows:" \
-            "    - bucket: $bucketName" \
-            "    - stack: $stackName" \
-            "Create bucket and stack? (y/n)" >&1
-    printf "%s" "> " >&1
-    while read answer && [ "$answer" != "q" ];
-      do
-        if [ "${answer:0:1}" == "y" ]; then
-          printf '%s\n' "aws cloudformation deploy --template-file ./makeReactBucket.json --stack-name $stackName --parameter-overrides BucketName=$bucketName" >&1
-          aws cloudformation deploy --template-file $BUCKET_TEMPLATE --stack-name $stackName --parameter-overrides BucketName=$bucketName
-          break
-        elif [ "${answer:0:1}" == "n" ]; then
-          break
-        else
-          printf "%s\n" "Create bucket? (y/n)" >&1
-          printf "%s" "> " >&1
-        fi
-      done
-    printf '%s\n' "Done" >&1
-    break
-  done
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.yml b/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f2f7f4c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devops/makeReactBucket/makeReactBucket.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+AWSTemplateFormatVersion: 2010-09-09
+Parameters:
+  BucketName:
+    Description: Name of your S3 bucket. Must be unique.
+    Type: String
+Resources:
+  ReactBucket:
+    Type: AWS::S3::Bucket
+    Properties:
+      BucketName: !Ref BucketName
+      AccessControl: PublicRead
+      WebsiteConfiguration:
+        IndexDocument: index.html
+        ErrorDocument: index.html
+  ReactBucketPolicy:
+    Type: AWS::S3::BucketPolicy
+    Properties:
+      Bucket: !Ref ReactBucket
+      PolicyDocument:
+        Id: MyPolicy
+        Version: 2012-10-17
+        Statement:
+          Sid: PublicReadForGetBucketObjects
+          Effect: Allow
+          Principal: '*'
+          Action: s3:GetObject
+          Resource: !Join 
+            - ''
+            - - 'arn:aws:s3:::'
+              - !Ref ReactBucket
+              - /*
+Outputs:
+  WebsiteURL:
+    Value: !GetAtt
+      - ReactBucket
+      - WebsiteURL
+    Description: URL for website hosted on S3
+  S3BucketSecureURL:
+    Value: !Join
+      - ''
+      - - 'https://'
+        - !GetAtt 
+          - ReactBucket
+          - DomainName
+    Description: Name of S3 bucket to hold website content