diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/db-diff.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/db-diff.ts
index 14deca5a8..00be77997 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/db-diff.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/db-diff.ts
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ export class DbDiff {
       name: diffScalar(a, b, 'name'),
       scrutinizable: diffScalar(a, b, 'scrutinizable'),
       tagInformation: diffField(a, b, 'tagInformation', jsonEq),
+      primaryIdentifier: collapseEmptyDiff(
+        diffList(a.primaryIdentifier ?? [], b.primaryIdentifier ?? [], (x, y) => x === y),
+      ),
       attributes: collapseEmptyDiff(diffMap(a.attributes, b.attributes, (x, y) => this.diffAttribute(x, y))),
       properties: collapseEmptyDiff(diffMap(a.properties, b.properties, (x, y) => this.diffProperty(x, y))),
       typeDefinitionDiff: this.diffResourceTypeDefinitions(a, b),
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/import-cloudformation-registry.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/import-cloudformation-registry.ts
index d78c1a8bc..3046ca1f0 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/import-cloudformation-registry.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/import-cloudformation-registry.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ export interface LoadCloudFormationRegistryResourceOptions {
   readonly report: ProblemReport;
   readonly region?: string;
 }
+
 export function importCloudFormationRegistryResource(options: LoadCloudFormationRegistryResourceOptions) {
   const { db, resource } = options;
   const report = options.report.forAudience(ReportAudience.fromCloudFormationResource(resource.typeName));
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ export function importCloudFormationRegistryResource(options: LoadCloudFormation
   const specBuilder = new SpecBuilder(db);
   const resourceBuilder = specBuilder.resourceBuilder(resource.typeName, {
     description: resource.description,
+    primaryIdentifier: resource.primaryIdentifier?.map((id) => id.slice(12)), // remove "/properties/" that reliably is included in each identifier
     region: options.region,
   });
   const resourceFailure = failure.in(resource.typeName);
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/resource-builder.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/resource-builder.ts
index 3f9a6fe5c..a9c3dad23 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/resource-builder.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/src/resource-builder.ts
@@ -12,13 +12,22 @@ import {
 } from '@aws-cdk/service-spec-types';
 import { AllFieldsGiven } from './diff-helpers';
 
+/**
+ * Options for the resourceBuilder API
+ */
+export interface ResourceBuilderOptions {
+  description?: string;
+  region?: string;
+  primaryIdentifier?: string[];
+}
+
 /**
  * Adds resources and types to a spec database
  */
 export class SpecBuilder {
   constructor(public readonly db: SpecDatabase) {}
 
-  public resourceBuilder(typeName: string, options: { description?: string; region?: string } = {}) {
+  public resourceBuilder(typeName: string, options: ResourceBuilderOptions = {}) {
     const existing = this.db.lookup('resource', 'cloudFormationType', 'equals', typeName);
 
     if (existing.length > 0) {
@@ -26,6 +35,10 @@ export class SpecBuilder {
       if (!resource.documentation && options.description) {
         resource.documentation = options.description;
       }
+      if (!resource.primaryIdentifier) {
+        resource.primaryIdentifier = options.primaryIdentifier;
+      }
+
       return new ResourceBuilder(this.db, resource);
     }
 
@@ -33,6 +46,7 @@ export class SpecBuilder {
       cloudFormationType: typeName,
       documentation: options.description,
       name: last(typeName.split('::')),
+      primaryIdentifier: options.primaryIdentifier,
       attributes: {},
       properties: {},
     });
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/test/cloudformation-registry.test.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/test/cloudformation-registry.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0488cc615
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-importers/test/cloudformation-registry.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import { emptyDatabase } from '@aws-cdk/service-spec-types';
+import { importCloudFormationRegistryResource } from '../src/import-cloudformation-registry';
+import { ProblemReport } from '../src/report';
+
+let db: ReturnType<typeof emptyDatabase>;
+let report: ProblemReport;
+beforeEach(() => {
+  db = emptyDatabase();
+  report = new ProblemReport();
+});
+
+test('include primaryIdentifier in database', () => {
+  importCloudFormationRegistryResource({
+    db,
+    report,
+    resource: {
+      typeName: 'AWS::Some::Type',
+      description: 'resource with PrimaryIdentifier',
+      properties: {
+        id: {
+          type: 'string',
+        },
+        secondId: {
+          type: 'string',
+        },
+        notId: {
+          type: 'string',
+        },
+      },
+      primaryIdentifier: ['/properties/id', '/properties/secondId'],
+    },
+  });
+
+  // eslint-disable-next-line prettier/prettier
+  const primaryIdentifier = db.lookup('resource', 'cloudFormationType', 'equals', 'AWS::Some::Type')[0]?.primaryIdentifier;
+  expect(primaryIdentifier).toEqual(['id', 'secondId']);
+});
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-types/src/types/diff.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-types/src/types/diff.ts
index bd5b6bdc9..f72b0447b 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-types/src/types/diff.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-types/src/types/diff.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ export interface UpdatedResource {
   readonly tagInformation?: ScalarDiff<Resource['tagInformation']>;
   readonly scrutinizable?: ScalarDiff<Resource['scrutinizable']>;
   readonly typeDefinitionDiff?: MapDiff<TypeDefinition, UpdatedTypeDefinition>;
+  readonly primaryIdentifier?: ListDiff<string, void>;
 }
 
 export interface UpdatedProperty {
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-types/src/types/resource.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-types/src/types/resource.ts
index b6f29efcb..41e2d905d 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-types/src/types/resource.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/service-spec-types/src/types/resource.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ export interface Resource extends Entity {
    */
   cloudFormationTransform?: string;
   documentation?: string;
+  primaryIdentifier?: string[];
   readonly properties: ResourceProperties;
   readonly attributes: Record<string, Attribute>;
   readonly validations?: unknown;