diff --git a/packages/amplify-codegen/src/commands/models.js b/packages/amplify-codegen/src/commands/models.js
index 45bfa220e..837e2b8d4 100644
--- a/packages/amplify-codegen/src/commands/models.js
+++ b/packages/amplify-codegen/src/commands/models.js
@@ -7,30 +7,13 @@ const { validateAmplifyFlutterMinSupportedVersion } = require('../utils/validate
 const defaultDirectiveDefinitions = require('../utils/defaultDirectiveDefinitions');
 const getModelSchemaPathParam = require('../utils/getModelSchemaPathParam');
 
-/**
- * Returns feature flag value, default to `false`
- * @param {!string} key feature flag id
- * @returns {string} the feature flag value
- */
-const readFeatureFlag = (key) => {
-  try {
-    return FeatureFlags.getBoolean(key);
-  } catch (_) {
-    return false;
-  }
-};
-
-/**
- * Returns feature flag value, default to `1`
- * @param {!string} key feature flag id
- * @returns {number} the feature flag value
- */
-const readNumericFeatureFlag = (key) => {
-  try {
-    return FeatureFlags.getNumber(key);
-  } catch (_) {
-    return 1;
-  }
+const frontendToTargetMap = {
+  android: 'java',
+  ios: 'swift',
+  flutter: 'dart',
+  javascript: 'javascript',
+  typescript: 'typescript',
+  introspection: 'introspection',
 };
 
 // type GenerateModelsOptions = {
@@ -127,7 +110,7 @@ const getOutputPath = (context, overrideOutputDir, projectRoot) => {
  * @param {!boolean} isIntrospection whether or not this is a request for an introspection model.
  * @returns {!import('@aws-amplify/appsync-modelgen-plugin').Target} the Modelgen target as a string
  */
-const getTarget = (context, isIntrospection) => {
+const getFrontend = (context, isIntrospection) => {
   if (isIntrospection) {
     return 'introspection';
   }
@@ -146,21 +129,27 @@ const getTarget = (context, isIntrospection) => {
  * @param {!string} flagName the feature flag name
  * @returns {boolean | null} the feature flag value if found, and can be coerced to a boolean, else null
  */
-const getOptionBasedFeatureFlag = (context, flagName) => {
+const getBooleanFeatureFlag = (context, flagName) => {
+  // Attempt to read from cli input options as overrides first.~
   const featureFlagParamName = `feature-flag:${flagName}`;
   const paramNames = context.parameters?.options ? new Set(Object.keys(context.parameters?.options)) : new Set();
-  if (!paramNames.has(featureFlagParamName)) {
-    return null;
+  if (paramNames.has(featureFlagParamName)) {
+    const optionValue = context.parameters?.options?.[featureFlagParamName];
+    if (optionValue === 'true' || optionValue === 'True' || optionValue === true) {
+      return true;
+    }
+    if (optionValue === 'false' || optionValue === 'False' || optionValue === false) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    throw new Error(`Feature flag value for parameter ${featureFlagParamName} could not be marshalled to boolean type, found ${optionValue}`);
   }
 
-  const optionValue = context.parameters?.options?.[featureFlagParamName];
-  if (optionValue === 'true' || optionValue === 'True' || optionValue === true) {
-    return true;
-  }
-  if (optionValue === 'false' || optionValue === 'False' || optionValue === false) {
+  // Read from feature flag file, fall back to false if nothing is found, and no default exists in-system.
+  try {
+    return FeatureFlags.getBoolean(flagName);
+  } catch (_) {
     return false;
   }
-  return null;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -169,45 +158,32 @@ const getOptionBasedFeatureFlag = (context, flagName) => {
  * @param {!string} flagName the feature flag name
  * @returns {number | null} the feature flag value if found, and can be coerced to an int, else null
  */
-const getOptionBasedNumericFeatureFlag = (context, flagName) => {
+const getNumericFeatureFlag = (context, flagName) => {
+  // Attempt to read from cli input options as overrides first.
   const featureFlagParamName = `feature-flag:${flagName}`;
   const paramNames = context.parameters?.options ? new Set(Object.keys(context.parameters?.options)) : new Set();
-  if (!paramNames.has(featureFlagParamName)) {
-    return null;
+  if (paramNames.has(featureFlagParamName)) {
+    const optionValue = context.parameters?.options?.[featureFlagParamName];
+    return Number.parseInt(optionValue, 10);
   }
 
-  const optionValue = context.parameters?.options?.[featureFlagParamName];
-  return Number.parseInt(optionValue, 10);
-};
-
-/**
- * Retrieve the feature flags either using sane defaults, or an amplify feature flags file.
- * @param {*} context the amplify runtime context
- * @returns {({ generateIndexRules: boolean, emitAuthProvider: boolean, useExperimentalPipelinedTransformer: boolean, transformerVersion: number, respectPrimaryKeyAttributesOnConnectionField: boolean, generateModelsForLazyLoadAndCustomSelectionSet: boolean, improvePluralization: boolean, addTimestampFields: boolean, handleListNullabilityTransparently: boolean })} the feature flags to provide to the generator
- */
-const getFeatureFlags = (context) => {
-  return {
-    generateIndexRules: getOptionBasedFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.generateIndexRules') ?? readFeatureFlag('codegen.generateIndexRules'),
-    emitAuthProvider: getOptionBasedFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.emitAuthProvider') ?? readFeatureFlag('codegen.emitAuthProvider'),
-    useExperimentalPipelinedTransformer: getOptionBasedFeatureFlag(context, 'graphQLTransformer.useExperimentalPipelinedTransformer') ?? readFeatureFlag('graphQLTransformer.useExperimentalPipelinedTransformer'),
-    transformerVersion: getOptionBasedNumericFeatureFlag(context, 'graphQLTransformer.transformerVersion') ?? readNumericFeatureFlag('graphQLTransformer.transformerVersion'),
-    respectPrimaryKeyAttributesOnConnectionField: getOptionBasedFeatureFlag(context, 'graphQLTransformer.respectPrimaryKeyAttributesOnConnectionField') ?? readFeatureFlag('graphQLTransformer.respectPrimaryKeyAttributesOnConnectionField'),
-    generateModelsForLazyLoadAndCustomSelectionSet: getOptionBasedFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.generateModelsForLazyLoadAndCustomSelectionSet') ?? readFeatureFlag('codegen.generateModelsForLazyLoadAndCustomSelectionSet'),
-    improvePluralization: getOptionBasedFeatureFlag(context, 'graphQLTransformer.improvePluralization') ?? readFeatureFlag('graphQLTransformer.improvePluralization'),
-    addTimestampFields: getOptionBasedFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.addTimestampFields') ?? readFeatureFlag('codegen.addTimestampFields'),
-    handleListNullabilityTransparently: getOptionBasedFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.handleListNullabilityTransparently') ?? readFeatureFlag('codegen.handleListNullabilityTransparently'),
-  };
+  // Read from feature flag file, fall back to '1' if nothing is found, and no default exists in-system.
+  try {
+    return FeatureFlags.getNumber(flagName);
+  } catch (_) {
+    return 1;
+  }
 };
 
 /**
  * Run validations over the project state, return the errors of an array of strings.
  * @param {!string} projectRoot the project root path for validating local state
- * @param {!import('@aws-amplify/appsync-modelgen-plugin').Target} target the runtime target we are running modelgen for.
+ * @param {!string} frontend the frontend being targeted for this project.
  * @returns {Array<string>} the list of validation failures detected
  */
-const validateProjectState = (projectRoot, target) => {
+const validateProjectState = (projectRoot, frontend) => {
   const validationFailures = [];
-  if (target === 'flutter' && !validateAmplifyFlutterMinSupportedVersion(projectRoot)) {
+  if (frontend === 'flutter' && !validateAmplifyFlutterMinSupportedVersion(projectRoot)) {
     validationFailures.push(`🚫 Models are not generated!
 Amplify Flutter versions prior to 0.6.0 are no longer supported by codegen. Please upgrade to use codegen.`);
   }
@@ -228,30 +204,28 @@ async function generateModels(context, generateOptions = null) {
 
   await validateSchema(context);
   const schema = loadSchema(modelSchemaPath);
-  const target = getTarget(context, isIntrospection);
+  const frontend = getFrontend(context, isIntrospection);
 
-  const validationFailures = validateProjectState(projectRoot, target);
+  const validationFailures = validateProjectState(projectRoot, frontend);
   if (validationFailures.length > 0) {
     validationFailures.forEach((validationFailure) => context.print.error(validationFailure));
     return;
   }
 
-  const {
-    generateIndexRules,
-    emitAuthProvider,
-    useExperimentalPipelinedTransformer,
-    transformerVersion,
-    respectPrimaryKeyAttributesOnConnectionField,
-    generateModelsForLazyLoadAndCustomSelectionSet,
-    improvePluralization,
-    addTimestampFields,
-    handleListNullabilityTransparently,
-  } = getFeatureFlags(context);
+  const generateIndexRules = getBooleanFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.generateIndexRules');
+  const emitAuthProvider = getBooleanFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.emitAuthProvider');
+  const useExperimentalPipelinedTransformer = getBooleanFeatureFlag(context, 'graphQLTransformer.useExperimentalPipelinedTransformer');
+  const transformerVersion = getNumericFeatureFlag(context, 'graphQLTransformer.transformerVersion');
+  const respectPrimaryKeyAttributesOnConnectionField = getBooleanFeatureFlag(context, 'graphQLTransformer.respectPrimaryKeyAttributesOnConnectionField');
+  const generateModelsForLazyLoadAndCustomSelectionSet = getBooleanFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.generateModelsForLazyLoadAndCustomSelectionSet');
+  const improvePluralization = getBooleanFeatureFlag(context, 'graphQLTransformer.improvePluralization');
+  const addTimestampFields = getBooleanFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.addTimestampFields');
+  const handleListNullabilityTransparently = getBooleanFeatureFlag(context, 'codegen.handleListNullabilityTransparently');
 
   const generatedCode = await generateModelsHelper({
     schema,
     directives,
-    target,
+    target: frontendToTargetMap[frontend],
     generateIndexRules,
     emitAuthProvider,
     useExperimentalPipelinedTransformer,
@@ -274,7 +248,7 @@ async function generateModels(context, generateOptions = null) {
 
     try {
       // TODO: move to @aws-amplify/graphql-generator
-      generateEslintIgnore(context, target);
+      generateEslintIgnore(context, frontend);
     } catch (e) {}
 
     context.print.info(`Successfully generated models. Generated models can be found in ${outputPath}`);
@@ -342,8 +316,8 @@ function getModelOutputPath(context) {
   }
 }
 
-const generateEslintIgnore = (context, target) => {
-  if (target !== 'javascript') {
+const generateEslintIgnore = (context, frontend) => {
+  if (frontend !== 'javascript') {
     return;
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/amplify-codegen/src/utils/getOutputDirParam.js b/packages/amplify-codegen/src/utils/getOutputDirParam.js
index ec4fd8495..1bbf02e8f 100644
--- a/packages/amplify-codegen/src/utils/getOutputDirParam.js
+++ b/packages/amplify-codegen/src/utils/getOutputDirParam.js
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ function getOutputDirParam(context, isRequired) {
   }
   let projectRoot;
   try {
-    context.amplify.getProjectMeta();
     projectRoot = context.amplify.getEnvInfo().projectPath;
   } catch (e) {
     projectRoot = process.cwd();