Skip to content

Homepage

A suite of utilities for AWS Lambda functions to ease adopting best practices such as tracing, structured logging, custom metrics, idempotency, batching, and more.

Tip: Looking for a quick read through how the core features are used?

Check out this detailed blog post with a practical example.

Install

Powertools is available in the following formats:

Support this project by using Lambda Layers ❤️

Lambda Layers allow us to understand who uses this library in a non-intrusive way. This helps us justify and gain future investments for other Lambda Powertools languages.

When using Layers, you can add Lambda Powertools as a dev dependency (or as part of your virtual env) to not impact the development process.

Lambda Layer

Lambda Layer is a .zip file archive that can contain additional code, pre-packaged dependencies, data, or configuration files. Layers promote code sharing and separation of responsibilities so that you can iterate faster on writing business logic.

You can include Lambda Powertools Lambda Layer using AWS Lambda Console, or your preferred deployment framework.

Note: Expand to copy any regional Lambda Layer ARN
Region Layer ARN
us-east-1 arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
us-east-2 arn:aws:lambda:us-east-2:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
us-west-1 arn:aws:lambda:us-west-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
us-west-2 arn:aws:lambda:us-west-2:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
ap-south-1 arn:aws:lambda:ap-south-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
ap-northeast-1 arn:aws:lambda:ap-northeast-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
ap-northeast-2 arn:aws:lambda:ap-northeast-2:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
ap-northeast-3 arn:aws:lambda:ap-northeast-3:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
ap-southeast-1 arn:aws:lambda:ap-southeast-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
ap-southeast-2 arn:aws:lambda:ap-southeast-2:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
eu-central-1 arn:aws:lambda:eu-central-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
eu-west-1 arn:aws:lambda:eu-west-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
eu-west-2 arn:aws:lambda:eu-west-2:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
eu-west-3 arn:aws:lambda:eu-west-3:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
eu-north-1 arn:aws:lambda:eu-north-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
ca-central-1 arn:aws:lambda:ca-central-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
sa-east-1 arn:aws:lambda:sa-east-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21📋
Can't find our Lambda Layer for your preferred AWS region?

You can use Serverless Application Repository (SAR) method, our CDK Layer Construct, or PyPi like you normally would for any other library.

Please do file a feature request with the region you'd want us to prioritize making our Lambda Layer available.

1
2
3
4
5
MyLambdaFunction:
    Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
    Properties:
        Layers:
            - !Sub arn:aws:lambda:${AWS::Region}:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21

1
2
3
4
5
functions:
    hello:
      handler: lambda_function.lambda_handler
      layers:
        - arn:aws:lambda:${aws:region}:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
from aws_cdk import core, aws_lambda

class SampleApp(core.Construct):

    def __init__(self, scope: core.Construct, id_: str, env: core.Environment) -> None:
        super().__init__(scope, id_)

        powertools_layer = aws_lambda.LayerVersion.from_layer_version_arn(
            self,
            id="lambda-powertools",
            layer_version_arn=f"arn:aws:lambda:{env.region}:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21"
        )
        aws_lambda.Function(self,
            'sample-app-lambda',
            runtime=aws_lambda.Runtime.PYTHON_3_9,
            layers=[powertools_layer]
            # other props...
        )

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
terraform {
  required_version = "~> 1.0.5"
  required_providers {
    aws = "~> 3.50.0"
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region  = "{region}"
}

resource "aws_iam_role" "iam_for_lambda" {
  name = "iam_for_lambda"

  assume_role_policy = <<EOF
    {
      "Version": "2012-10-17",
      "Statement": [
        {
          "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
          "Principal": {
            "Service": "lambda.amazonaws.com"
          },
          "Effect": "Allow"
        }
      ]
    }
    EOF
}

resource "aws_lambda_function" "test_lambda" {
  filename      = "lambda_function_payload.zip"
  function_name = "lambda_function_name"
  role          = aws_iam_role.iam_for_lambda.arn
  handler       = "index.test"
  runtime       = "python3.9"
  layers        = ["arn:aws:lambda:{region}:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21"]

  source_code_hash = filebase64sha256("lambda_function_payload.zip")
}
    {
      "Version": "2012-10-17",
      "Statement": [
        {
          "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
          "Principal": {
            "Service": "lambda.amazonaws.com"
          },
          "Effect": "Allow"
        }
      ]
    }
    EOF
}

resource "aws_lambda_function" "test_lambda" {
  filename      = "lambda_function_payload.zip"
  function_name = "lambda_function_name"
  role          = aws_iam_role.iam_for_lambda.arn
  handler       = "index.test"
  runtime       = "python3.9"
  layers        = ["arn:aws:lambda:{region}:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21"]

  source_code_hash = filebase64sha256("lambda_function_payload.zip")
}

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
# Create a new one with the layer
❯ amplify add function
? Select which capability you want to add: Lambda function (serverless function)
? Provide an AWS Lambda function name: <NAME-OF-FUNCTION>
? Choose the runtime that you want to use: Python
? Do you want to configure advanced settings? Yes
...
? Do you want to enable Lambda layers for this function? Yes
? Enter up to 5 existing Lambda layer ARNs (comma-separated): arn:aws:lambda:eu-central-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21
❯ amplify push -y


# Updating an existing function and add the layer
❯ amplify update function
? Select the Lambda function you want to update test2
General information
- Name: <NAME-OF-FUNCTION>
? Which setting do you want to update? Lambda layers configuration
? Do you want to enable Lambda layers for this function? Yes
? Enter up to 5 existing Lambda layer ARNs (comma-separated): arn:aws:lambda:eu-central-1:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21
? Do you want to edit the local lambda function now? No

Change {region} to your AWS region, e.g. eu-west-1

AWS CLI
1
aws lambda get-layer-version-by-arn --arn arn:aws:lambda:{region}:017000801446:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPython:21 --region {region}

The pre-signed URL to download this Lambda Layer will be within Location key.

Warning: Limitations

Container Image deployment (OCI) or inline Lambda functions do not support Lambda Layers.

Lambda Powertools Lambda Layer do not include pydantic library - required dependency for the parser utility. See SAR option instead.

SAR

Serverless Application Repository (SAR) App deploys a CloudFormation stack with a copy of our Lambda Layer in your AWS account and region.

Despite having more steps compared to the public Layer ARN option, the benefit is that you can specify a semantic version you want to use.

App ARN Description
aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications/aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer📋 Core dependencies only; sufficient for nearly all utilities.
aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer-extras arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications/aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer-extras📋 Core plus extra dependencies such as pydantic that is required by parser utility.
Warning

Layer-extras does not support Python 3.6 runtime. This layer also includes all extra dependencies: 22.4MB zipped, ~155MB unzipped.

Tip

You can create a shared Lambda Layers stack and make this along with other account level layers stack.

If using SAM, you can include this SAR App as part of your shared Layers stack, and lock to a specific semantic version. Once deployed, it'll be available across the account this is deployed to.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
AwsLambdaPowertoolsPythonLayer:
    Type: AWS::Serverless::Application
    Properties:
        Location:
            ApplicationId: arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications/aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer
            SemanticVersion: 1.25.10 # change to latest semantic version available in SAR

MyLambdaFunction:
    Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
    Properties:
        Layers:
            # fetch Layer ARN from SAR App stack output
            - !GetAtt AwsLambdaPowertoolsPythonLayer.Outputs.LayerVersionArn

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
functions:
    main:
    handler: lambda_function.lambda_handler
    layers:
        - !GetAtt AwsLambdaPowertoolsPythonLayer.Outputs.LayerVersionArn

resources:
    Transform: AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31
    Resources:****
    AwsLambdaPowertoolsPythonLayer:
        Type: AWS::Serverless::Application
        Properties:
            Location:
                ApplicationId: arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications/aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer
                # Find latest from github.com/awslabs/aws-lambda-powertools-python/releases
                SemanticVersion: 1.25.10

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
from aws_cdk import core, aws_sam as sam, aws_lambda

POWERTOOLS_BASE_NAME = 'AWSLambdaPowertools'
# Find latest from github.com/awslabs/aws-lambda-powertools-python/releases
POWERTOOLS_VER = '1.23.0'
POWERTOOLS_ARN = 'arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications/aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer'

class SampleApp(core.Construct):

    def __init__(self, scope: core.Construct, id_: str) -> None:
        super().__init__(scope, id_)

        # Launches SAR App as CloudFormation nested stack and return Lambda Layer
        powertools_app = sam.CfnApplication(self,
            f'{POWERTOOLS_BASE_NAME}Application',
            location={
                'applicationId': POWERTOOLS_ARN,
                'semanticVersion': POWERTOOLS_VER
            },
        )

        powertools_layer_arn = powertools_app.get_att("Outputs.LayerVersionArn").to_string()
        powertools_layer_version = aws_lambda.LayerVersion.from_layer_version_arn(self, f'{POWERTOOLS_BASE_NAME}', powertools_layer_arn)

        aws_lambda.Function(self,
            'sample-app-lambda',
            runtime=aws_lambda.Runtime.PYTHON_3_8,
            function_name='sample-lambda',
            code=aws_lambda.Code.asset('./src'),
            handler='app.handler',
            layers: [powertools_layer_version]
        )

Credits to Dani Comnea for providing the Terraform equivalent.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
terraform {
  required_version = "~> 0.13"
  required_providers {
    aws = "~> 3.50.0"
  }
}

provider "aws" {
  region  = "us-east-1"
}

resource "aws_serverlessapplicationrepository_cloudformation_stack" "deploy_sar_stack" {
  name = "aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer"

  application_id   = data.aws_serverlessapplicationrepository_application.sar_app.application_id
  semantic_version = data.aws_serverlessapplicationrepository_application.sar_app.semantic_version
  capabilities = [
    "CAPABILITY_IAM",
    "CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM"
  ]
}

data "aws_serverlessapplicationrepository_application" "sar_app" {
  application_id   = "arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications/aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer"
  semantic_version = var.aws_powertools_version
}

variable "aws_powertools_version" {
  type        = string
  default     = "1.20.2"
  description = "The AWS Powertools release version"
}

output "deployed_powertools_sar_version" {
  value = data.aws_serverlessapplicationrepository_application.sar_app.semantic_version
}

# Fetch Lambda Powertools Layer ARN from deployed SAR App
output "aws_lambda_powertools_layer_arn" {
  value = aws_serverlessapplicationrepository_cloudformation_stack.deploy_sar_stack.outputs.LayerVersionArn
}
Example: Least-privileged IAM permissions to deploy Layer

Credits to mwarkentin for providing the scoped down IAM permissions.

The region and the account id for CloudFormationTransform and GetCfnTemplate are fixed.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: "2010-09-09"
Resources:
    PowertoolsLayerIamRole:
    Type: "AWS::IAM::Role"
    Properties:
        AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
        Version: "2012-10-17"
        Statement:
            - Effect: "Allow"
            Principal:
                Service:
                - "cloudformation.amazonaws.com"
            Action:
                - "sts:AssumeRole"
        Path: "/"
    PowertoolsLayerIamPolicy:
    Type: "AWS::IAM::Policy"
    Properties:
        PolicyName: PowertoolsLambdaLayerPolicy
        PolicyDocument:
        Version: "2012-10-17"
        Statement:
            - Sid: CloudFormationTransform
            Effect: Allow
            Action: cloudformation:CreateChangeSet
            Resource:
                - arn:aws:cloudformation:us-east-1:aws:transform/Serverless-2016-10-31
            - Sid: GetCfnTemplate
            Effect: Allow
            Action:
                - serverlessrepo:CreateCloudFormationTemplate
                - serverlessrepo:GetCloudFormationTemplate
            Resource:
                # this is arn of the powertools SAR app
                - arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications/aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer
            - Sid: S3AccessLayer
            Effect: Allow
            Action:
                - s3:GetObject
            Resource:
                # AWS publishes to an external S3 bucket locked down to your account ID
                # The below example is us publishing lambda powertools
                # Bucket: awsserverlessrepo-changesets-plntc6bfnfj
                # Key: *****/arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications-aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer-versions-1.10.2/aeeccf50-****-****-****-*********
                - arn:aws:s3:::awsserverlessrepo-changesets-*/*
            - Sid: GetLayerVersion
            Effect: Allow
            Action:
                - lambda:PublishLayerVersion
                - lambda:GetLayerVersion
            Resource:
                - !Sub arn:aws:lambda:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:layer:aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer*
        Roles:
        - Ref: "PowertoolsLayerIamRole"

You can fetch available versions via SAR ListApplicationVersions API:

AWS CLI example
1
2
aws serverlessrepo list-application-versions \
    --application-id arn:aws:serverlessrepo:eu-west-1:057560766410:applications/aws-lambda-powertools-python-layer

Quick getting started

Hello world example using SAM CLI
1
sam init --location https://github.com/aws-samples/cookiecutter-aws-sam-python

Features

Core utilities such as Tracing, Logging, Metrics, and Event Handler will be available across all Lambda Powertools languages. Additional utilities are subjective to each language ecosystem and customer demand.

Utility Description
Tracing Decorators and utilities to trace Lambda function handlers, and both synchronous and asynchronous functions
Logger Structured logging made easier, and decorator to enrich structured logging with key Lambda context details
Metrics Custom Metrics created asynchronously via CloudWatch Embedded Metric Format (EMF)
Event handler: AppSync AppSync event handler for Lambda Direct Resolver and Amplify GraphQL Transformer function
Event handler: API Gateway and ALB Amazon API Gateway REST/HTTP API and ALB event handler for Lambda functions invoked using Proxy integration
Middleware factory Decorator factory to create your own middleware to run logic before, and after each Lambda invocation
Parameters Retrieve parameter values from AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store, AWS Secrets Manager, or Amazon DynamoDB, and cache them for a specific amount of time
Batch processing Handle partial failures for AWS SQS batch processing
Typing Static typing classes to speedup development in your IDE
Validation JSON Schema validator for inbound events and responses
Event source data classes Data classes describing the schema of common Lambda event triggers
Parser Data parsing and deep validation using Pydantic
Idempotency Idempotent Lambda handler
Feature Flags A simple rule engine to evaluate when one or multiple features should be enabled depending on the input

Environment variables

Info

Explicit parameters take precedence over environment variables

Environment variable Description Utility Default
POWERTOOLS_SERVICE_NAME Sets service name used for tracing namespace, metrics dimension and structured logging All "service_undefined"
POWERTOOLS_METRICS_NAMESPACE Sets namespace used for metrics Metrics None
POWERTOOLS_TRACE_DISABLED Explicitly disables tracing Tracing false
POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE Captures Lambda or method return as metadata. Tracing true
POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR Captures Lambda or method exception as metadata. Tracing true
POWERTOOLS_TRACE_MIDDLEWARES Creates sub-segment for each custom middleware Middleware factory false
POWERTOOLS_LOGGER_LOG_EVENT Logs incoming event Logging false
POWERTOOLS_LOGGER_SAMPLE_RATE Debug log sampling Logging 0
POWERTOOLS_LOG_DEDUPLICATION_DISABLED Disables log deduplication filter protection to use Pytest Live Log feature Logging false
POWERTOOLS_EVENT_HANDLER_DEBUG Enables debugging mode for event handler Event Handler false
LOG_LEVEL Sets logging level Logging INFO

Debug mode

As a best practice, AWS Lambda Powertools module logging statements are suppressed. If necessary, you can enable debugging using set_package_logger for additional information on every internal operation:

Powertools debug mode example
1
2
3
from aws_lambda_powertools.logging.logger import set_package_logger

set_package_logger() # (1)
  1. ℹ️ this will configure our aws_lambda_powertools logger with debug.

Tenets

These are our core principles to guide our decision making.

  • AWS Lambda only. We optimise for AWS Lambda function environments and supported runtimes only. Utilities might work with web frameworks and non-Lambda environments, though they are not officially supported.
  • Eases the adoption of best practices. The main priority of the utilities is to facilitate best practices adoption, as defined in the AWS Well-Architected Serverless Lens; all other functionality is optional.
  • Keep it lean. Additional dependencies are carefully considered for security and ease of maintenance, and prevent negatively impacting startup time.
  • We strive for backwards compatibility. New features and changes should keep backwards compatibility. If a breaking change cannot be avoided, the deprecation and migration process should be clearly defined.
  • We work backwards from the community. We aim to strike a balance of what would work best for 80% of customers. Emerging practices are considered and discussed via Requests for Comment (RFCs)
  • Progressive. Utilities are designed to be incrementally adoptable for customers at any stage of their Serverless journey. They follow language idioms and their community’s common practices.
Last update: 2022-06-16
Back to top