Run Code Without Managing Servers And Release It Safely With AWS Lambda

Plenty of businesses need a little bit of code running somewhere: resize the photos customers upload, process an order when it lands in a queue, answer a form on the website. Renting and patching a server for that is overkill. AWS Lambda runs that code for you when something happens, and everything about it, from creating a function to shifting traffic onto a new version, is available through an API that your deployment tools or an AI assistant can call.

What AWS Lambda does

AWS Lambda is a serverless, event-driven compute service. “Serverless” means you hand Amazon your code and it handles the servers, operating system updates, capacity, automatic scaling and logging. Your code is packaged as a function, and it runs in response to events such as a file upload, a message on a queue or a web request. More on the AWS Lambda website.

What you can get done

Create and manage your functions

IT Infrastructure Management is the inventory of code you run on Lambda.

• POST /2015-03-31/functions creates a new function from a deployment package, the bundle of your code.
• GET /2015-03-31/functions lists the functions you have in a region.
• GET /2015-03-31/functions/{FunctionName} shows a function’s details and a link to download its code.
• DELETE /2015-03-31/functions/{FunctionName} deletes a function or one of its versions.

Workflows that put it together

A workflow is a recipe of several calls in order that finishes a real job. With Lambda the workflows are where the value is, because releasing code safely takes several steps. APIs.io catalogs 13 for AWS Lambda, including:

• Deploy a Function and Verify It Runs creates a function, waits for it to become active, then invokes it once to prove it works.
• Release a Version Behind an Alias publishes a version and points a named alias, like “production”, at it.
• Shift Canary Traffic Across Two Versions sends a small share of requests to a new version before trusting it with all of them.
• Wire an Event Source to a Function connects a queue or stream to a function and waits until Lambda starts reading it.
• Expose a Function Over an HTTPS Function URL gives a function its own web address with an explicit access rule.
• Tear a Function Down in Dependency Order detaches what depends on a function, then deletes it cleanly.
• Audit a Function’s Versions, Aliases, and Event Sources inventories everything attached to a function.

Ask for it in plain language

Our conversational overlay for AWS Lambda maps everyday questions to the operation that answers them, so an AI assistant knows which call to make. These are the kinds of things you can ask:

• “What Lambda functions do I have in this AWS Region?”
• “What do I need to create a new Lambda function: code, execution role, runtime?”
• “How can I download the deployment package of an existing Lambda function?”
• “Does deleting a Lambda function also remove all its versions and aliases?”

You can see one in the AWS Lambda Aliases phrasing overlay.

Getting started

Lambda has a free tier with self-serve signup; check Lambda pricing for what you pay beyond it. The documentation covers the runtimes your code can be written in, plus extensions and the Telemetry API for monitoring. On APIs.io, see the AWS Lambda profile, the Functions API, the Aliases API and the Function URL API. Pick one small job you run by hand today and deploy it as your first function.