Invoke Lambda Functions with AWS CLI - Complete Guide

Table of Contents #

1. Synchronously Invoke Lambda Functions with the AWS CLI
2. Synchronously Invoke Lambda with a File Payload
3. Synchronously Invoke Different Versions of Lambda
4. Asynchronously Invoke Lambda Functions with AWS CLI

Synchronously Invoke Lambda Functions with the AWS CLI #

To invoke a lambda function synchronously use the invoke command, passing in the function name, payload and output filename as parameters.

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aws lambda invoke --function-name testFunction --cli-binary-format raw-in-base64-out --payload '{"name": "John Smith"}' response.json

If you're on Windows the --payload parameter should be '{\"name\": \"John Smith\"}' - with the double quotes escaped.

We've passed the following parameters to the invoke command.

The --payload parameter is the event, the lambda function gets invoked with and response.json is a file on the local filesystem where we redirect the function's response.

For a simple, Node.js lambda function that consist of the following code:

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exports.handler = async (event) => {
    const response = {
        statusCode: 200,
        body: JSON.stringify(`Hello ${event.name}!`),
    };
    return response;
};

Running the above command stores the following in the response.json file:

Synchronously Invoke Lambda with a File Payload #

Sometimes the payload is too complex to be directly passed in the CLI.

To invoke a lambda function, passing in a file as a payload:

1. Store valid json in the form of the event, the lambda function expects in a file on your local file system
2. Invoke the lambda function, passing in the file as the --payload parameter

Create a file called event.json with the following json in it:

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{
  "name": "John Doe"
}

Open your terminal in the directory where you stored event.json and invoke the lambda function, passing in the event.json file as --payload.

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aws lambda invoke --function-name testFunction --cli-binary-format raw-in-base64-out --payload file://event.json response.json

Take a look at the response.json file to make sure the response matches the expectations:

For instance if I update the code of my lambda function to respond with a 400 status code:

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exports.handler = async (event) => {
    const response = {
        statusCode: 400,
        body: JSON.stringify(`Hello ${event.name}!`),
    };
    return response;
};

The statusCode in the CLI response would still be 200:

However, the response.json file stores the lambda function's response with status code of 400:

Synchronously Invoke Different Versions of Lambda #

To invoke a specific version or alias of a lambda function, with the AWS CLI, pass the --qualifier parameter to the invoke command.

I've deployed a version 2 of the lambda function, which contains the following code:

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exports.handler = async (event) => {
    const response = {
        statusCode: 200,
        body: JSON.stringify(`Goodbye ${event.name}!`),
    };
    return response;
};

Let's invoke version 2 of the lambda function, passing in the --qualifier parameter:

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aws lambda invoke --function-name testFunction --cli-binary-format raw-in-base64-out --payload file://event.json --qualifier 2 response.json

The response shows that the version of the function that ran was 2.

Asynchronously Invoke Lambda Functions with AWS CLI #

When a lambda function is invoked asynchronously, we don't wait for the function's response. The request is sent to lambda, which queues the events and sends them to the function.

We will invoke a lambda function that's written in Node.js and contains the following code:

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exports.handler = async (event) => {
    const response = {
        statusCode: 200,
        body: JSON.stringify(`Favorite fruit: ${event.fruit}`),
    };
    return response;
};

To asynchronously invoke a lambda function with the AWS CLI, set the --invocation-type parameter to Event.

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aws lambda invoke --function-name testFunction --cli-binary-format raw-in-base64-out --invocation-type Event --payload '{"fruit": "tomato"}' response.json

If you are on Windows, set the --payload you must escape the double quotes in the json string: '{\"fruit\": \"tomato\"}'.

In the command we've set the --invocation-type parameter to Event to mark the invocation as asynchronous.

The response.json file where the lambda function's response is stored is empty because the CLI returns instantly and doesn't wait for the function to respond.

Same as with the synchronous invocation, we've set the --cli-binary-format parameter to raw-in-base64-out to be able to pass a raw json string as --payload.

All of the other scenarios are the same as invoking a lambda function synchronously:

1. Invoking the function with a file - store valid json in a file on your local file system and prefix the --payload parameter with file://

For example with an event.json file with the following contents:

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{
  "fruit": "avocado"
}

Open your terminal in the directory where the event.json file is stored and run the invoke command:

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aws lambda invoke --function-name testFunction --cli-binary-format raw-in-base64-out --invocation-type Event --payload file://event.json response.json

2. Invoking a specific version or alias of the function - use the --qualifier parameter to specify a version of the function you want to invoke

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aws lambda invoke --function-name testFunction --cli-binary-format raw-in-base64-out --invocation-type Event --qualifier 2 --payload file://event.json response.json

Further Reading #

• Create a Lambda Function with AWS CLI - Complete Guide
• Create Lambda Layers with AWS CLI - Complete Guide
• Create a Role with AWS CLI - Complete Guide
• View your AWS CLI logs in Real Time (tail)
• How to turn off the Pager in AWS CLI
• AWS CDK Tutorial for Beginners - Step-by-Step Guide
• How to use Parameters in AWS CDK