# lambda-http for AWS Lambda in Rust
[](https://docs.rs/lambda_http)
**`lambda-http`** is an abstraction that takes payloads from different services and turns them into http objects, making it easy to write API Gateway proxy event focused Lambda functions in Rust.
lambda-http handler is made of:
* Request - Represents an HTTP request
* IntoResponse - Future that will convert an [`IntoResponse`] into an actual [`LambdaResponse`]
We are able to handle requests from:
* [API Gateway](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/apigateway/latest/developerguide/welcome.html) REST, HTTP and WebSockets API lambda integrations
* AWS [ALB](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/latest/application/introduction.html)
* AWS [Lambda function URLs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/lambda-urls.html)
Thanks to the Request type we can seemsly handle proxy integrations without the worry to specify the specific service type.
There is also an Extentions for `lambda_http::Request` structs that provide access to [API gateway](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/apigateway/latest/developerguide/set-up-lambda-proxy-integrations.html#api-gateway-simple-proxy-for-lambda-input-format) and [ALB](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/latest/application/lambda-functions.html) features.
For example some handy extensions:
* query_string_parameters - Return pre-parsed http query string parameters, parameters provided after the `?` portion of a url associated with the request
* path_parameters - Return pre-extracted path parameters, parameter provided in url placeholders `/foo/{bar}/baz/{boom}` associated with the request
* payload - Return the Result of a payload parsed into a serde Deserializeable type
## Examples
Here you will find a few examples to handle basic scenarions:
* Reading a JSON from a body and deserialise into a structure
* Reading querystring parameters
* Lambda Request Authorizer
* Passing the Lambda execution context initialisation to the handler
### Reading a JSON from a body and deserialise into a structure
The code below creates a simple API Gateway proxy (HTTP, REST) that accept in input a JSON payload.
```rust
use http::Response;
use lambda_http::{run, http::StatusCode, service_fn, Error, IntoResponse, Request, RequestExt};
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
use serde_json::json;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
tracing_subscriber::fmt()
.with_ansi(false)
.without_time()
.with_max_level(tracing_subscriber::filter::LevelFilter::INFO)
.init();
run(service_fn(function_handler)).await
}
pub async fn function_handler(event: Request) -> Result<impl IntoResponse, Error> {
let body = event.payload::<MyPayload>()?;
let response = Response::builder()
.status(StatusCode::OK)
.header("Content-Type", "application/json")
.body(json!({
"message": "Hello World",
"payload": body,
}).to_string())
.map_err(Box::new)?;
Ok(response)
}
#[derive(Deserialize, Serialize, Debug, Clone)]
pub struct MyPayload {
pub prop1: String,
pub prop2: String,
}
```
### Reading querystring parameters
```rust
use http::Response;
use lambda_http::{run, http::StatusCode, service_fn, Error, IntoResponse, Request, RequestExt};
use serde_json::json;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
tracing_subscriber::fmt()
.with_ansi(false)
.without_time()
.with_max_level(tracing_subscriber::filter::LevelFilter::INFO)
.init();
run(service_fn(function_handler)).await
}
pub async fn function_handler(event: Request) -> Result<impl IntoResponse, Error> {
let name = event.query_string_parameters()
.first("name")
.unwrap_or_else(|| "stranger")
.to_string();
// Represents an HTTP response
let response = Response::builder()
.status(StatusCode::OK)
.header("Content-Type", "application/json")
.body(json!({
"message": format!("Hello, {}!", name),
}).to_string())
.map_err(Box::new)?;
Ok(response)
}
```
### Lambda Request Authorizer
Because **`lambda-http`** is an abstraction, we cannot use it for the Lambda Request Authorizer case.
If you remove the abstraction, you need to handle the request/response for your service.
```rust
use aws_lambda_events::apigw::{
ApiGatewayCustomAuthorizerRequestTypeRequest, ApiGatewayCustomAuthorizerResponse, ApiGatewayCustomAuthorizerPolicy, IamPolicyStatement,
};
use lambda_runtime::{run, service_fn, Error, LambdaEvent};
use serde_json::json;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
tracing_subscriber::fmt()
.with_ansi(false)
.without_time()
.with_max_level(tracing_subscriber::filter::LevelFilter::INFO)
.init();
run(service_fn(function_handler)).await
}
pub async fn function_handler(event: LambdaEvent<ApiGatewayCustomAuthorizerRequestTypeRequest>) -> Result<ApiGatewayCustomAuthorizerResponse, Error> {
// do something with the event payload
let method_arn = event.payload.method_arn.unwrap();
// for example we could use the authorization header
if let Some(token) = event.payload.headers.get("authorization") {
// do something
return Ok(custom_authorizer_response(
"ALLOW",
"some_principal",
&method_arn,
));
}
Ok(custom_authorizer_response(
&"DENY".to_string(),
"",
&method_arn))
}
pub fn custom_authorizer_response(effect: &str, principal: &str, method_arn: &str) -> ApiGatewayCustomAuthorizerResponse {
let stmt = IamPolicyStatement {
action: vec!["execute-api:Invoke".to_string()],
resource: vec![method_arn.to_owned()],
effect: Some(effect.to_owned()),
};
let policy = ApiGatewayCustomAuthorizerPolicy {
version: Some("2012-10-17".to_string()),
statement: vec![stmt],
};
ApiGatewayCustomAuthorizerResponse {
principal_id: Some(principal.to_owned()),
policy_document: policy,
context: json!({ "email": principal }), // https://github.com/awslabs/aws-lambda-rust-runtime/discussions/548
usage_identifier_key: None,
}
}
```
## Passing the Lambda execution context initialisation to the handler
One of the [best practices](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/best-practices.html) is to take advantage of execution environment reuse to improve the performance of your function. Initialize SDK clients and database connections outside the function handler. Subsequent invocations processed by the same instance of your function can reuse these resources. This saves cost by reducing function run time.
```rust
use aws_sdk_dynamodb::model::AttributeValue;
use chrono::Utc;
use http::Response;
use lambda_http::{run, http::StatusCode, service_fn, Error, IntoResponse, Request, RequestExt};
use serde_json::json;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
tracing_subscriber::fmt()
.with_ansi(false)
.without_time()
.with_max_level(tracing_subscriber::filter::LevelFilter::INFO)
.init();
let config = aws_config::from_env()
.load()
.await;
let dynamodb_client = aws_sdk_dynamodb::Client::new(&config);
run(service_fn(|event: Request| function_handler(&dynamodb_client, event))).await
}
pub async fn function_handler(dynamodb_client: &aws_sdk_dynamodb::Client, event: Request) -> Result<impl IntoResponse, Error> {
let table = std::env::var("TABLE_NAME").expect("TABLE_NAME must be set");
let name = event.query_string_parameters()
.first("name")
.unwrap_or_else(|| "stranger")
.to_string();
dynamodb_client
.put_item()
.table_name(table)
.item("ID", AttributeValue::S(Utc::now().timestamp().to_string()))
.item("name", AttributeValue::S(name.to_owned()))
.send()
.await?;
// Represents an HTTP response
let response = Response::builder()
.status(StatusCode::OK)
.header("Content-Type", "application/json")
.body(json!({
"message": format!("Hello, {}!", name),
}).to_string())
.map_err(Box::new)?;
Ok(response)
}
```