AWS Step Functions Guide - Workflow Automation in Minutes

Discover how AWS Step Functions enable visual, low-code workflows that automate business processes with state machines, error handling, and rapid integration with AWS Lambda, Amazon SNS, and more.

explore the building blocks of step functions, including state machines and tasks that take input and produce output in workflow, with a username check example illustrating valid and fail paths.

Learn how AWS Step Functions pricing works via state transitions, with 4,000 monthly free transitions and a 0.00025 per transition rate, and consult the pricing documentation for up-to-date costs.

Create your first AWS Step Functions workflow in the console using the wizard. Define a hello world state machine with the Amazon States Language, then start execution and review results.

Explore Step Functions core concepts—states, state types, transitions, input and output processing, executions, and error handling—while building a spam handler workflow that filters messages and deletes spam.

Design and test an AWS Step Functions workflow by building a state machine with pass and choice states, exploring flow view, ASL definition, and export options.

Explore the core state types in AWS Step Functions, including pass, task, choice, wait, parallel, and mapping, to build branching, delayed, and multi-task workflows.

Create and test an AWS Step Functions state machine that invokes a Lambda function, configures input and output, and handles simple flows with wait times and error handling.

Learn how AWS Step Functions manage input and output by invoking Lambda functions, passing payloads through a workflow, and extracting or appending data such as authors to quotes.

Explore how AWS Step Functions process JSON input and output using dollar-sign paths to extract fields, then pass data between states for Lambda functions and other services.

Demonstrates extracting specific data from nested JSON using InputPath to condense an AWS Step Functions payload and probe Lambda results for targeted output within a state machine.

Learn to use parameters in AWS Step Functions to construct a JSON input/output payload, map fields with dot-dollar syntax, and extract status code and body from Lambda results.

Discover how the data flow simulator in AWS Step Functions demonstrates state input, input path, parameters, intrinsic functions, result selectors, and output path.

Create and test maps and parallel states in AWS Step Functions, orchestrate multiple Lambda functions in parallel, and manage branches, input/output, and results using result paths.

Explore a parallel state machine to test a palindrome check. The caption shows a case-sensitive algorithm and how to modify the Lambda code to bypass uppercase and lowercase differences.

Execute a map state to iterate over a list of inputs, invoking a random seat Lambda function for each item, producing a result list of names with assigned seats.

Build a contact form workflow with AWS Step Functions, validating input via Lambda, saving to DynamoDB, and notifying admins via SNS, with setup of table and topic, and error handling.

Build an AWS step functions workflow by invoking a lambda function and using a result selector to extract validated field, then route with a choice state based on the result.

Design and connect a step functions workflow that uses DynamoDB put item to store data and SNS to notify admin, while handling input, output, and error states.

Learn how to build a prospect approval workflow using API gateway to trigger an AWS Step Functions workflow, with data validation, Lambda functions, and notification that saves to Animal DB.

Set up a state machine and an approval validator lambda to validate input and branch outcomes with a choice state and result selector.

Explore automating an AWS Step Functions workflow by validating input, sending an SMS for manual approval, pausing for a task token, and resuming after admin approval with DynamoDB persistence.

Create an SNS topic and add an email subscription, then verify the email and confirm the subscription before wiring a Lambda function URL for Step Functions integration.

Learn how to set up the callback lambda function and function URL to handle token-based approval and resume the AWS Step Functions workflow.

Configure lambda execution roles with permissions to call sns and step functions, attach amazon sns full access and step functions full access policies, and apply least privilege in production.

Configure the payload input for the send sms to admin function by passing user name, email, and employer, including the task token, then wait for the callback to authorize step.

Trigger a step function via api gateway rest api, start execution with a payload, and monitor the state machine’s orchestration, including permissions, mapping templates, and lambda integration.

Build a simple news filter with AWS Step Functions and Amazon Comprehend to detect sentiment from input text, routing results via a choice state and configuring IAM role permissions.

Take the next steps by reading the AWS step functions documentation, exploring examples, and practicing workflows to stay up to date and inspired.