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This post written by Uma Ramadoss, Principal Specialist SA, Serverless and Vinita Shadangi, Senior Specialist SA, Serverless. Today, AWS Step Functions is expanding the capabilities of Distributed Map...

AWS Step Functions announces support for two new capabilities: Variables and JSONata data transformations. Variables allow developers to assign data in one state and reference it in a subsequent state, simplifying state payload management, reducing the need to pass data through multiple intermediate states. With support for JSONata, an open source query and transformation language, customers can now perform advanced data manipulation and transformation such as date and time formatting, and mathematical operations. Additionally, when using JSONata, we have simplified input and output processing by reducing the number of JSON transformation fields required to call services and pass data to the next state. AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service capable of orchestrating over 14,000 API actions from over 220 AWS services to build distributed applications and data processing workloads. With support for Variables and JSONata, developers can build distributed serverless applications faster and more efficiently with enhanced payload management capabilities. These features also reduce the need for custom code, lowering costs and reducing the number of state transitions needed to construct and pass data between states. Variables and JSONata are available at no additional cost in: US East (N. Virginia, Ohio), US West (Oregon), Canada (Central), Europe (Ireland and Frankfurt), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, and Sydney) with the remaining regions to follow in the coming days. We have also partnered with LocalStack and Datadog to ensure that their local emulation and observability experiences are updated to support Variables and JSONata. To learn more, please visit: Documentation Blog Post Introductory Video LocalStack Blog Datadog Blog

This week, the AWS IoT Device SDK for Swift reached general availability. As a member of the Swift Server Workgroup (SSWG), this one caught my attention. The SDK brings production-ready MQTT 5 connectivity, Device Shadow, Jobs, and fleet provisioning to Swift developers on macOS, iOS, tvOS, and Linux. I’m curious to see what you will build with it. […]

AWS Step Functions now enables you to add AI agent reasoning steps to your workflow through an optimized integration with the managed harness (currently in preview) in Amazon Bedrock AgentCore. AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service that orchestrates AWS services with built-in error handling, parallel execution, and human approval steps. The AgentCore harness lets you declare an agent through configuration where you specify the model, tools, and behavior. AgentCore provides the managed environment that runs the agent loop end-to-end.   With this integration, you can automate reasoning tasks in your workflow such as classifying a document or extracting elements from an unstructured form. You can run multiple agents in parallel or in sequence at different decision points in a single workflow and add human approval before critical actions. The workflow execution history shows agent input, output, token usage, and duration with links to agent turn details in Amazon CloudWatch, so you can trace and audit every agent decision. You can reuse an existing harness or create a new one directly from the Workflow Studio, the Step Functions visual builder. With per-invocation overrides such as the model, system prompt, and tools, you can adapt the agent to each workflow context without duplicating configurations. Agent context can be persisted across invocations using a session ID that works within or across workflow executions.   The harness integration is available in the following AWS Regions where the AgentCore harness preview is available: US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Europe (Frankfurt), and Asia Pacific (Sydney). Standard Step Functions pricing applies for workflow execution with no additional integration charges, and standard Amazon Bedrock and AgentCore pricing applies for model inference and associated AgentCore resources.   To learn more about adding agentic reasoning to your workflows, visit AWS Step Functions documentation.

Three weeks ago, I published a post about the new AWS Region in New Zealand (ap-southeast-6). This led to an incredible opportunity to visit New Zealand, where I met passionate builders and presented at several events including Serverless and Platform Engineering meetup, AWS Tools and Programming meetup, AWS Cloud Clubs in Auckland, and AWS Community […]

AWS Step Functions' enhanced TestState API now enables local unit testing with mocking support, comprehensive state type validation, and individual state testing capabilities without requiring AWS deployment or IAM permissions.

As the weather improves in the Northern hemisphere, there are more opportunities to learn and connect. This week, I’ll be in San Francisco, and we can meet at the Nova Networking Night at the AWS GenAI Loft where we’ll dive into the world of Amazon Nova foundation models (FMs) with live demos and real-world implementations. […]

AWS Step Functions enhances the TestState API to support local unit testing of workflows, allowing you to validate your workflow logic, including advanced patterns like Map and Parallel states, without deploying state machines to your AWS account. AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service capable of orchestrating over 14,000+ API actions from over 220 AWS services to build distributed applications and data processing workloads. The TestState API now supports testing of complete workflows including error handling patterns in your local development environment. You can now mock AWS service integrations, with optional API contract validation that verifies your mocked responses match the expected responses from actual AWS services, helping ensure your workflows work correctly in production. You can integrate TestState API calls into your preferred testing frameworks such as Jest and pytest and CI/CD pipelines, enabling automated workflow testing as part of your development process. These capabilities help accelerate development by providing instant feedback on workflow definitions, enabling validation of workflow behavior in your local environment, and catching potential issues earlier in the development cycle. The enhanced TestState API is available through the AWS SDK in all AWS Regions where Step Functions is available. For a complete list of regions and service offerings, see AWS Regions. To get started, you can access the TestState API through the AWS SDK, AWS CLI, or check out the AWS Step Functions Developer Guide.

AWS announces AI-powered troubleshooting capabilities with Amazon Q integration in AWS Step Functions console. https://aws.amazon.com/step-functions/ is a visual workflow service that enables customers to build distributed applications, automate IT and business processes, and build data and machine learning pipelines using AWS services. This integration brings Amazon Q's intelligent error analysis directly into AWS Step Functions console, helping you quickly identify and resolve workflow issues. When errors occur in your AWS Step Functions workflows, you can now click the "Diagnose with Amazon Q" button that appears in error alerts and the console error notification area to receive AI-assisted troubleshooting guidance. This feature helps you resolve common types of issues including state machine execution failures as well as Amazon States Language (ASL) syntax errors and warnings. The troubleshooting recommendations appear in a dedicated window with remediation steps tailored to your error context, enabling faster resolution and improved operational efficiency. Diagnose with Amazon Q for AWS Step Functions is available in all commercial AWS Regions where Amazon Q is available. The feature is automatically enabled for customers who have access to Amazon Q in their region. To learn more about Diagnose with Amazon Q, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/qdeveloper-ug/diagnose-console-errors.html or get started by visiting the AWS Step Functions https://aws.amazon.com/step-functions/.

AWS announces AI-powered troubleshooting capabilities with Amazon Q integration in AWS Step Functions console. AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service that enables customers to build distributed applications, automate IT and business processes, and build data and machine learning pipelines using AWS services. This integration brings Amazon Q's intelligent error analysis directly into AWS Step Functions console, helping you quickly identify and resolve workflow issues. When errors occur in your AWS Step Functions workflows, you can now click the "Diagnose with Amazon Q" button that appears in error alerts and the console error notification area to receive AI-assisted troubleshooting guidance. This feature helps you resolve common types of issues including state machine execution failures as well as Amazon States Language (ASL) syntax errors and warnings. The troubleshooting recommendations appear in a dedicated window with remediation steps tailored to your error context, enabling faster resolution and improved operational efficiency. Diagnose with Amazon Q for AWS Step Functions is available in all commercial AWS Regions where Amazon Q is available. The feature is automatically enabled for customers who have access to Amazon Q in their region. To learn more about Diagnose with Amazon Q, see Diagnosing and troubleshooting console errors with Amazon Q or get started by visiting the AWS Step Functions console.

AWS Step Functions announces improved observability with a new metrics dashboard, giving you visibility into your workflow operations at both the account and state machine levels. AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service capable of orchestrating over 14,000+ API actions from over 220 AWS services to build distributed applications and data processing workloads. With this launch, you can now view usage and billing metrics in one dashboard on the AWS Step Functions console. Metrics are available at both account and state-machine level. You can now view these metrics for both standard and express workflows. In addition, existing metrics, such as ApproximateOpenMapRunCount, are available on the metrics dashboard. New dashboard and metrics are available in all AWS Regions where AWS Step Functions is available. To get started, open a dashboard today in the AWS Step Functions console. To learn more, visit the Step Functions developer guide.

Three weeks ago, I published a post about the new AWS Region in New Zealand (ap-southeast-6). This led to an incredible opportunity to visit New Zealand, where I met passionate builders and presented at several events including Serverless and Platform Engineering meetup, AWS Tools and Programming meetup, AWS Cloud Clubs in Auckland, and AWS Community […]

AWS Step Functions now offers TestState in the AWS GovCloud (US-East) and AWS GovCloud (US-West) Regions. This expansion allows customers operating in these regions to test individual states of their workflows without creating or updating existing state machines, helping to enhance the development and troubleshooting process for their applications. AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service that enables customers to build distributed applications, automate IT and business processes, and build data and machine learning pipelines using AWS services. TestState allows developers to validate a state's input and output processing, test AWS service integrations, and verify HTTP task requests and responses. With TestState now available in the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions, customers can test and validate individual workflow steps. TestState supports various state types including Task, Pass, Wait, Choice, Succeed, and Fail, with tests running for up to five minutes. This feature is now generally available in the AWS GovCloud (US-East) and AWS GovCloud (US-West) Regions, in addition to all commercial regions where AWS Step Functions is available. To learn more about TestState and how to incorporate it into your workflow development process, visit the AWS Step Functions documentation. You can start testing your workflow states using the Step Functions console, AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or AWS SDKs.

Today, AWS announces the general availability of AWS Service Quotas integration with https://aws.amazon.com/step-functions/, enabling customers to monitor and manage their Step Functions quotas directly from the Service Quotas console. AWS Service Quotas is a service that helps you view and manage your AWS service quotas from a central location.AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service that helps customers orchestrate AWS services, automate business processes, and build serverless applications. This integration improves service quota visibility and management for AWS Step Functions users. With this launch, you can now view your AWS Step Functions account-level quota values through the Service Quotas console and monitor quota utilization through Amazon CloudWatch metrics. This enhanced visibility is particularly valuable for customers running high-volume workflow operations at scale, helping them proactively monitor resource usage and avoid potential service disruptions. Additionally, you can now request quota increases directly from the Service Quotas console. For eligible requests, quota changes are automatically updated without manual intervention, streamlining the quota management process. Service Quotas console integration for AWS Step Functions is available in all commercial AWS Regions and the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions where AWS Step Functions is available. To learn more about managing AWS Step Functions quotas, visit the AWS Step Functions https://docs.aws.amazon.com/step-functions/latest/dg/service-quotas.html. You can access this feature through the Service Quotas https://console.aws.amazon.com/servicequotas/home or through the CLI.

Today, AWS announces the general availability of AWS Service Quotas integration with AWS Step Functions, enabling customers to monitor and manage their Step Functions quotas directly from the Service Quotas console. AWS Service Quotas is a service that helps you view and manage your AWS service quotas from a central location.AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service that helps customers orchestrate AWS services, automate business processes, and build serverless applications. This integration improves service quota visibility and management for AWS Step Functions users. With this launch, you can now view your AWS Step Functions account-level quota values through the Service Quotas console and monitor quota utilization through Amazon CloudWatch metrics. This enhanced visibility is particularly valuable for customers running high-volume workflow operations at scale, helping them proactively monitor resource usage and avoid potential service disruptions. Additionally, you can now request quota increases directly from the Service Quotas console. For eligible requests, quota changes are automatically updated without manual intervention, streamlining the quota management process. Service Quotas console integration for AWS Step Functions is available in all commercial AWS Regions and the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions where AWS Step Functions is available. To learn more about managing AWS Step Functions quotas, visit the AWS Step Functions documentation. You can access this feature through the Service Quotas console or through the CLI.

AWS Step Functions now offers TestState in the AWS GovCloud (US-East) and AWS GovCloud (US-West) Regions. This expansion allows customers operating in these regions to test individual states of their workflows without creating or updating existing state machines, helping to enhance the development and troubleshooting process for their applications. https://aws.amazon.com/step-functions/ is a visual workflow service that enables customers to build distributed applications, automate IT and business processes, and build data and machine learning pipelines using AWS services. TestState allows developers to validate a state's input and output processing, test AWS service integrations, and verify HTTP task requests and responses. With TestState now available in the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions, customers can test and validate individual workflow steps. TestState supports various state types including Task, Pass, Wait, Choice, Succeed, and Fail, with tests running for up to five minutes. This feature is now generally available in the AWS GovCloud (US-East) and AWS GovCloud (US-West) Regions, in addition to all commercial regions where AWS Step Functions is available. To learn more about TestState and how to incorporate it into your workflow development process, visit the AWS Step Functions https://docs.aws.amazon.com/step-functions/latest/dg/test-state-isolation.html. You can start testing your workflow states using the Step Functions console, AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or AWS SDKs.

AWS Step Functions enhances the TestState API to support local unit testing of workflows, allowing you to validate your workflow logic, including advanced patterns like Map and Parallel states, without deploying state machines to your AWS account. https://aws.amazon.com/step-functions/ is a visual workflow service capable of orchestrating over 14,000+ API actions from over 220 AWS services to build distributed applications and data processing workloads. The TestState API now supports testing of complete workflows including error handling patterns in your local development environment. You can now mock AWS service integrations, with optional API contract validation that verifies your mocked responses match the expected responses from actual AWS services, helping ensure your workflows work correctly in production. You can integrate TestState API calls into your preferred testing frameworks such as Jest and pytest and CI/CD pipelines, enabling automated workflow testing as part of your development process. These capabilities help accelerate development by providing instant feedback on workflow definitions, enabling validation of workflow behavior in your local environment, and catching potential issues earlier in the development cycle. The enhanced TestState API is available through the AWS SDK in all AWS Regions where Step Functions is available. For a complete list of regions and service offerings, see https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regional-product-services/. To get started, you can access the TestState API through the AWS SDK, AWS CLI, or check out the AWS Step Functions https://docs.aws.amazon.com/step-functions/latest/dg/test-state-isolation.html.

AWS Step Functions announces improved observability with a new metrics dashboard, giving you visibility into your workflow operations at both the account and state machine levels. https://aws.amazon.com/step-functions/ is a visual workflow service capable of orchestrating over 14,000+ API actions from over 220 AWS services to build distributed applications and data processing workloads. With this launch, you can now view usage and billing metrics in one dashboard on the AWS Step Functions console. Metrics are available at both account and state-machine level. You can now view these metrics for both standard and express workflows. In addition, existing metrics, such as ApproximateOpenMapRunCount, are available on the metrics dashboard. New dashboard and metrics are available in all AWS Regions where AWS Step Functions is available. To get started, open a dashboard today in the https://console.aws.amazon.com/states/home/. To learn more, visit the Step Functions https://docs.aws.amazon.com/step-functions/latest/dg/procedure-cw-metrics.html

AWS Step Functions adds supports for IPv6. You can now send IPV6 traffic to AWS Step Functions via new dual-stack IPv4 and IPv6 endpoints. AWS Step Functions is a visual workflow service that enables customers to build distributed applications, automate IT and business processes, and build data and machine learning pipelines using AWS services. This enhancement addresses the growing need for IP addresses as the internet continues to expand, providing a larger address space than the traditional IPv4 format. With IPv6 support, organizations modernizing their applications can now build serverless workflows without being constrained by limited IPv4 address space. The new dual-stack endpoints support both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing IPv4 endpoints. Step Functions also supports IPv6 connectivity through PrivateLink interface Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) endpoints, enabling you to access the service privately without traversing the public internet. This enables organizations operating in IPv6 environments to natively integrate with Step Functions without requiring complex translation mechanisms between IPv6 and IPv4. IPv6 support for AWS Step Functions is now generally available in US East (Ohio), US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), US West (N. California) as well as AWS GovCloud (US-East), and AWS GovCloud (US-West) Regions, where AWS Step Functions is available. To learn more about IPv6 support on AWS, visit the documentation page.