How to use requests module in AWS Lambda

Python lambda requests

Python requests library is by default not avaialble in AWS Lambda Python environments. For using requests library in Lambda function a Lambda Layer needs to attached to the Lambda function. This tutorials lists the required steps for creating and attaching Lambda Layer for requests module.

Step 1: Create Python Virtual Environment


python3 -m venv test_venv

Step 2: Activate Virtual Environment



# [On Ubuntu]

source test_venv/bin/activate

# [On Windows]

.\test_venv\Scripts\activate

Step 3: Check Python Version



python --version

Step 4: Create directory with name python



mkdir python

Step 5: Install requests package in python directory created in Step 4



pip install requests -t python

Step 6: Zip python directory



# [On Ubuntu]

zip -r requests.zip python

# [On Windows]

powershell Compress-Archive python requests.zip

Step 7: Login to AWS account and Navigate to AWS Lambda Service.

Step 8: In AWS Lambda select Layers from Additional resources.

Step 9: Click on create layer, enter the required information.

Name: requests_layer
Description: Lambda layer for requests module
Select Upload a .zip file, click on upload and choose requests.zip created in Step 6
Compatible runtimes - Choose run time as per the python version from output of Step 3

Step 10: Click on Create

Step 11: Navigate to AWS Lambda function and select Functions

Step 12: Click on Create function

Step 13: Select Author from scratch

Step 14: Enter Below details in Basic information

Function name: test_lambda_function
Runtime: choose run time as per the python version from output of Step 3

Step 15: Click on create function

Step 16: In the Function overview pane click on Layers or Scroll down to select Layers section

Step 17: Click on Add a layer

Step 18: Select Custom layers , choose layer created in Step 9, select version 1 and click on Add.

Step 19: Write below code in lambda function and click on Deploy



import json
import logging
import requests

logger = logging.getLogger()
logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)


def lambda_handler(event, context):
    logger.info(requests.__version__)