aws-lambda-provided

packaged by Chainguard

Chainguard Container for aws-lambda-provided

AWS Lambda base image for packaging custom runtimes as container images.

Chainguard Containers are regularly-updated, secure-by-default container images.

Download this Container Image

For those with access, this container image is available on cgr.dev:

docker pull cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/aws-lambda-provided:latest

Be sure to replace the ORGANIZATION placeholder with the name used for your organization's private repository within the Chainguard Registry.

Compatibility Notes

The aws-lambda-provided image implements the same Lambda custom-runtime interface as the upstream public.ecr.aws/lambda/provided:al2023 image. It includes the upstream entrypoint and bootstrap layout, Lambda runtime environment variables, local Runtime Interface Emulator (RIE) support, and the shell utilities used by the bootstrap.

Unlike the upstream image, aws-lambda-provided is built from Chainguard packages rather than the full Amazon Linux 2023 userland. It does not include the rpm, dnf, or microdnf package-management tools. When migrating an existing function image, replace RPM-based dependencies with equivalent APK packages or copy the required artifacts and shared libraries from a separate build stage.

AWS Lambda assigns a least-privileged user when it runs the image. The root user in the image configuration primarily affects local Runtime Interface Emulator testing and downstream image builds.

Prerequisites

• A container runtime such as Docker.
• An executable custom-runtime bootstrap that implements the Lambda Runtime API. The example bootstrap provided in the "Getting Started" section demonstrates this.
• An AWS account with permissions to manage ECR, IAM, Lambda, and CloudWatch resources.
• The AWS CLI, configured with the appropriate credentials.

Getting Started

Create a minimal bootstrap that receives an invocation and returns its payload:

cat > bootstrap <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
set -eu

while true; do
  headers="$(mktemp)"
  event="$(curl -sS -LD "${headers}" "http://${AWS_LAMBDA_RUNTIME_API}/2018-06-01/runtime/invocation/next")"
  request_id="$(grep -Fi Lambda-Runtime-Aws-Request-Id "${headers}" | tr -d '[:space:]' | cut -d: -f2)"
  curl -sS -X POST \
    "http://${AWS_LAMBDA_RUNTIME_API}/2018-06-01/runtime/invocation/${request_id}/response" \
    -d "${event}"
  rm -f "${headers}"
done
EOF
chmod +x bootstrap

Create a Dockerfile that adds the bootstrap to the Lambda task root and passes a handler name to the entrypoint:

cat > Dockerfile <<'EOF'
FROM cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/aws-lambda-provided:latest

COPY --chmod=0755 bootstrap ${LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT}/bootstrap

CMD ["example.handler"]
EOF

AWS Lambda supports x86_64 and arm64 architectures. The image platform must match the Lambda function architecture. This example uses linux/amd64 when building the image and the corresponding x86_64 value when creating the function. To build for Arm instead, use linux/arm64 and arm64, respectively.

Build the function image for x86_64:

docker build --platform linux/amd64 -t lambda-custom-runtime .

Start the function image locally:

docker run --rm -d \
  --name aws-lambda-provided \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  lambda-custom-runtime

When AWS_LAMBDA_RUNTIME_API is unset, the entrypoint starts the bundled Runtime Interface Emulator. Invoke the function through its local endpoint:

curl -X POST \
  "http://localhost:8080/2015-03-31/functions/function/invocations" \
  -d '{"message":"hello"}'

{"message":"hello"}

Stop and remove the local container:

docker rm -f aws-lambda-provided

To deploy the function to AWS Lambda, push the function image to a container registry that Lambda can access, such as Amazon ECR. The Amazon ECR documentation explains how to create a repository and push an image.

The function also needs an execution role that grants access to the AWS resources it uses. After pushing the image and creating the role, replace AWS_ACCOUNT_ID, AWS_REGION, and ROLE_NAME in the following command, then create the function:

aws lambda create-function \
  --function-name lambda-custom-runtime \
  --package-type Image \
  --code ImageUri=AWS_ACCOUNT_ID.dkr.ecr.AWS_REGION.amazonaws.com/lambda-custom-runtime:latest \
  --architectures x86_64 \
  --role arn:aws:iam::AWS_ACCOUNT_ID:role/ROLE_NAME \
  --region AWS_REGION

Wait until the function becomes active:

aws lambda wait function-active \
  --function-name lambda-custom-runtime \
  --region AWS_REGION

Invoke the function:

The --cli-binary-format raw-in-base64-out flag lets AWS CLI v2 send the JSON payload as written instead of requiring it to be base64-encoded.

aws lambda invoke \
  --function-name lambda-custom-runtime \
  --cli-binary-format raw-in-base64-out \
  --payload '{"message":"hello"}' \
  --region AWS_REGION \
  response.json

{
  "StatusCode": 200,
  "ExecutedVersion": "$LATEST"
}

View the function response:

cat response.json

{"message":"hello"}

Documentation and Resources

• AWS Lambda custom runtime documentation
• AWS Lambda container image documentation
• AWS Lambda Runtime API
• AWS Lambda Runtime Interface Emulator

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