Your AWS Lambda function's code consists of scripts or compiled programs and their dependencies. You use a deployment package to deploy your function code to Lambda. Lambda supports two types of deployment packages: container images and .zip file archives.
Topics
A container image includes the base operating system, the runtime, Lambda extensions, your application code and its dependencies. You can also add static data, such as machine learning models, into the image.
Lambda provides a set of open-source base images that you can use to build your container image. To create and test container images, you can use the AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM) command line interface (CLI) or native container tools such as the Docker CLI.
You upload your container images to Amazon Elastic Container Registry (Amazon ECR), a managed AWS container image registry service. To deploy the image to your function, you specify the Amazon ECR image URL using the Lambda console, the Lambda API, command line tools, or the AWS SDKs.
For more information about Lambda container images, see Using container images with Lambda.
A .zip file archive includes your application code and its dependencies. When you author functions using the Lambda console or a toolkit, Lambda automatically creates a .zip file archive of your code.
When you create functions with the Lambda API, command line tools, or the AWS SDKs, you must create a deployment package. You also must create a deployment package if your function uses a compiled language, or to add dependencies to your function. To deploy your function's code, you upload the deployment package from Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) or your local machine.
You can upload a .zip file as your deployment package using the Lambda console, AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI), or to an Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket.
The following steps demonstrate how to upload a .zip file as your deployment package using the Lambda console.
To upload a .zip file on the Lambda console
-
Open the Functions page on the Lambda console.
-
Select a function.
-
In the Code Source pane, choose Upload from and then .zip file.
-
Choose Upload to select your local .zip file.
-
Choose Save.
You can upload a .zip file as your deployment package using the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI). For language-specific instructions, see the following topics.
Deploy Node.js Lambda functions with .zip file archives
Deploy Python Lambda functions with .zip file archives
Deploy Ruby Lambda functions with .zip file archives
Deploy Java Lambda functions with .zip or JAR file archives
Deploy Go Lambda functions with .zip file archives
Deploy C# Lambda functions with .zip file archives
Deploy PowerShell Lambda functions with .zip file archives
You can upload a .zip file as your deployment package using Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). For more information, see Using other AWS services to build a deployment package.
If you deploy your function code using a .zip file archive, you can use Lambda layers as a distribution mechanism for libraries, custom runtimes, and other function dependencies. Layers enable you to manage your in-development function code independently from the unchanging code and resources that it uses. You can configure your function to use layers that you create, layers that AWS provides, or layers from other AWS customers.
You do not use layers with container images. Instead, you package your preferred runtime, libraries, and other dependencies into the container image when you build the image.
For more information about layers, see Creating and sharing Lambda layers.
The following section describes other AWS services you can use to package dependencies for your Lambda function.
If your deployment package contains native libraries, you can build the deployment package with AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM). You can use the AWS SAM CLI sam build command with the --use-container to create your deployment package. This option builds a deployment package inside a Docker image that is compatible with the Lambda execution environment.
For more information, see sam build in the AWS Serverless Application Model Developer Guide.
If your deployment package is larger than 50 MB, we recommend uploading your function code and dependencies to an Amazon S3 bucket.
You can create a deployment package and upload the .zip file to your Amazon S3 bucket in the AWS Region where you want to create a Lambda function. When you create your Lambda function, specify the S3 bucket name and object key name on the Lambda console, or using the AWS CLI.
To create a bucket using the Amazon S3 console, see How do I create an S3 Bucket? in the Amazon Simple Storage Service Console User Guide.