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Powertools for AWS Lambda (Python) is a developer toolkit to implement Serverless best practices and increase developer velocity.

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Features

Adopt one, a few, or all industry practices. Progressively.

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Installation

Install via pip, Lambda Layers, or SAR.

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Powertools is also available in other languages.

Java, TypeScript, .NET

Features¶

Utility	Description
Tracer	Decorators and utilities to trace Lambda function handlers, and both synchronous and asynchronous functions
Logger	Structured logging made easier, and target to enrich structured logging with key Lambda context details
Metrics	Custom Metrics created asynchronously via CloudWatch Embedded Metric Format (EMF)
Event Handler	Event handler for API Gateway, ALB, Lambda Function URL, VPC Lattice, AppSync, and Bedrock Agents
Parameters	Retrieve and cache parameter values from Parameter Store, Secrets Manager, AppConfig, or DynamoDB
Parser	Data parsing and deep validation using Pydantic
Batch Processing	Handle partial failures for SQS, Kinesis Data Streams, and DynamoDB Streams
Idempotency	Make your Lambda functions idempotent and prevent duplicate execution
Feature Flags	A simple rule engine to evaluate when features should be enabled
Validation	JSON Schema validator for inbound events and responses
Data Masking	Protect confidential data with easy removal or encryption
Streaming	Stream datasets larger than available memory
Middleware Factory	Create your own middleware to run logic before and after each Lambda invocation
Typing	Static typing classes to speedup development in your IDE
Event Source Data Classes	Data classes describing the schema of common Lambda event triggers
JMESPath Functions	Built-in JMESPath functions to deserialize common encoded JSON payloads
Kafka	Deserialize and validate Kafka events with support for Avro, Protocol Buffers, and JSON Schema

You can find examples in the examples directory and a quick start using SAM CLI:

sam init --app-template hello-world-powertools-python --name sam-app --package-type Zip --runtime python3.13 --no-tracing

For a more complete example, check the Powertools for AWS workshop.

Info

Explicit parameters take precedence over environment variables.

Environment variable	Description	Utility	Default
`POWERTOOLS_SERVICE_NAME`	Service name for tracing, metrics, and logging	All	`service_undefined`
`POWERTOOLS_LOG_LEVEL`	Sets logging level	Logger	`INFO`
`POWERTOOLS_LOGGER_LOG_EVENT`	Logs incoming event	Logger	`false`
`POWERTOOLS_LOGGER_SAMPLE_RATE`	Debug log sampling	Logger	`0`
`POWERTOOLS_METRICS_NAMESPACE`	Namespace for metrics	Metrics	`None`
`POWERTOOLS_METRICS_DISABLED`	Disables metrics emission	Metrics	`false`
`POWERTOOLS_TRACE_DISABLED`	Disables tracing	Tracer	`false`
`POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_RESPONSE`	Captures return as metadata	Tracer	`true`
`POWERTOOLS_TRACER_CAPTURE_ERROR`	Captures exception as metadata	Tracer	`true`
`POWERTOOLS_PARAMETERS_MAX_AGE`	Cache TTL in seconds	Parameters	`5`
`POWERTOOLS_PARAMETERS_SSM_DECRYPT`	Decrypt SSM parameters	Parameters	`false`
`POWERTOOLS_DEV`	Increases verbosity for development	Multiple	`false`
`POWERTOOLS_DEBUG`	Enables debug logging for Powertools	All	`false`

When POWERTOOLS_DEV is set to true, it enables development-friendly settings:

Utility	Effect
Logger	Increases JSON indentation to 4 for readability
Event Handler	Enables full traceback errors and CORS in dev mode
Tracer	Disables tracing in non-Lambda environments
Metrics	Disables metrics emission (can be overridden)

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These are our core principles to guide our decision making.

AWS Lambda only. We optimize for AWS Lambda function environments and supported runtimes only. Utilities might work with web frameworks and non-Lambda environments, though they are not officially supported.
Eases the adoption of best practices. The main priority of the utilities is to facilitate best practices adoption, as defined in the AWS Well-Architected Serverless Lens; all other functionality is optional.
Keep it lean. Additional dependencies are carefully considered for security and ease of maintenance, and prevent negatively impacting startup time.
We strive for backwards compatibility. New features and changes should keep backwards compatibility. If a breaking change cannot be avoided, the deprecation and migration process should be clearly defined.
We work backwards from the community. We aim to strike a balance of what would work best for 80% of customers. Emerging practices are considered and discussed via Requests for Comment (RFCs).
Progressive. Utilities are designed to be incrementally adoptable for customers at any stage of their Serverless journey. They follow language idioms and their community's common practices.

2026-01-05