API Gateway

In this lesson, we learn about triggering AWS Step Functions using API Gateway. By the end of this lesson, we'll gain an understanding of why and how to connect these two powerful AWS services and be able to integrate them into our serverless application.

Instead of triggering it manually from the AWS console, or from the AWS CLI, we can add the integration that we trigger through HTTP.

Why integrate API Gateway with Step Functions?

Integrating API Gateway with Step Functions offers us several advantages:

• Scalability and resiliency: By placing API Gateway in front of Step Functions, we can ensure our application scales to handle any load. API Gateway can handle hundreds of thousands of concurrent API calls, making it a great way to manage access to Step Functions.

• Ease of use: With API Gateway, we can create a RESTful API endpoint that triggers a Step Function, making it easier to trigger workflows from any application capable of making HTTP requests.

• Security and control: API Gateway provides us with tools to authenticate and authorize access to our Step Functions. We can use AWS IAM roles and policies, or third-party authentication mechanisms to control who can trigger our workflows.

• Monitoring and management: API Gateway provides detailed metrics and logging, which, combined with the monitoring capabilities of Step Functions, gives us excellent visibility into our workflows and how they're being triggered.

Implementation

Let's open the serverless.yml file.