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Building a Serverless API with AWS Lambda and Amazon API GatewayBuilding a Serverless API with AWS Lambda and Amazon API Gateway

Learn how to design a simple serverless API using AWS Lambda and Amazon API Gateway. This guide explains the request flow, Lambda functions, API endpoints, testing, error handling, and important security considerations for beginners.

Nikil

Introduction

Building a backend application traditionally requires managing servers, operating systems, application runtimes, and infrastructure. Serverless computing provides an alternative approach where developers can focus on application logic while the cloud provider manages much of the underlying infrastructure.
AWS Lambda and Amazon API Gateway can be combined to build simple APIs without managing traditional servers.

What Is Serverless Computing?

Serverless computing allows developers to run application code without directly managing the servers that execute it.
With AWS Lambda, code runs in response to events. Instead of keeping a server running continuously, a Lambda function is invoked when an event occurs.
This approach can be useful for applications such as:
  • REST APIs
  • Data processing
  • Automation tasks
  • Backend services
  • Event-driven applications
  • Scheduled jobs

Understanding AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda is a compute service that runs code in response to events.
A Lambda function contains the application logic that should execute when it is invoked.
A typical Lambda function can:
  1. Receive an event.
  2. Process the input.
  3. Perform an operation.
  4. Return a response.
Lambda supports several programming languages, allowing developers to use a language that matches their project requirements.

What Is Amazon API Gateway?

Amazon API Gateway can be used to create and manage APIs that allow applications to communicate with backend services.
For a simple serverless API, API Gateway can receive an HTTP request and invoke a Lambda function.
The basic flow is:
Client → API Gateway → Lambda → Response
For example, a client might send:
1
GET /hello
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