AppSync Resolver Optimization by Removing Unnecessary GetItem's Posted on August 16, 2020 I had a front end developer comment that one of API's was slow. The developer was trying download all of the products and their related… Read more...

Disabling Cognito User Pools Authentication for a Single Mutation with AppSync Posted on May 28, 2020 Typically I combined AppSync with Cognito User Pools for authorization. This works great for API's where the user is logged in but what if… Read more...

How to build an AppSync API using a single table DynamoDB design Posted on May 15, 2020 If you want to start a flame war in the AWS AppSync community then ask if you should use a single or multiple table design for DynamoDB… Read more...

Building Apps with SAM, TypeScript and VS Code Debugging Posted on June 10, 2019 I've been wanting to switch from the Serverless Framework to SAM for a long time now. While the Serverless Framework has been an excellent… Read more...

Debugging Node.js Lambdas with SAM local and VSCode Posted on May 31, 2019 If you've ever tried to debug a Lambda that isn't working correctly then you'll know the pain of adding console.log()'s all over the code… Read more...

Multiple-authentication methods with AWS AppSync Posted on May 13, 2019 Many AWS AppSync customers will have noticed a change in the AWS Console during the last 24 hours with the release of support for multiple… Read more...

API Gateway authorization and policy caching Posted on January 04, 2019 A few weeks ago I responded to a question about API Gateway custom authorizers and how it caches the policy with. With custom authorizers… Read more...

Using a custom domain name for AppSync APIs Posted on November 28, 2018 I love GraphQL and serverless architectures so it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm a huge fan of AWS AppSync. It's quickly become my default… Read more...

Why are my environment variables replaced during Serverless Framework deployments? Posted on August 30, 2018 A common question on the Serverless Framework forums goes something like Why are my environment variables replaced during Serverless… Read more...

Implementing Shopify OAuth2 with Cogntio User Pool, Amplify and Lambda Posted on July 19, 2018 A couple of years ago I started building Shopify apps using serverless architectures. My first attempts were React applications using REST… Read more...

How async Lambda handlers work in Node 8.10 Posted on June 14, 2018 With the Node 8.10 runtime AWS added a new async handler syntax while continuing to support the old callback handler syntax. From the number… Read more...

How can you call it “serverless” when there are still servers? Posted on May 17, 2017 It's almost a right of passage. You give a talk about “serverless” then someone in the crowd points out you're still using servers. This… Read more...

4 Simple Features That Would Make a Big Difference to Cognito User Pools Posted on May 17, 2017 Like many developers I avoided using Cognito for a long time. It just seemed too complicated. I only stared using it after AppSync was… Read more...

How do I get my API Gateway URL? Posted on April 07, 2017 Occasionally you need to know the API Gateway URL for your services inside your Lambda. This happened to me recently when one of my Lambda's… Read more...

Keeping Dev Dependencies Out Of Your Serverless Package Posted on March 31, 2017 NOTE: This has been tested using Node 6.10, NPM 4.5 and Serverless 1.11. I don't know the first version of those packages that this works… Read more...

Keeping secrets out of Git Posted on January 22, 2017 In a previous post I wrote about using per stage environment variables with the Serverless Framework. That article showed how you could set… Read more...

Routing API Gateway Traffic Through One Lamda Function Posted on December 29, 2016 One question that I keep hearing is "Can I have more than one handler in my AWS Lambda function?". This usually in the context of someone… Read more...