make AWS SDK JS v2 and v3 available with ESM in AWS Lambda

[shishkin]

Describe the bug

Nodejs lambda is not able to find AWS SDK.

Your environment

SDK version number

Tried latest v2 and latest v3 with same effect:
@aws-sdk/client-s3@npm:3.48.0
aws-sdk@npm:2.1062.0

Is the issue in the browser/Node.js/ReactNative?

Node.js

Details of the browser/Node.js/ReactNative version

Node.js 14 AWS Lambda runtime

Steps to reproduce

Here is the code of the lambda:

// src/lambda.ts
import { S3 } from "aws-sdk";
import { URLSearchParams } from "node:url";
var { REGION, BUCKET_NAME } = process.env;
var s3 = new S3({ region: REGION });
var handler = async (e) => {
  console.debug("Event:", e);
  const { message } = e;
  const greeting = hello(message);
  const s3result = await s3.putObject({
    Bucket: BUCKET_NAME,
    Key: `greetings/hello.txt`,
    Tagging: new URLSearchParams({
      type: "greeting"
    }).toString(),
    ContentType: "text/plain; charset=UTF-8",
    Body: greeting
  }).promise();
  console.debug("S3 result:", s3result);
};
var hello = (message) => `Hello, ${message}!`;
export {
  handler,
  hello
};

Observed behavior

Lambda fails with error:

Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find package 'aws-sdk' imported from /var/task/index.mjs

Expected behavior

Reading the guide, I understand that aws-sdk should be already available on Nodejs runtimes.

Additional context

I'm trying to make use of newly announced ESM support in the Nodejs14 AWS Lambda runtime and make the smallest possible lambda bundle, hence the reason for not bundling AWS SDK.

[vudh1]

Hi @shishkin thanks for reaching out. Make sure that you install the package aws-sdk in the right directory. Can we know how do you install?

[shishkin]

I install SDK locally with Yarn/npm. Not sure it matters. My question is about SDK not being available on the AWS nodejs lambda runtime, which I don't install anything onto beyond copying my function code bundle. Please let me know if I'm mistaken in my assumptions.

[TimNN]

FYI: I ran into a similar problem and was able to make this work by creating and using a require function as documented here: https://nodejs.org/api/module.html#modulecreaterequirefilename

[shishkin]

@TimNN to better understand your solution, do you then const S3 = require("aws-sdk/S3") instead of importing it?

[TimNN]

Almost. Importing specific clients did not work for me, but const { EC2 } = require('aws-sdk'); does.

[shishkin]

Thanks @TimNN! I've built up on your suggestion to support TypeScript transpiling using CDK Node.js bundling:

    new NodejsFunction(this, "Lambda", {
      entry: fileURLToPath(new URL("handler.ts", import.meta.url)),
      bundling: {
        format: OutputFormat.ESM,
        target: "esnext",
        banner: `const AWS=await (async ()=>{const { createRequire }=(await import("node:module")).default;const require=createRequire(import.meta.url);return require("aws-sdk");})();`,
      },
    });

[shishkin]

@vudh1 could you please provide an update on the triage of this bug? While the workaround has been identified, lambda runtime should support ESM imports of aws-sdk natively.

[simlu]

Just ran into this as well. Weird bug and hard to understand why it's happening.

[FrancoCorleone]

Looks like importing absolute path(/var/runtime(...)) is a workaround... but an ugly one.

[dinkzilla]

Also having this issue. I think this is a bug with the lambda runtime's es module support and not a bug with the sdk itself. It's at least the fifth one I've run into at this point. I cannot recommend enough sticking with CommonJS or a transpiiler for the time being.

Is there somewhere more generic we can submit this bug for triage?