AWS Step Functions is a serverless function orchestrator that makes it easy to sequence AWS Lambda functions and multiple AWS services into business-critical applications. AWS recently introduced a new experience to its Step Functions with Function Workflow Collections allowing users to create Step Functions workflows easier.
The Function Workflow Collection is an initiative of the AWS Serverless Developer Advocate team that launched a new Serverless Land experience hosting the templates. The team intends to simplify the Step Functions getting started and the experience with the collection for its users, and allow more advanced users to apply best practices to their workflows.
Step Functions workflows are made up of a series of steps in which the output of one step is used as input for the next. Furthermore, Step Functions can integrate with over 220 AWS services using an AWS SDK integration task, allowing users to directly call AWS SDK actions without having to write additional code.
By exploring the workflow collection, users can search for templates in a collection suiting their use cases. The collection has three levels of workflows:
- Fundamental: A simple, reusable building block.
- Pattern: A common reusable component of an application.
- Application: A complete serverless application or microservice.
Source: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/introducing-the-new-aws-step-functions-workflows-collection/
By selecting a template, users can view the template diagram, the infrastructure as code (IaC) deployment template (defined with AWS Serverless Applications Model (AWS SAM) or the AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK)), and workflow definition (Amazon States Language definition [ASL]). Next, users can choose how to deploy the template into their AWS accounts. And finally, once users deploy the workflow into their AWS account, they can continue building in the AWS Management Console with Workflow studio or locally by editing the downloaded files.
Dan Ronald, principal PM for Step Functions at AWS, tweeted:
You asked for more AWS Step Functions examples and we have heard you. Check out the Step Functions Workflows collection. Hope this helps you on your orchestration journey!
In addition, Benjamin Smith, a senior developer advocate for Serverless Applications at AWS, wrote in an AWS Blog Compute post:
Builders create Step Functions workflows to orchestrate multiple services into business-critical applications with minimal code. Customers were looking for opinionated templates that implement best practices for building serverless applications with Step Functions.
Lastly, users leveraging Step Functions can contribute to the collection by submitting a pull request to the Step Functions Workflows Collection GitHub repository. Subsequently, each submission is reviewed by the Serverless Developer advocate for quality and relevancy before publishing.
