By name: aws-serverless description: Builds, deploys, manages, debugs, configures, and optimizes serverless applications on AWS using Lambda, API Gateway, Step Functions, EventBridge, and SAM/CDK. Covers cold starts, CORS debugging, event source mappings, troubleshooting, concurrency, SnapStart, Powertools, function URLs, EventBridge Scheduler, Lambda layers, and production readiness. Triggers on mentions of Lambda, API Gateway, Step Functions, SAM templates, CDK serverless stacks, DynamoDB stream triggers, SQS event sources, cold starts, timeouts, 502/504 errors, throttling, concurrency, CORS, Powertools, or any event-driven architecture on AWS, even without the word "serverless." Does not apply to EC2, ECS/Fargate containers, or Amplify hosting. version: 1 metadata: service: [lambda, api-gateway, step-functions, eventbridge, dynamodb, sqs, sns, s3, kinesis] task: [build, deploy, debug, optimize] persona: [developer, devops] workload: [serverless]
AWS Serverless
Overview
Domain expertise for building serverless applications on AWS. Covers Lambda configuration, API Gateway debugging, Step Functions orchestration, EventBridge patterns, event source mappings, concurrency tuning, cold start optimization, deployment with SAM/CDK, production readiness, and troubleshooting across all serverless services.
Works best with the AWS MCP server — enables running CLI commands, querying CloudWatch, and validating configurations directly. All guidance also works with standard AWS CLI access.
Note: Reference files contain specific runtime versions, quota values, and feature matrices that may change. When precision matters (e.g., deploying to production, choosing a runtime, or checking a quota), confirm values against current AWS documentation rather than relying solely on the values in these files.
Routing
| User need | Action |
|---|---|
| Building a new serverless app | Read architecture.md for pattern selection, then deployment.md for SAM/CDK templates |
| Debugging an error | Read troubleshooting.md — starts with the 5 most common fixes |
| Optimizing performance or cost | Read lambda.md for cold starts and memory tuning, production.md for readiness checklist |
| Configuring event sources (SQS, DDB Streams, SNS) | Read event-sources.md |
| Step Functions, EventBridge, or orchestration | Read orchestration.md |
| Concurrency configuration | Read concurrency.md |
| API Gateway setup | Read api-gateway.md |
| Common anti-patterns | Read the anti-patterns section in production.md |
| Starting with Powertools | Use powertools-handler.py as a template |
| Lambda Managed Instances, LMI, capacity providers, EC2-backed Lambda, PerExecutionEnvironmentMaxConcurrency | Use the aws-lambda-managed-instances skill instead |
| Durable functions, durable execution, checkpoint-and-replay | Use the aws-lambda-durable-functions skill instead |
| Spans multiple areas | Read the most specific reference first, then consult others as needed |
Files
| File | Content |
|---|---|
| lambda.md | Runtime, memory/CPU, cold starts, SnapStart, layers, containers |
| api-gateway.md | REST vs HTTP API, stages, auth, throttling, mapping |
| event-sources.md | SQS, DDB Streams, SNS, S3, Kinesis triggers |
| orchestration.md | Step Functions, EventBridge rules/pipes/scheduler |
| concurrency.md | Reserved vs provisioned, scaling, ESM concurrency |
| architecture.md | Patterns, reference architectures, service selection |
| deployment.md | SAM/CDK resource types, globals, fast iteration |
| production.md | Readiness checklist, observability, anti-patterns |
| troubleshooting.md | Error → cause → fix for all serverless services |