Cannot use Requests-Module on AWS Lambda

Question

I need to do a rest-call within a python script, that runs once per day. I can't pack the "requests" package into my python-package using the AWS Lambdas. I get the error: "Unable to import module 'lambda_function': No module named lambda_function"

I broke it down to the hello_world predefined script. I can pack it into a zip and upload it. Everything works. As soon as I put "import requests" into the file, I get this error.

Here is what I already did:

1. The permissions of the zip and the project folder (including subfolders) are set to `chmod 777`. So permissions shouldn't be a problem.
2. The script itself is within the root folder. When you open the zip file, you directly see it.
3. I installed the requests package into the root-folder of the project using `sudo pip install requests -t PATH_TO_ROOT_FOLDER`

The naming of everything looks like this:

• zip-file: lambda_function.zip
• py-file: lambda_function.py
• handler method: lambda_handler(event, context)
• handler-definition in the "webconfig: lambda_function.lambda_handler

The file I want to run in the end looks like this:

import requests
import json


def lambda_handler(event, context):
    url = 'xxx.elasticbeanstalk.com/users/login'
    headers = {"content-type": "application/json", "Authorization": "Basic Zxxxxxxxxx3NjxxZxxxxzcw==" }
    response = requests.put(url, headers=headers, verify=False)
    return 'hello lambda_handler'

I'm glad for ANY kind of help. I already used multiple hours on this issue.

Solution 1

I finally solved the problem: The structure in my zip file was broken. It is important that the python script and the packed dependencies (as folders) are in the root of the zip file. This solved my problem.

It's a bit depressing if you find such easy errors after hours of try and failure.

Solution 2

EDIT: On Oct-21-2019 Botocore removed the vendored version of requests: https://github.com/boto/botocore/pull/1829.

EDIT 2: (March 10, 2020): The deprecation date for the Lambda service to bundle the requests module in the AWS SDK is now January 30, 2021. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/upcoming-changes-to-the-python-sdk-in-aws-lambda/

To use requests module, you can simply import requests from botocore.vendored. For example:

from botocore.vendored import requests

def lambda_handler(event, context):
   response = requests.get("https://httpbin.org/get", timeout=10)
   print(response.json())

you can see this gist to know more modules that can be imported directly in AWS lambda.

Solution 3

If you're working with Python on AWS Lambda, and need to use requests, you better use urllib3, it is currently supported on AWS Lambda and you can import it directly, check the example on urllib3 site.

import urllib3

http = urllib3.PoolManager()
r = http.request('GET', 'http://httpbin.org/robots.txt')

r.data
# b'User-agent: *\nDisallow: /deny\n'
r.status
# 200

Solution 4

I believe you have lambda_function.py on the Lambda console. You need to first create the Lambda function deployment package, and then use the console to upload the package.

• You create a directory, for example project-dir on your system (locally)
• create lambda_function.py in project-dir, copy the content of lambda_function.py from lambda console and paste it in project-dir/lambda_function.py
• pip install requests -t /path/to/project-dir
• Zip the content of the project-dir directory, which is your deployment package (Zip the directory content, not the directory)

Go to the Lambda console, select upload zip file in code entry type and upload your deployment package. Import requests should work without any error.

Solution 5

With this command download the folder package

pip install requests -t .

Run this command on your local machine, then zip your working directory, then upload to aws.

View more solutions

Comments

[Leon]

In your question, the position of the -t option in the pip install command is incorrect - it must be pip install requests -t PATH_TO_ROOT_FOLDER . Did you just mistype it, or this is how you really ran it?

[codepleb]

@Leon: Right. Just checked the history and I did it like you mention it here. :) So that didn't cause the problem.

[Leon]

What version of Python do you use locally?

[codepleb]

@Leon: 2.7.12 (15chars)

[Klaus D.]

Have you seen the guide at docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/… ?

[codepleb]

@KlausD. Yes I followed those steps

[Leon]

Does the contents of your zip file suggest that the requests package was correctly added to it?

[codepleb]

@Leon I just saw that the ZIP file did not contain the right structure. The files weren't in the "root" like I wrote in my question. Wtf man, such a dumb mistake. Thank you all! :)

[kafka]

Does your script return json then? I'm trying to do similar, but keep getting 'not json serialisable'. I don't have 'import json' however... code works fine locally without 'import json' so not sure why it doesn't in Lambda.

[codepleb]

@kafka You may need to import the json library. Not sure though, but AWS uses python 2.7 and not 3.x. My script doesn't return json.

[kafka]

yeah python 2.7 here. Going to attempt with explicit reference to json library. Currently re-packaging.

[kafka]

OK no joy here, in your code you simply return 'hello lambda_helper', I want to return the entire JSON response from the API Get though.... no worries if you don't know I might do a new question

[codepleb]

I return status codes. But yeah, I'm not much into python. It was barely enough to write that script.

[John Paul Hayes]

May I suggest that the answer goes one step further to clarify a crucial point? What does packed dependances mean? In this case, when you are zipping the packed contents you should do something like: zip package.zip -r * whilst in the directory containing the handler script and the dependances

[The Unknown Dev]

Thank you. I've been driving myself insane trying to use urllib2 (not as user friendly as requests)

[softmarshmallow]

Little more details please

[Joshka]

Is there a concern that these might go away in later versions? " While these vendored dependencies are still in the botocore package they should not be used as they will be removed in the future" botocore.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/…

[codepleb]

Sorry guys, this question is so old, I cannot give a reliable answer anymore. That project I was working on is long gone. Packed dependencies meant dependencies as folders, that usually are in the root folder, but I can't give you any more on this sadly.

[Jason Wheeler]

don't think this applies to AWS Lambda

[Neeraj Gupta]

Wow. saved me from increasing my bundle size and keeping my lambda to few lines

[SMDC]

This should be the accepted answer. Helped people like me to save a lot of time.

[BoomShaka]

FYI: I get a deprecation warning if i use this solution.

[cvb]

I would not use this method anymore. The official repo for botocore has a warning saying that botocore.vendored requests will be removed in the future.

[Michael Brant]

So if this is being deprecated, what do we use now?

[Sathed]

@MichaelBrant, you'll need to upload the requests library as part of your function. docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/…

[Penumbra]

A note - this no longer seems to work. AttributeError: module 'botocore.vendored.requests' has no attribute 'get'

[Hansang]

you can use pip install requests -t . (that's a dot after the -t) from within the directory containing your lambda_function.py rather than typing out the full project dir path. (form qarly_blue's answer). Bonus: Also works on windows

[Hansang]

this answer comined with the one below by pramod munemanik together is currently the best answer

[Tula]

Is there any way without zipping and without using vendor modules?

[davegallant]

@Penumbra this is because you are likely using Python 3.8.

[CLAbeel]

This is the best answer.

[Andras Deak -- Слава Україні]

This is just this 2017 answer rephrased.