title	description
Tracer	Core utility

Tracer is an opinionated thin wrapper for AWS X-Ray Python SDK.

Key features

Auto capture cold start as annotation, and responses or full exceptions as metadata
Auto-disable when not running in AWS Lambda environment
Support tracing async methods, generators, and context managers
Auto patch supported modules by AWS X-Ray

Getting started

Permissions

Before your use this utility, your AWS Lambda function must have permissions to send traces to AWS X-Ray.

Resources:
  HelloWorldFunction:
	Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
	Properties:
	  Runtime: python3.8
	  Tracing: Active
	  Environment:
		Variables:
		  POWERTOOLS_SERVICE_NAME: example

Lambda handler

You can quickly start by initializing Tracer and use capture_lambda_handler decorator for your Lambda handler.

from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

tracer = Tracer() # Sets service via env var
# OR tracer = Tracer(service="example")

@tracer.capture_lambda_handler
def handler(event, context):
	charge_id = event.get('charge_id')
	payment = collect_payment(charge_id)
	...

capture_lambda_handler performs these additional tasks to ease operations:

Creates a ColdStart annotation to easily filter traces that have had an initialization overhead
Creates a Service annotation if service parameter or POWERTOOLS_SERVICE_NAME is set
Captures any response, or full exceptions generated by the handler, and include as tracing metadata

Annotations & Metadata

Annotations are key-values associated with traces and indexed by AWS X-Ray. You can use them to filter traces and to create Trace Groups to slice and dice your transactions.

from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer
tracer = Tracer()

@tracer.capture_lambda_handler
def handler(event, context):
	...
	tracer.put_annotation(key="PaymentStatus", value="SUCCESS")

Metadata are key-values also associated with traces but not indexed by AWS X-Ray. You can use them to add additional context for an operation using any native object.

from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer
tracer = Tracer()

@tracer.capture_lambda_handler
def handler(event, context):
	...
	ret = some_logic()
	tracer.put_metadata(key="payment_response", value=ret)

Synchronous functions

You can trace synchronous functions using the capture_method decorator.

@tracer.capture_method
def collect_payment(charge_id):
	ret = requests.post(PAYMENT_ENDPOINT) # logic
	tracer.put_annotation("PAYMENT_STATUS", "SUCCESS") # custom annotation
	return ret

???+ note "Note: Function responses are auto-captured and stored as JSON, by default."

Use [capture_response](#disabling-response-auto-capture) parameter to override this behaviour.

The serialization is performed by aws-xray-sdk via `jsonpickle` module. This can cause
side effects for file-like objects like boto S3 <a href="https://botocore.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/reference/response.html#botocore.response.StreamingBody">`StreamingBody`</a>, where its response will be read only once during serialization.

Asynchronous and generator functions

???+ warning We do not support asynchronous Lambda handler

You can trace asynchronous functions and generator functions (including context managers) using capture_method.

=== "Async"

```python hl_lines="7"
import asyncio
import contextlib
from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

tracer = Tracer()

@tracer.capture_method
async def collect_payment():
    ...
```

=== "Context manager"

```python hl_lines="7-8"
import asyncio
import contextlib
from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

tracer = Tracer()

@contextlib.contextmanager
@tracer.capture_method
def collect_payment_ctxman():
    yield result
    ...
```

=== "Generators"

```python hl_lines="9"
import asyncio
import contextlib
from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

tracer = Tracer()

@tracer.capture_method
def collect_payment_gen():
    yield result
    ...
```

Advanced

Patching modules

Tracer automatically patches all supported libraries by X-Ray during initialization, by default. Underneath, AWS X-Ray SDK checks whether a supported library has been imported before patching.

If you're looking to shave a few microseconds, or milliseconds depending on your function memory configuration, you can patch specific modules using patch_modules param:

import boto3
import requests

from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

modules_to_be_patched = ["boto3", "requests"]
tracer = Tracer(patch_modules=modules_to_be_patched)

Disabling response auto-capture

Use capture_response=False parameter in both capture_lambda_handler and capture_method decorators to instruct Tracer not to serialize function responses as metadata.

???+ info "Info: This is useful in three common scenarios" 1. You might return sensitive information you don't want it to be added to your traces 2. You might manipulate streaming objects that can be read only once; this prevents subsequent calls from being empty 3. You might return more than 64K of data e.g., message too long error

=== "sensitive_data_scenario.py"

```python hl_lines="3 7"
from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

@tracer.capture_method(capture_response=False)
def fetch_sensitive_information():
    return "sensitive_information"

@tracer.capture_lambda_handler(capture_response=False)
def handler(event, context):
    sensitive_information = fetch_sensitive_information()
```

=== "streaming_object_scenario.py"

```python hl_lines="3"
from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

@tracer.capture_method(capture_response=False)
def get_s3_object(bucket_name, object_key):
    s3 = boto3.client("s3")
    s3_object = get_object(Bucket=bucket_name, Key=object_key)
    return s3_object
```

Disabling exception auto-capture

Use capture_error=False parameter in both capture_lambda_handler and capture_method decorators to instruct Tracer not to serialize exceptions as metadata.

???+ info Useful when returning sensitive information in exceptions/stack traces you don't control

from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

@tracer.capture_lambda_handler(capture_error=False)
def handler(event, context):
	raise ValueError("some sensitive info in the stack trace...")

Tracing aiohttp requests

???+ info This snippet assumes you have aiohttp as a dependency

You can use aiohttp_trace_config function to create a valid aiohttp trace_config object. This is necessary since X-Ray utilizes aiohttp trace hooks to capture requests end-to-end.

import asyncio
import aiohttp

from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer
from aws_lambda_powertools.tracing import aiohttp_trace_config

tracer = Tracer()

async def aiohttp_task():
	async with aiohttp.ClientSession(trace_configs=[aiohttp_trace_config()]) as session:
		async with session.get("https://httpbin.org/json") as resp:
			resp = await resp.json()
			return resp

Escape hatch mechanism

You can use tracer.provider attribute to access all methods provided by AWS X-Ray xray_recorder object.

This is useful when you need a feature available in X-Ray that is not available in the Tracer utility, for example thread-safe, or context managers.

from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

tracer = Tracer()

@tracer.capture_lambda_handler
def handler(event, context):
	with tracer.provider.in_subsegment('## custom subsegment') as subsegment:
		ret = some_work()
		subsegment.put_metadata('response', ret)

Concurrent asynchronous functions

???+ warning X-Ray SDK will raise an exception when async functions are run and traced concurrently

A safe workaround mechanism is to use in_subsegment_async available via Tracer escape hatch (tracer.provider).

import asyncio

from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer
tracer = Tracer()

async def another_async_task():
	async with tracer.provider.in_subsegment_async("## another_async_task") as subsegment:
		subsegment.put_annotation(key="key", value="value")
		subsegment.put_metadata(key="key", value="value", namespace="namespace")
		...

async def another_async_task_2():
	...

@tracer.capture_method
async def collect_payment(charge_id):
	asyncio.gather(another_async_task(), another_async_task_2())
	...

Reusing Tracer across your code

Tracer keeps a copy of its configuration after the first initialization. This is useful for scenarios where you want to use Tracer in more than one location across your code base.

???+ warning "Warning: Import order matters when using Lambda Layers or multiple modules" Do not set auto_patch=False when reusing Tracer in Lambda Layers, or in multiple modules.

This can result in the first Tracer config being inherited by new instances, and their modules not being patched.

Tracer will automatically ignore imported modules that have been patched.

=== "handler.py"

```python hl_lines="2 4 9"
from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer
from payment import collect_payment

tracer = Tracer(service="payment")

@tracer.capture_lambda_handler
def handler(event, context):
    charge_id = event.get('charge_id')
    payment = collect_payment(charge_id)
```

=== "payment.py" A new instance of Tracer will be created but will reuse the previous Tracer instance configuration, similar to a Singleton.

```python hl_lines="3 5"
from aws_lambda_powertools import Tracer

tracer = Tracer(service="payment")

@tracer.capture_method
def collect_payment(charge_id: str):
    ...
```

Testing your code

Tracer is disabled by default when not running in the AWS Lambda environment - This means no code changes or environment variables to be set.

Tips

Use annotations on key operations to slice and dice traces, create unique views, and create metrics from it via Trace Groups
Use a namespace when adding metadata to group data more easily
Annotations and metadata are added to the current subsegment opened. If you want them in a specific subsegment, use a context manager via the escape hatch mechanism

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tracer.md

tracer.md

Key features

Getting started

Permissions

Lambda handler

Annotations & Metadata

Synchronous functions

Asynchronous and generator functions

Advanced

Patching modules

Disabling response auto-capture

Disabling exception auto-capture

Tracing aiohttp requests

Escape hatch mechanism

Concurrent asynchronous functions

Reusing Tracer across your code

Testing your code

Tips

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tracer.md

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File metadata and controls

Key features

Getting started

Permissions

Lambda handler

Annotations & Metadata

Synchronous functions

Asynchronous and generator functions

Advanced

Patching modules

Disabling response auto-capture

Disabling exception auto-capture

Tracing aiohttp requests

Escape hatch mechanism

Concurrent asynchronous functions

Reusing Tracer across your code

Testing your code

Tips