In my post Creating an API with AWS: Part 3: Additional Endpoints, I updated the simple AWS API endpoint with additional endpoints. In this post, I’ll add authentication to the API using AWS Cognito.
Prerequisites
Before you start, you’ll need the following things:
- An AWS account
- An Administrator IAM User with which to use the AWS CLI
- AWS CLI set up on your local machine
- The CloudFormation template from my previous post, Creating an API with AWS: Part 3: Additional Endpoints.
Note that AWS will charge you for creating and hosting this API if you don’t have Free Tier on your account.
Step 1: Add a Cognito User Pool to the CloudFormation Template
Starting with the CloudFormation template from my blog post Creating an API with AWS: Part 3: Additional Endpoints, add a new Cognito User Pool resource called apiuserpool under the tagLinkTable resource:
apiuserpool:
Type: AWS::Cognito::UserPool
Properties:
AdminCreateUserConfig:
AllowAdminCreateUserOnly: true
AutoVerifiedAttributes:
- email
UsernameAttributes:
- email
UsernameConfiguration:
CaseSensitive: false
UserPoolName: apiuserpool
This will allow you to add users with an email address username that can authenticate against the API.
Step 2: Add a Cognito App Client to the CloudFormation Template
Add a new Cognito User Pool Client resource called applicationAPIUserPoolClient under the apiuserpool resource:
applicationAPIUserPoolClient:
Type: AWS::Cognito::UserPoolClient
Properties:
AccessTokenValidity: 1
ClientName: applicationapiclient
EnableTokenRevocation: true
ExplicitAuthFlows:
- ALLOW_USER_PASSWORD_AUTH
- ALLOW_REFRESH_TOKEN_AUTH
- ALLOW_ADMIN_USER_PASSWORD_AUTH
GenerateSecret: true
IdTokenValidity: 1
PreventUserExistenceErrors: ENABLED
RefreshTokenValidity: 1
SupportedIdentityProviders:
- COGNITO
UserPoolId: !Ref apiuserpool
DependsOn:
- apiuserpool
This user pool client will allow you to get access tokens and id tokens to use to authenticate as a user against the API.
Step 3: Add an API Gateway Authorizer to the CloudFormation Template
Add a new API Gateway Authorizer resource called apiauth under the taglink resource:
apiauth:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Authorizer
Properties:
IdentitySource: method.request.header.Authorization
Name: apiauth
ProviderARNs:
- !GetAtt
- apiuserpool
- Arn
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
Type: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
DependsOn:
- apiuserpool
This will enable the ApplicationAPI to use the Cognito User Pool apiuserpool when authenticating requests. The authorization token will need to be set in the ‘Authorization’ header when making API requests.
Step 4: Add Authentication to each Endpoint Method in the CloudFormation Template
Update each endpoint method (except the OPTIONS methods) to have AuthorizationType set to COGNITO_USER_POOLS and the AuthorizerId set to the API Authorizer ID, !Ref apiauth. Also update the DependsOn attribute to include apiauth. The ProxyResourceLinkGet method resource is shown as an example:
ProxyResourceLinkGET:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref link
HttpMethod: GET
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
Integration:
Type: AWS_PROXY
IntegrationHttpMethod: POST
Uri: !Sub arn:aws:apigateway:${AWS::Region}:lambda:path/2015-03-31/functions/${requestHandler.Arn}/invocations
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
DependsOn:
- ApplicationAPI
- apiauth
- link
Step 5: Add User Pool ID and Client ID to the Outputs in the CloudFormation Template
Update the Outputs section with two new attributes, UserPoolID and APIClientID:
UserPoolID:
Description: The Cognito user pool ID
Value: !Ref apiuserpool
APIClientID:
Description: The API user pool client ID
Value: !Ref applicationAPIUserPoolClient
Step 6: Launch the CloudFormation Template
Save the CloudFormation template to a file called setupapidbauth.yml. With the description updated, the whole file should look like the below:
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: "2010-09-09"
Description: Creates a simple API with three endpoints that can be called to POST/GET links, tags and tag links, with a DynamoDB database and Cognito Authentication
Resources:
linkTable:
Type: AWS::DynamoDB::Table
Properties:
AttributeDefinitions:
-
AttributeName: "link_id"
AttributeType: "S"
-
AttributeName: "link"
AttributeType: "S"
KeySchema:
-
AttributeName: "link_id"
KeyType: "HASH"
-
AttributeName: "link"
KeyType: "RANGE"
ProvisionedThroughput:
ReadCapacityUnits: "5"
WriteCapacityUnits: "5"
TableName: "linkTable"
GlobalSecondaryIndexes:
-
IndexName: "link_index"
KeySchema:
-
AttributeName: "link"
KeyType: "HASH"
-
AttributeName: "link_id"
KeyType: "RANGE"
Projection:
ProjectionType: "KEYS_ONLY"
ProvisionedThroughput:
ReadCapacityUnits: "5"
WriteCapacityUnits: "5"
tagTable:
Type: AWS::DynamoDB::Table
Properties:
AttributeDefinitions:
-
AttributeName: "tag_id"
AttributeType: "S"
-
AttributeName: "tag"
AttributeType: "S"
KeySchema:
-
AttributeName: "tag_id"
KeyType: "HASH"
-
AttributeName: "tag"
KeyType: "RANGE"
ProvisionedThroughput:
ReadCapacityUnits: "5"
WriteCapacityUnits: "5"
TableName: "tagTable"
GlobalSecondaryIndexes:
-
IndexName: "tag_index"
KeySchema:
-
AttributeName: "tag"
KeyType: "HASH"
-
AttributeName: "tag_id"
KeyType: "RANGE"
Projection:
ProjectionType: "KEYS_ONLY"
ProvisionedThroughput:
ReadCapacityUnits: "5"
WriteCapacityUnits: "5"
tagLinkTable:
Type: AWS::DynamoDB::Table
Properties:
AttributeDefinitions:
-
AttributeName: "tag_id"
AttributeType: "S"
-
AttributeName: "link_id"
AttributeType: "S"
KeySchema:
-
AttributeName: "tag_id"
KeyType: "HASH"
-
AttributeName: "link_id"
KeyType: "RANGE"
ProvisionedThroughput:
ReadCapacityUnits: "5"
WriteCapacityUnits: "5"
TableName: "tagLinkTable"
apiuserpool:
Type: AWS::Cognito::UserPool
Properties:
AdminCreateUserConfig:
AllowAdminCreateUserOnly: true
AutoVerifiedAttributes:
- email
UsernameAttributes:
- email
UsernameConfiguration:
CaseSensitive: false
UserPoolName: apiuserpool
applicationAPIUserPoolClient:
Type: AWS::Cognito::UserPoolClient
Properties:
AccessTokenValidity: 1
ClientName: applicationapiclient
EnableTokenRevocation: true
ExplicitAuthFlows:
- ALLOW_USER_PASSWORD_AUTH
- ALLOW_REFRESH_TOKEN_AUTH
- ALLOW_ADMIN_USER_PASSWORD_AUTH
GenerateSecret: true
IdTokenValidity: 1
PreventUserExistenceErrors: ENABLED
RefreshTokenValidity: 1
SupportedIdentityProviders:
- COGNITO
UserPoolId: !Ref apiuserpool
DependsOn:
- apiuserpool
requestHandlerLambdaExecutionRole:
Type: AWS::IAM::Role
Properties:
AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
Version: "2012-10-17"
Statement:
-
Effect: Allow
Principal:
Service:
- "lambda.amazonaws.com"
Action:
- "sts:AssumeRole"
Path: "/"
Policies:
-
PolicyName: "root"
PolicyDocument:
Version: "2012-10-17"
Statement:
-
Effect: "Allow"
Action:
- logs:CreateLogGroup
- logs:PutLogEvents
- logs:CreateLogStream
Resource: "*"
-
PolicyName: "db_access"
PolicyDocument:
Version: "2012-10-17"
Statement:
-
Effect: "Allow"
Action:
- dynamodb:DeleteItem
- dynamodb:GetItem
- dynamodb:PutItem
- dynamodb:Scan
- dynamodb:UpdateItem
- dynamodb:Query
Resource: !Sub "arn:aws:dynamodb:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:table/*"
RoleName: requestHandlerLambdaExecutionRole
requestHandler:
Type: "AWS::Lambda::Function"
Properties:
Code:
ZipFile: !Sub |
import json
import boto3
import uuid
# Establish credentials
session_var = boto3.session.Session()
credentials = session_var.get_credentials()
""" --- Parameters --- """
# DynamoDB tables, read lambda function environment variables or initialize with defaults if they not exist.
DYNAMODB_LINK_TABLE = 'linkTable'
DYNAMODB_TAG_TABLE = 'tagTable'
DYNAMODB_TAG_LINK_TABLE = 'tagLinkTable'
# Initialize DynamoDB Client
dynamodb = boto3.client('dynamodb')
def store_link(link):
link_id = str(uuid.uuid4())
dynamodb.put_item(
TableName=DYNAMODB_LINK_TABLE,
Item={
'link_id': {
'S': str(link_id)
},
'link': {
'S': str(link)
}
}
)
return link_id
def store_tag(tag):
tag_id = str(uuid.uuid4())
dynamodb.put_item(
TableName=DYNAMODB_TAG_TABLE,
Item={
'tag_id': {
'S': str(tag_id)
},
'tag': {
'S': str(tag)
}
}
)
return tag_id
def store_taglink(tag_id, link_id):
dynamodb.put_item(
TableName=DYNAMODB_TAG_LINK_TABLE,
Item={
'tag_id': {
'S': str(tag_id)
},
'link_id': {
'S': str(link_id)
}
}
)
def get_link_id(link):
result = dynamodb.query(
TableName=DYNAMODB_LINK_TABLE,
IndexName='link_index',
KeyConditionExpression='link = :link',
ExpressionAttributeValues={
':link': {
"S": link
}
}
)
if result['Count'] > 0:
link_id = result['Items'][0]['link_id']['S']
else:
link_id = store_link(link)
return link_id
def get_tag_id(tag):
result = dynamodb.query(
TableName=DYNAMODB_TAG_TABLE,
IndexName='tag_index',
KeyConditionExpression='tag = :tag',
ExpressionAttributeValues={
':tag': {
"S": tag
}
}
)
if result['Count'] > 0:
tag_id = result['Items'][0]['tag_id']['S']
else:
tag_id = store_tag(tag)
return tag_id
def get_tags(tag_id=None):
tags = []
if tag_id is None:
result = dynamodb.scan(
TableName=DYNAMODB_TAG_TABLE,
Select="SPECIFIC_ATTRIBUTES",
ProjectionExpression="tag_id,tag"
)
else:
# Run a query with a filter on tag_id on the tagTable
result = dynamodb.query(
TableName=DYNAMODB_TAG_TABLE,
KeyConditionExpression='tag_id = :tag_id',
ExpressionAttributeValues={
':tag_id': {
"S": tag_id
}
}
)
if result['Count'] > 0:
for x in range(result['Count']):
tag = {}
tag['tag_id'] = result['Items'][x]['tag_id']['S']
tag['tag'] = result['Items'][x]['tag']['S']
tags.append(tag)
return tags
def extract_link_result(result):
links = []
if result['Count'] > 0:
for x in range(result['Count']):
link = {}
link['link_id'] = result['Items'][x]['link_id']['S']
link['link'] = result['Items'][x]['link']['S']
links.append(link)
return links
def get_links(tag_id=None, link_id=None):
links = []
link_id_list = []
if tag_id is None and link_id is None:
result = dynamodb.scan(
TableName=DYNAMODB_LINK_TABLE,
Select="SPECIFIC_ATTRIBUTES",
ProjectionExpression="link_id,link"
)
links = extract_link_result(result)
elif link_id is not None:
# Run a query with a filter on link_id on the linkTable
result = dynamodb.query(
TableName=DYNAMODB_LINK_TABLE,
KeyConditionExpression='link_id = :link_id',
ExpressionAttributeValues={
':link_id': {
"S": link_id
}
}
)
links = extract_link_result(result)
else:
# Run a query with a filter on tag_id on the tagLinkTable
result = dynamodb.query(
TableName=DYNAMODB_TAG_LINK_TABLE,
KeyConditionExpression='tag_id = :tag_id',
ExpressionAttributeValues={
':tag_id': {
"S": tag_id
}
}
)
if result['Count'] > 0:
for x in range(result['Count']):
link_id_list.append(result['Items'][x]['link_id']['S'])
# From the retrieved link_ids, retrieve the links from the link table
if len(link_id_list) > 0:
for link_id in link_id_list:
result = dynamodb.query(
TableName=DYNAMODB_LINK_TABLE,
KeyConditionExpression='link_id = :link_id',
ExpressionAttributeValues={
':link_id': {
"S": link_id
}
}
)
if result['Count'] > 0:
link = {}
link['link_id'] = link_id
# There should only be one result per link_id
link['link'] = result['Items'][0]['link']['S']
links.append(link)
return links
def error_response(error_message, aws_request_id):
return {
"statusCode": 500,
"isBase64Encoded": False,
"body": json.dumps({
"Error": error_message,
"Reference": aws_request_id,
}),
"headers": {
'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
},
}
def bad_request_response(error_message, aws_request_id):
return {
"statusCode": 400,
"isBase64Encoded": False,
"body": json.dumps({
"Error": error_message,
"Reference": aws_request_id,
}),
"headers": {
'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
},
}
def lambda_handler(event, context):
try:
print(event)
print(context)
return_body = ""
if event['resource'] == '/link':
if event['httpMethod'] == "POST":
post_body = json.loads(event['body'])
link = post_body['link']
tag = post_body.get('tag')
tag_id = post_body.get('tag_id')
if tag_id is None:
tag_id = get_tag_id(tag)
else:
tags = get_tags(tag_id)
if not tags:
return bad_request_response('Unknown tag_id ' + tag_id, context.aws_request_id)
link_id = get_link_id(link)
store_taglink(tag_id, link_id)
return_body = json.dumps({"link_id": link_id})
elif event['httpMethod'] == "GET":
tag_id = None
link_id = None
query_params = event['queryStringParameters']
if query_params is not None:
tag_id = query_params.get('tag_id', None)
tag = query_params.get('tag', None)
link_id = query_params.get('link_id', None)
if tag_id is None and tag is not None:
tag_id = get_tag_id(tag)
links = get_links(tag_id, link_id)
return_body = json.dumps(links)
elif event['resource'] == '/tag':
if event['httpMethod'] == "POST":
post_body = json.loads(event['body'])
tag = post_body.get('tag')
tag_id = store_tag(tag)
return_body = json.dumps({"tag_id": tag_id})
elif event['httpMethod'] == "GET":
tag_id = None
query_params = event['queryStringParameters']
if query_params is not None:
tag_id = query_params.get('tag_id', None)
tag = query_params.get('tag', None)
if tag_id is None and tag is not None:
tag_id = get_tag_id(tag)
tags = get_tags(tag_id)
return_body = json.dumps(tags)
elif event['resource'] == '/taglink':
if event['httpMethod'] == "POST":
post_body = json.loads(event['body'])
tag_id = post_body.get('tag_id')
link_id = post_body.get('link_id')
tags = get_tags(tag_id)
links = get_links(tag_id=None, link_id=link_id)
if not tags:
return bad_request_response('Unknown tag_id ' + tag_id, context.aws_request_id)
if not links:
return bad_request_response('Unknown link_id ' + link_id, context.aws_request_id)
store_taglink(tag_id, link_id)
return_body = json.dumps({"tag_id": tag_id, "link_id": link_id})
# Because this Lambda function is called by an API Gateway proxy integration
# the result object must use the following structure.
return {
"statusCode": 200,
"isBase64Encoded": False,
"body": return_body,
"headers": {
'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
},
}
except Exception as err:
print(str(err))
# If there is an error during processing, catch it and return
# from the Lambda function successfully. Specify a 500 HTTP status
# code and provide an error message in the body. This will provide a
# more meaningful error response to the end client.
return error_response(str(err), context.aws_request_id)
Description: Lambda function for processing api endpoint requests
FunctionName: requestHandler
Handler: index.lambda_handler
Role:
Fn::GetAtt:
- "requestHandlerLambdaExecutionRole"
- "Arn"
Runtime: python3.8
DependsOn:
- requestHandlerLambdaExecutionRole
ApplicationAPI:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::RestApi
Properties:
Name: ApplicationAPI
Description: Simple API for an application
DependsOn:
- requestHandler
LambdaPermission:
Type: AWS::Lambda::Permission
Properties:
FunctionName: !GetAtt
- requestHandler
- Arn
Action: 'lambda:InvokeFunction'
Principal: apigateway.amazonaws.com
SourceArn: !Join ["", [!Sub "arn:aws:execute-api:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:", !Ref ApplicationAPI, "/*"]]
DependsOn:
- ApplicationAPI
link:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Resource
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ParentId: !GetAtt [ApplicationAPI, RootResourceId]
PathPart: 'link'
DependsOn:
- ApplicationAPI
tag:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Resource
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ParentId: !GetAtt [ApplicationAPI, RootResourceId]
PathPart: 'tag'
DependsOn:
- ApplicationAPI
taglink:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Resource
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ParentId: !GetAtt [ApplicationAPI, RootResourceId]
PathPart: 'taglink'
DependsOn:
- ApplicationAPI
apiauth:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Authorizer
Properties:
IdentitySource: method.request.header.Authorization
Name: apiauth
ProviderARNs:
- !GetAtt
- apiuserpool
- Arn
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
Type: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
DependsOn:
- apiuserpool
ProxyResourceLinkGET:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref link
HttpMethod: GET
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
Integration:
Type: AWS_PROXY
IntegrationHttpMethod: POST
Uri: !Sub arn:aws:apigateway:${AWS::Region}:lambda:path/2015-03-31/functions/${requestHandler.Arn}/invocations
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
DependsOn:
- ApplicationAPI
- apiauth
- link
ProxyResourceLinkPOST:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref link
HttpMethod: POST
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
Integration:
Type: AWS_PROXY
IntegrationHttpMethod: POST
Uri: !Sub arn:aws:apigateway:${AWS::Region}:lambda:path/2015-03-31/functions/${requestHandler.Arn}/invocations
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
DependsOn:
- ProxyResourceLinkGET
- apiauth
OptionsMethodLink:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref link
HttpMethod: OPTIONS
Integration:
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseParameters:
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Headers: "'Content-Type,X-Amz-Date,Authorization,X-Api-Key,X-Amz-Security-Token'"
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Methods: "'GET,POST,OPTIONS'"
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Origin: "'*'"
ResponseTemplates:
application/json: ''
PassthroughBehavior: NEVER
RequestTemplates:
application/json: '{"statusCode": 200}'
Type: MOCK
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
ResponseParameters:
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Headers: true
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Methods: true
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Origin: true
DependsOn:
- ProxyResourceLinkPOST
- apiauth
ProxyResourceTagGET:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref tag
HttpMethod: GET
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
Integration:
Type: AWS_PROXY
IntegrationHttpMethod: POST
Uri: !Sub arn:aws:apigateway:${AWS::Region}:lambda:path/2015-03-31/functions/${requestHandler.Arn}/invocations
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
DependsOn:
- ProxyResourceLinkPOST
- apiauth
ProxyResourceTagPOST:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref tag
HttpMethod: POST
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
Integration:
Type: AWS_PROXY
IntegrationHttpMethod: POST
Uri: !Sub arn:aws:apigateway:${AWS::Region}:lambda:path/2015-03-31/functions/${requestHandler.Arn}/invocations
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
DependsOn:
- ProxyResourceTagGET
- apiauth
OptionsMethodTag:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref tag
HttpMethod: OPTIONS
Integration:
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseParameters:
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Headers: "'Content-Type,X-Amz-Date,Authorization,X-Api-Key,X-Amz-Security-Token'"
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Methods: "'GET,POST,OPTIONS'"
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Origin: "'*'"
ResponseTemplates:
application/json: ''
PassthroughBehavior: NEVER
RequestTemplates:
application/json: '{"statusCode": 200}'
Type: MOCK
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
ResponseParameters:
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Headers: true
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Methods: true
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Origin: true
DependsOn:
- ProxyResourceTagPOST
- apiauth
ProxyResourceTagLinkGET:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref taglink
HttpMethod: GET
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
Integration:
Type: AWS_PROXY
IntegrationHttpMethod: POST
Uri: !Sub arn:aws:apigateway:${AWS::Region}:lambda:path/2015-03-31/functions/${requestHandler.Arn}/invocations
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
DependsOn:
- ProxyResourceTagPOST
- apiauth
ProxyResourceTagLinkPOST:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref taglink
HttpMethod: POST
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
Integration:
Type: AWS_PROXY
IntegrationHttpMethod: POST
Uri: !Sub arn:aws:apigateway:${AWS::Region}:lambda:path/2015-03-31/functions/${requestHandler.Arn}/invocations
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
DependsOn:
- ProxyResourceTagLinkGET
- apiauth
OptionsMethodTagLink:
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Method
Properties:
AuthorizationType: COGNITO_USER_POOLS
AuthorizerId: !Ref apiauth
RestApiId: !Ref ApplicationAPI
ResourceId: !Ref taglink
HttpMethod: OPTIONS
Integration:
IntegrationResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseParameters:
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Headers: "'Content-Type,X-Amz-Date,Authorization,X-Api-Key,X-Amz-Security-Token'"
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Methods: "'GET,POST,OPTIONS'"
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Origin: "'*'"
ResponseTemplates:
application/json: ''
PassthroughBehavior: NEVER
RequestTemplates:
application/json: '{"statusCode": 200}'
Type: MOCK
MethodResponses:
-
StatusCode: 200
ResponseModels:
application/json: Empty
ResponseParameters:
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Headers: true
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Methods: true
method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Origin: true
DependsOn:
- ProxyResourceTagLinkPOST
- apiauth
Deployment:
DependsOn: "OptionsMethodTagLink"
Type: AWS::ApiGateway::Deployment
Properties:
RestApiId:
Ref: "ApplicationAPI"
Description: "Application API deployment"
StageName: "prod"
Outputs:
APIBaseUrl:
Description: Application API Gateway base URL
Value: !Join
- ''
- - 'https://'
- !Ref ApplicationAPI
- '.execute-api.'
- !Ref AWS::Region
- '.amazonaws.com/prod'
APILinkUrl:
Description: Application API Gateway link endpoint URL
Value: !Join
- ''
- - 'https://'
- !Ref ApplicationAPI
- '.execute-api.'
- !Ref AWS::Region
- '.amazonaws.com/prod/link'
APITagUrl:
Description: Application API Gateway tag endpoint URL
Value: !Join
- ''
- - 'https://'
- !Ref ApplicationAPI
- '.execute-api.'
- !Ref AWS::Region
- '.amazonaws.com/prod/tag'
APITagLinkUrl:
Description: Application API Gateway taglink endpoint URL
Value: !Join
- ''
- - 'https://'
- !Ref ApplicationAPI
- '.execute-api.'
- !Ref AWS::Region
- '.amazonaws.com/prod/taglink'
UserPoolID:
Description: The Cognito user pool ID
Value: !Ref apiuserpool
APIClientID:
Description: The API user pool client ID
Value: !Ref applicationAPIUserPoolClient
Launch the CFT with this command:
$ aws cloudformation create-stack --stack-name apidbauth --template-body file://setupapidbauth.yml --capabilities CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM
Poll for its progress with:
$ aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name apidbauth
When complete, make a note of the APIBaseUrl, UserPoolID and APIClientID values. Export them to environment variables with these commands. Be sure the replace the values in angle brackets with the real values:
$ export BASEURL=<APIBaseUrl> $ export POOL_ID=<UserPoolID> $ export CLIENT_ID=<APIClientID>
Step 7: Create a New User
Create a new user with the following commands. Replace <Your email> with your email address and <PASSWORD> with a valid password with at least 8 characters, including 1 upper case character, 1 digit and 1 special character:
$ export EMAIL=<Your email> $ aws cognito-idp admin-create-user --user-pool-id $POOL_ID --username $EMAIL $ aws cognito-idp admin-set-user-password --user-pool-id $POOL_ID --username $EMAIL --password <PASSWORD> --permanent
Step 8: Get the Client Secret
Run this command to get the Client Secret for the User Pool Client:
$ aws cognito-idp describe-user-pool-client --client-id $CLIENT_ID --user-pool-id $POOL_ID
You will need to extract the ClientSecret value from the response. Set it to an environment variable:
$ export CLIENT_SECRET=<clientsecret>
Step 9: Generate the Secret Hash
You will need to generate a secret hash, which is used for obtaining id tokens for api requests. Open a file called get_client_secret.py and paste in the following code:
import sys
import hmac, hashlib, base64
username = sys.argv[1]
app_client_id = sys.argv[2]
key = sys.argv[3]
message = bytes(sys.argv[1]+sys.argv[2], 'utf-8')
key = bytes(sys.argv[3], 'utf-8')
secret_hash = base64.b64encode(hmac.new(key, message, digestmod=hashlib.sha256).digest()).decode()
print("SECRET HASH:", secret_hash)
Run this code to generate the hash, with the arguments as shown (you will need python installed locally; run sudo yum install python3 or similar, depending on your operating system):
$ python get_client_secret.py $EMAIL $CLIENT_ID $CLIENT_SECRET
Export the generated hash to an environment variable:
$ export SECRET_HASH=<SECRET HASH>
Step 9: Get the ID Token
To get the ID token for making API requests, run the following. Be sure to replace <PASSWORD> with your user password, and <Your Region> with your AWS region (e.g. us-east-1):
aws cognito-idp initiate-auth --region <Your Region> --auth-flow USER_PASSWORD_AUTH --client-id $CLIENT_ID --auth-parameters USERNAME=$EMAIL,PASSWORD=<PASSWORD>,SECRET_HASH=$SECRET_HASH
The token you will need is the one under the IdToken attribute in the response. Export this to an environment variable:
export TOKEN=<IdToken>
Step 10: Try an Unauthenticated API Request
Now try making a request to the API, without the Authorization header or token:
$ curl -X "POST" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{\"link\": \"https://www.allthecoding.com\", \"tag\": \"blog\"}" $BASEURL/link
You should get the response:
{"message":"Unauthorized"}
Step 11: Try an Authenticated API Request
Now try making a request to the API, this time with the Authorization header and token:
$ curl -X "POST" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: $TOKEN" -d "{\"link\": \"https://www.allthecoding.com\", \"tag\": \"blog\"}" $BASEURL/link
You should get a response something like the below:
{"link_id": "4343fd21-761c-4717-9f1b-78bd249b4380"}
Step 12: Clean Up
If you don’t want to keep your API (note that AWS will charge you for it if you don’t have Free Tier on your account), delete the CFT stack (all resources created) by running:
$ aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name apidbauth
You will then need to remove any logs that were generated by the Lambda function. To do this:
- Log into the AWS Console (your AWS account) using your Administrator IAM user, and navigate to CloudWatch.
- On the left-hand side, select Logs -> Log Groups.
- Select ‘aws/lambda/requestHandler’.
- Under Actions, select ‘Delete log groups’ and confirm.
Conclusion
You should now be able to create a simple API on AWS with a CloudFormation template, with three endpoints and three DynamoDB tables. In this post, you learned how to add a Cognito Authorizer, so that only authenticated requests to the API are accepted.
If you want to find out how to add DELETE methods to your API, check out my follow-on post, Creating an API with AWS: Part 5: DELETE methods. Thanks for reading!

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