AWS Step Functions
Orchestrating complex workflows, microservices, and serverless applications with visual state machines.
The Building Blocks
AWS Lambda
Execute business logic without managing servers.
DynamoDB
Read or write data directly from your state machine.
SNS / SQS
Decouple services with messaging and queuing.
SageMaker
Integrate Machine Learning models into workflows.
Visual Logic
Standard vs Express Workflows
1
Trigger
EventBridge, API, SDK
2
State Machine
Choice, Parallel, Wait
3
Execution
Automatic Retries & Error Handling
4
Output
Success or Failure State
Standard Workflows
Ideal for long-running processes (up to 1 year). Provides exactly-once execution and full execution history.
Express Workflows
High-throughput (100k+ events/sec). Ideal for IoT data ingestion or high-volume microservice orchestration.