Reviewed by Aditya Kumar · Last reviewed 2026-03-24
Architectural logic: Step Functions = state machine; JSON-defined workflow with Task, Choice, Parallel, Wait. Integrates Lambda, Glue, ECS, etc. Why: State management, retries, branching, observability—no long-running server. Express vs Standard: Express for high-volume, short;...
Architectural logic: Step Functions = state machine; JSON-defined workflow with Task, Choice, Parallel, Wait. Integrates Lambda, Glue, ECS, etc. Why: State management, retries, branching, observability—no long-running server. Express vs Standard: Express for high-volume, short; Standard for long-running, human approval. Cost: Per transition. Best practice: Retries and Catch; X-Ray tracing; use for orchestration, not heavy compute.
Red Flag: Putting transformation logic in Step Functions. Pro-Move: 'We orchestrate Glue → Redshift → Lambda notify; execution graph gives full trace—every failure has context.'
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