Posted On: Aug 31, 2022

AWS Step Functions expands support for manipulation of your input and output data with the addition of 14 new intrinsic functions so you can simplify data processing, reduce calls to downstream services, and write less code. Step Functions is a low-code, visual workflow service that supports integrations with over 220 AWS services, 10,000 API actions, and now 18 intrinsic functions.

Now, Step Functions makes it easier to perform data processing tasks such as array manipulation, JSON object manipulation, and math functions within your workflows without having to invoke downstream services or add Task states. When building workflows, you may need to check the result of map and parallel states, merge JSON objects, or create a UUID. Previously, to accomplish these tasks you needed to write functions in downstream services such as AWS Lambda which resulted in more code and integration points to manage. With Step Functions new intrinsic functions, you can perform basic data processing and data manipulations such as merging two JSON objects using states.JsonMerge directly in your workflow so you can combine the results of a task and its original input, allowing you to use downstream services for more business-critical tasks.

The new intrinsic functions are added directly to Amazon States Language and available where you build Step Functions workflows today including the Step Functions console with Workflow Studio, AWS CloudFormation, the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK). To learn more please see the AWS Step Functions Developer Guide.

AWS Step Functions’ new intrinsic functions are generally available in all regions where AWS Step Functions is available. For a complete list of regions and service offerings, see AWS Regions.