Type	Description	Use Case
HTTP API	Low-latency, cost-effective	Simple APIs, Lambda proxy
REST API	Full-featured, more control	Complex APIs, transformation
WebSocket API	Bidirectional communication	Real-time apps, chat

Key Components

Resources: URL paths (/users, /orders/{id})
Methods: HTTP verbs (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
Integrations: Backend connections (Lambda, HTTP, AWS services)
Stages: Deployment environments (dev, prod)

Integration Types

Type	Description
Lambda Proxy	Pass-through to Lambda (recommended)
Lambda Custom	Transform request/response
HTTP Proxy	Pass-through to HTTP endpoint
AWS Service	Direct integration with AWS services
Mock	Return static response

Common Patterns

Create HTTP API with Lambda

AWS CLI:

# Create HTTP API
aws apigatewayv2 create-api \
  --name my-api \
  --protocol-type HTTP \
  --target arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:123456789012:function:MyFunction

# Get API endpoint
aws apigatewayv2 get-api --api-id abc123 --query 'ApiEndpoint'

SAM Template:

AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
Transform: AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31

Resources:
  MyApi:
    Type: AWS::Serverless::HttpApi
    Properties:
      StageName: prod

  MyFunction:
    Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
    Properties:
      Handler: app.handler
      Runtime: python3.12
      Events:
        ApiEvent:
          Type: HttpApi
          Properties:
            ApiId: !Ref MyApi
            Path: /items
            Method: GET

Create REST API with Lambda Proxy

# Create REST API
aws apigateway create-rest-api \
  --name my-rest-api \
  --endpoint-configuration types=REGIONAL

API_ID=abc123

# Get root resource ID
ROOT_ID=$(aws apigateway get-resources --rest-api-id $API_ID --query 'items[0].id' --output text)

# Create resource
aws apigateway create-resource \
  --rest-api-id $API_ID \
  --parent-id $ROOT_ID \
  --path-part items

RESOURCE_ID=xyz789

# Create method
aws apigateway put-method \
  --rest-api-id $API_ID \
  --resource-id $RESOURCE_ID \
  --http-method GET \
  --authorization-type NONE

# Create Lambda integration
aws apigateway put-integration \
  --rest-api-id $API_ID \
  --resource-id $RESOURCE_ID \
  --http-method GET \
  --type AWS_PROXY \
  --integration-http-method POST \
  --uri arn:aws:apigateway:us-east-1:lambda:path/2015-03-31/functions/arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:123456789012:function:MyFunction/invocations

# Deploy to stage
aws apigateway create-deployment \
  --rest-api-id $API_ID \
  --stage-name prod

Lambda Handler for API Gateway

import json

def handler(event, context):
    # HTTP API event
    http_method = event.get('requestContext', {}).get('http', {}).get('method')
    path = event.get('rawPath', '')
    query_params = event.get('queryStringParameters', {})
    body = event.get('body', '')

    if body and event.get('isBase64Encoded'):
        import base64
        body = base64.b64decode(body).decode('utf-8')

    # Process request
    response_body = {'message': 'Success', 'path': path}

    return {
        'statusCode': 200,
        'headers': {
            'Content-Type': 'application/json'
        },
        'body': json.dumps(response_body)
    }

Configure CORS

HTTP API:

aws apigatewayv2 update-api \
  --api-id abc123 \
  --cors-configuration '{
    "AllowOrigins": ["https://example.com"],
    "AllowMethods": ["GET", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE"],
    "AllowHeaders": ["Content-Type", "Authorization"],
    "MaxAge": 86400
  }'

REST API:

# Enable CORS on resource
aws apigateway put-method \
  --rest-api-id $API_ID \
  --resource-id $RESOURCE_ID \
  --http-method OPTIONS \
  --authorization-type NONE

aws apigateway put-integration \
  --rest-api-id $API_ID \
  --resource-id $RESOURCE_ID \
  --http-method OPTIONS \
  --type MOCK \
  --request-templates '{"application/json": "{\"statusCode\": 200}"}'

aws apigateway put-method-response \
  --rest-api-id $API_ID \
  --resource-id $RESOURCE_ID \
  --http-method OPTIONS \
  --status-code 200 \
  --response-parameters '{
    "method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Headers": true,
    "method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Methods": true,
    "method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Origin": true
  }'

aws apigateway put-integration-response \
  --rest-api-id $API_ID \
  --resource-id $RESOURCE_ID \
  --http-method OPTIONS \
  --status-code 200 \
  --response-parameters '{
    "method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Headers": "'\''Content-Type,Authorization'\''",
    "method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Methods": "'\''GET,POST,PUT,DELETE,OPTIONS'\''",
    "method.response.header.Access-Control-Allow-Origin": "'\''*'\''"
  }'

JWT Authorization (HTTP API)

aws apigatewayv2 create-authorizer \
  --api-id abc123 \
  --name jwt-authorizer \
  --authorizer-type JWT \
  --identity-source '$request.header.Authorization' \
  --jwt-configuration '{
    "Issuer": "https://cognito-idp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/us-east-1_abc123",
    "Audience": ["client-id"]
  }'

CLI Reference

HTTP API (apigatewayv2)

Command	Description
`aws apigatewayv2 create-api`	Create API
`aws apigatewayv2 get-apis`	List APIs
`aws apigatewayv2 create-route`	Create route
`aws apigatewayv2 create-integration`	Create integration
`aws apigatewayv2 create-stage`	Create stage
`aws apigatewayv2 create-authorizer`	Create authorizer

REST API (apigateway)

Command	Description
`aws apigateway create-rest-api`	Create API
`aws apigateway get-rest-apis`	List APIs
`aws apigateway create-resource`	Create resource
`aws apigateway put-method`	Create method
`aws apigateway put-integration`	Create integration
`aws apigateway create-deployment`	Deploy API

Best Practices

Performance

Use HTTP APIs for simple use cases (70% cheaper, lower latency)
Enable caching for REST APIs
Use regional endpoints unless global distribution needed
Implement pagination for list endpoints

Security

Use authorization on all endpoints
Enable WAF for REST APIs
Use API keys for rate limiting (not authentication)
Enable access logging
Use HTTPS only

Reliability

Set up throttling to protect backends
Configure timeout appropriately
Use canary deployments for updates
Monitor with CloudWatch

Troubleshooting

403 Forbidden

Causes:

Missing authorization
Invalid API key
WAF blocking
Resource policy denying

Debug:

# Check API key
aws apigateway get-api-key --api-key abc123 --include-value

# Check authorizer
aws apigatewayv2 get-authorizer --api-id abc123 --authorizer-id xyz789

502 Bad Gateway

Causes:

Lambda error
Integration timeout
Invalid response format

Lambda response format:

# Correct format
return {
    'statusCode': 200,
    'headers': {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
    'body': json.dumps({'message': 'success'})
}

# Wrong - missing statusCode
return {'message': 'success'}

504 Gateway Timeout

Causes:

Backend timeout (Lambda max 29 seconds for REST API)
Integration timeout too short

Solutions:

Increase Lambda timeout
Use async processing for long operations
Increase integration timeout (max 29s for REST, 30s for HTTP)

CORS Errors

Debug:

Check OPTIONS method exists
Verify headers in response
Check origin matches allowed origins

Key Components

Integration Types

Common Patterns

Create HTTP API with Lambda

Create REST API with Lambda Proxy

Lambda Handler for API Gateway

Configure CORS

JWT Authorization (HTTP API)

CLI Reference

HTTP API (apigatewayv2)

REST API (apigateway)

Best Practices

Performance

Security

Reliability

Troubleshooting

403 Forbidden

502 Bad Gateway

504 Gateway Timeout

CORS Errors

References

api-gateway

AWS API Gateway

Table of Contents

Core Concepts

API Types