hyperframes/examples/aws-lambda

AWS Lambda + Step Functions deployment

Reference SAM template for deploying HyperFrames distributed rendering on AWS. One Lambda function, three roles (Plan / RenderChunk / Assemble), choreographed by a Step Functions standard workflow with a Map state for parallel chunk rendering.

See packages/aws-lambda/README.md for the Lambda handler architecture.

Prerequisites

• AWS account with IAM permissions to deploy CloudFormation stacks containing Lambda, Step Functions, S3, IAM, and CloudWatch resources.
• sam CLI installed (≥ 1.100).
• bun installed (≥ 1.3) to build the handler ZIP.

One-shot deploy

# 1. Build the handler ZIP that `template.yaml`'s CodeUri points at.
bun install                                       # at repo root
bun run --cwd packages/aws-lambda build:zip

# 2. Deploy. First time: `--guided` to set stack name + region.
cd examples/aws-lambda
sam deploy --guided --resolve-s3

--resolve-s3 lets SAM pick (or create) a per-account bucket to host the uploaded ZIP. After the first deploy, subsequent updates can omit --guided and --resolve-s3 — SAM remembers your choices in samconfig.toml.

What gets created

Resource	Purpose
Render Lambda	Single function, handler handler.handler. Dispatches on event.Action.
Render State Machine	Step Functions standard workflow. Plan → Map(N) RenderChunk → Assemble.
Render Bucket	S3 bucket for plan tarballs, chunk outputs, and final mp4. renders/ prefix expires after 7 days.
IAM role for the state machine	Invokes the Lambda; writes CloudWatch logs; X-Ray traces.
IAM role for the Lambda (managed by SAM)	S3 CRUD on the render bucket; CloudWatch logs.
Runaway-invocation alarm	Fires if RenderChunk runs more than ChunkInvocationAlarmThreshold times in an hour.

Running a render

Upload your project as a zip to the render bucket, then start a Step Functions execution:

STACK_NAME=hyperframes-render          # whatever you picked at deploy
RENDER_BUCKET=$(aws cloudformation describe-stacks \
  --stack-name "$STACK_NAME" \
  --query 'Stacks[0].Outputs[?OutputKey==`RenderBucketName`].OutputValue' \
  --output text)
STATE_MACHINE_ARN=$(aws cloudformation describe-stacks \
  --stack-name "$STACK_NAME" \
  --query 'Stacks[0].Outputs[?OutputKey==`RenderStateMachineArn`].OutputValue' \
  --output text)

# Tar + upload the project directory. The handler uses `tar` (not
# `unzip`, which Lambda's base image doesn't ship), so the on-the-wire
# archive format is `.tar.gz`.
tar -czf my-project.tar.gz -C ./my-project .
aws s3 cp my-project.tar.gz "s3://${RENDER_BUCKET}/projects/my-project.tar.gz"

# Start the execution. The input JSON tells the state machine where to
# read inputs and write outputs.
aws stepfunctions start-execution \
  --state-machine-arn "$STATE_MACHINE_ARN" \
  --input "$(cat <<EOF
{
  "ProjectS3Uri": "s3://${RENDER_BUCKET}/projects/my-project.tar.gz",
  "PlanOutputS3Prefix": "s3://${RENDER_BUCKET}/renders/$(date +%s)/",
  "OutputS3Uri": "s3://${RENDER_BUCKET}/output.mp4",
  "Config": {
    "fps": 30,
    "width": 1920,
    "height": 1080,
    "format": "mp4",
    "chunkSize": 240,
    "maxParallelChunks": 8,
    "runtimeCap": "lambda"
  }
}
EOF
)"

The Step Functions execution kicks off Plan, fans out RenderChunk via the Map state, and finally Assemble. Final mp4 lands at OutputS3Uri.

Local invocation

You can test the Lambda handler without deploying anything via SAM local:

# Build the ZIP first.
bun run --cwd packages/aws-lambda build:zip

# Launch a local Lambda runtime emulator and run a sample plan event.
cd examples/aws-lambda
sam validate
sam local invoke RenderFunction --event sample-events/plan.json

The sample-events/ directory ships small JSON payloads for each of the three actions. They reference fake S3 URIs — useful for sanity-checking the handler's dispatch logic; not for full end-to-end testing (real S3 calls require credentials and a project zip to actually exist).

Parameters

Parameter	Default	Notes
ProjectName	hyperframes	Prefix for created resource names.
LambdaMemoryMb	10240	Lambda memory; Lambda allocates CPU proportionally. 10 GB recommended for 1080p.
LambdaTimeoutSec	900	Per-invocation timeout. 15 min is Lambda's hard ceiling.
ReservedConcurrency	-1	Hard cap on simultaneous Lambda invocations. -1 = unreserved. Set to e.g. 50 to bound cost.
ChromeSource	sparticuz	Must match the --source= flag passed to build-zip.ts.
ChunkInvocationAlarmThreshold	1000	CloudWatch alarm threshold (RenderChunk invocations per hour).

Cleanup

sam delete --stack-name hyperframes-render

S3 buckets are Retained on delete to protect rendered artifacts. Empty + delete the bucket manually after sam delete if you want to fully tear down.

Cost model

Service	Driver	Approximate cost
Lambda	Per-invocation billed duration × memory	≈ $0.0000167/GB-s; a 10 GB function running 5 min costs ~$0.50
Step Functions Standard	Per state transition	$0.025/1k transitions
S3	Storage + GET/PUT	Dominated by mp4 storage; plan tarballs expire in 7 days
CloudWatch Logs	Ingestion + storage	Logs are not throttled; set retention manually if cost matters

A 60-second 1080p30 composition at default chunkSize=240 (8 chunks) typically costs ~$0.04 in Lambda time + ~$0.001 in Step Functions. The eval script under scripts/eval.sh produces real per-fixture cost numbers when you run it against your own AWS account.

Troubleshooting

• "Chrome failed to launch" — the ZIP was likely built with the wrong --source. Match ChromeSource to the build flag.
• "PLAN_HASH_MISMATCH" — non-retryable. The plan tarball was written by a different version of the producer than the chunk worker is running. Re-plan from scratch.
• "BROWSER_GPU_NOT_SOFTWARE" — Chromium fell back to a hardware GL backend. Should not happen in Lambda (no GPU); file an issue.
• CloudWatch alarm firing on runaway-chunk-invocations — check the state machine execution history for an unintended Map fan-out, or raise the threshold if your workload genuinely exceeds it.

What's NOT in this directory

• CDK construct shipping the same topology programmatically — follow-up.
• hyperframes lambda deploy / render / progress / destroy CLI — follow-up.
• Migration guide — follow-up.
• Lambda RIE local smoke harness mode — follow-up.