Using psycopg2 with Lambda to Update Redshift (Python)

I just came across this same problem. I stumbled across the same github project that was noted in the other answer which explained the problem as follows:

Due to AWS Lambda missing the required PostgreSQL libraries in the AMI image, we needed to compile psycopg2 with the PostgreSQL libpq.so library statically linked libpq library instead of the default dynamic link.

This has been noted in the previous answer, and I started to follow the instructions to build myself a version of psycopg2 with a statically linked PostgreSQL library. I found a much easier option though. I noticed on the psycopg2 github page the following:

You can also obtain a stand-alone package, not requiring a compiler or external libraries, by installing the psycopg2-binary package from PyPI:

$ pip install psycopg2-binary

The binary package is a practical choice for development and testing but in production it is advised to use the package built from sources.

When I pip installed the psycopg2-binary package and included it in my requirements.txt file I was able to connect to my postgresql database from a lambda function flawlessly. I am using chalice which I highly recommend. I realize that psycopg2 recommends not using the binary version for production, but I don’t see a huge difference between using the binary version or compiling and statically linking it yourself. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong on that.

Assuming your packaging is correct, the no module named psycopg2 error typically indicates the binary file(s) of your psycopg2 deployment is incorrect for your target OS or Python version.

For Lambdas, we have found that the psycopg2 binary works (using manylinux_x86_64). There is a reported risk of segfault due to the presence of competing libssl binaries though we haven’t had that yet.
(this is basically a +1 for jshammon’s answer above)

The “proper solution” is probably jkehlers recompile specifically for Lambda missing only lib_pq.so, but it doesn’t currently support ssl+py3.7 and we are too Windows to recompile it ourselves.

To use psycopg2 with aws lambda, use import aws-psycopg2

As aws supports psycopg2 but the way to import psycopg2 is a bit different as aws itself has a compiled library for psycopg2, so we need to import is using aws-psycopg2

Another way to use psycopg2 on lambda (if you are programing on windows and using python 3.6 on lambda)

1. In your machine create a directorie called python
2. Donwload the lib psycopg2 from https://pypi.org/project/psycopg2-binary/, search for the correct pakage (amazon linux is 86_64): psycopg2_binary-2.8.4-cp36-cp36m-manylinux1_x86_64.whl
3. Unzip this to the directorie python that you created, you can use 7-zip for .whl
4. Zip the directorie python
5. Now in the AWS lambda panel, create a layer with the python.zip that you have
6. Finally add the layer to your lambda funcion

oh boy! while some of the answers may be really great and working! Just stumbled upon this https://pypi.org/project/aws-psycopg2/ and it worked like a charm for me. steps :

mkdir aws-psycopg2

cd aws-psycopg2

vi get_layer_packages.sh

export PKG_DIR="python"

rm -rf ${PKG_DIR} && mkdir -p ${PKG_DIR}

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/foo -w /foo lambci/lambda:build-python3.6 
    pip install -r requirements.txt --no-deps -t ${PKG_DIR}

vi requirements.txt

aws-psycopg2

then do :
chmod +x get_layer_packages.sh

./get_layer_packages.sh

zip -r aws-psycopg2.zip .

upload this zip to the AWS Lambda Layer!

So many answers but didn’t work for me! Please note AWS-Lambda doesn’t have most of DB-related libraries preinstalled and so you need to add a zip file with code and libraries to get it working. Please follow the steps here: Link

This is the simplest way I found in all the methods I tried:

I added a lamdba layer to my lambda functions that needed psycopg2. Here is a list of available Lambda layers: https://github.com/jetbridge/psycopg2-lambda-layer

I’m using the serverless framework and this is what my Lambda function looks like:

functions:
  example:
    handler: handler.example
    layers:
      - arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:898466741470:layer:psycopg2-py37:3
    events:
      - http:
          path: example
          method: post
          authorizer: aws_iam
          cors: true

I have read a few solutions including the ones where user customised the psychopg2 module year on Github and the issue still persist.

I recently solved it by uninstalling the current psychopg2 on my Macbook and then went to pip site to install it.

1. Try installing pip install psycopg2 on your terminal.
2. pip freeze (to repack the modules that you have on your directory before you wrap it).
3. Upload it on Lambda. It worked for me. Although I have to say this module is just a bandaid solution.