Emulator lab · 6–9 min
First contact
Connect two services, predict the result, then break and repair an event. Follow a real upload into an explicit manual Lambda test.
S3 · Lambda
BUILD. BREAK. UNDERSTAND.
Learn AWS architecture through play.
Start with three labs that execute real API calls against an isolated local emulator. Then practice architecture decisions in twelve guided tours.
Open the playgroundChoose the experience you need
Emulator labs let you upload a page, test a function, and restart an instance. Architecture tours teach design choices using diagrams and coaching; they do not provision those services. Every experience works without an AWS account.
Start with First contact, continue to the website and compute labs, then follow the service guides below. These introductory exercises complement the official AWS documentation linked in each guide.
Emulator lab · 4–6 min
Hello, world wide web
Choose a design, write a title, and store your homepage. Configure the website index and see your page retrieved from S3.
S3
Emulator lab · 3–5 min
You have the power
Launch a server, predict what survives stopping, then stop and restart the same instance. Its identity is the clue.
EC2
Architecture tour · 5–7 min
A key to every score
Design a leaderboard lookup. Choose a key, retrieve one player, and diagnose an accidental overwrite.
DynamoDB
Architecture tour · 5–7 min
Give your data relationships
Choose a relational database, keep it behind your application, and plan recovery before an accidental delete.
RDS
Architecture tour · 6–8 min
Build a private neighborhood
Separate a public entry point from private data, trace routes, and narrow a security-group rule.
VPC · Security groups
Architecture tour · 5–7 min
A front door for your function
Map an HTTP request to a function, distinguish authorization from routing, and diagnose the wrong route.
API Gateway · Lambda
Architecture tour · 5–7 min
Bring your website closer
Follow cache hits and misses, protect an S3 origin, and choose a strategy for updated content.
CloudFront · S3
Architecture tour · 6–8 min
Give just enough permission
Choose a role, scope an object permission, and diagnose AccessDenied without granting administrator access.
IAM · S3
Architecture tour · 5–7 min
Find the signal in the noise
Choose metrics and logs, design an actionable alarm, and investigate a latency incident.
CloudWatch
Architecture tour · 5–7 min
Let the queue do the waiting
Decouple a producer and worker, understand visibility, and design for retries and duplicate delivery.
SQS
Architecture tour · 5–7 min
One announcement, many listeners
Choose fan-out, give consumers independent queues, and distinguish SNS delivery from competing queue workers.
SNS · SQS
Architecture tour · 6–8 min
Ship a container, skip the servers
Separate an image, task definition, task, and service. Keep a container application running with managed compute.
ECS · Fargate
Architecture tour · 5–7 min
Send the right event to the right place
Route business events using patterns and repair a rule that matches the wrong event type.
EventBridge · Lambda
Architecture tour · 6–8 min
Conduct the whole workflow
Coordinate tasks, branch on results, and choose bounded retries with an explicit failure path.
Step Functions · Lambda