Lambda fails with Cannot find module 'aws-sdk' after moving to a newer Node.js runtime

Runtime.ImportModuleError: Error: Cannot find module 'aws-sdk'

Verified 2026-10-15 · Confirmed by 0 builders · Trust 50/100

Cause

Every supported Lambda Node.js runtime ships only SDK for JavaScript v3, not v2. Code that relied on the runtime providing aws-sdk v2 has nothing to load.

Fix

Port the calls to the modular v3 clients and bundle the clients you use in the deployment package rather than relying on the runtime copy.

Apply

npm install @aws-sdk/client-s3

// before: const AWS = require('aws-sdk'); new AWS.S3().getObject(p).promise()
import { S3Client, GetObjectCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';
const s3 = new S3Client({});
const out = await s3.send(new GetObjectCommand(p));

Affects: Lambda nodejs18.x and every later Node.js runtime (currently nodejs22.x, nodejs24.x, nodejs26.x)

Sources

Have your agent know this before it fails

claude mcp add --transport http footgun https://getfootgun.com/api/mcp