How do Pipes differ from EventBridge rules?

EventBridge rules react to events on an event bus — events must first be published to the bus. Pipes provide point-to-point integration between a source and a target without an event bus in the middle. Pipes support sources that rules cannot (SQS queues, Kinesis streams, DynamoDB Streams, Kafka topics, MQ brokers) and include built-in batching, filtering, and enrichment stages. Use rules for fan-out (one event, many targets) and Pipes for point-to-point integration with stream/queue sources.

What is the enrichment stage used for?

The enrichment stage lets you call a Lambda function, Step Functions state machine, API Gateway endpoint, or API destination to augment the event before it reaches the target. Common uses include looking up additional data from a database, transforming the event format, performing validation, or calling an external API. The enrichment response replaces or augments the event payload. If you do not need enrichment, you can skip this stage entirely — the pipe will pass the (optionally filtered and transformed) source event directly to the target.

EventBridge Pipes Config Builder

ServerlessAWS

Build EventBridge Pipes source, filter, enrichment, and target configurations.

EventBridge Pipes Configuration

Build EventBridge Pipes source-filter-enrichment-target configs for event-driven architectures.

Required Fields

NameRoleArnSourceTarget

{
  "Name": "sqs-to-stepfunctions-pipe",
  "Description": "Process SQS messages through enrichment and route to Step Functions",
  "RoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/PipesExecutionRole",
  "DesiredState": "RUNNING",
  "Source": "arn:aws:sqs:us-east-1:123456789012:order-events-queue",
  "SourceParameters": {
    "SqsQueueParameters": {
      "BatchSize": 10,
      "MaximumBatchingWindowInSeconds": 30
    },
    "FilterCriteria": {
      "Filters": [
        {
          "Pattern": "{\"body\": {\"eventType\": [\"ORDER_PLACED\", \"ORDER_UPDATED\"]}}"
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "Enrichment": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:123456789012:function:enrich-order-data",
  "EnrichmentParameters": {
    "InputTemplate": "{\"orderId\": <$.body.orderId>, \"customerId\": <$.body.customerId>}"
  },
  "Target": "arn:aws:states:us-east-1:123456789012:stateMachine:process-order",
  "TargetParameters": {
    "StepFunctionStateMachineParameters": {
      "InvocationType": "FIRE_AND_FORGET"
    },
    "InputTemplate": "{\"orderId\": <$.orderId>, \"enrichedData\": <$.enrichmentResult>}"
  },
  "LogConfiguration": {
    "CloudwatchLogsLogDestination": {
      "LogGroupArn": "arn:aws:logs:us-east-1:123456789012:log-group:/aws/pipes/sqs-to-sfn"
    },
    "Level": "ERROR"
  },
  "Tags": {
    "Environment": "production",
    "Team": "order-processing"
  }
}

Generated Output

Output will appear here...

About This Tool

Amazon EventBridge Pipes connects event sources to targets with optional filtering, enrichment, and transformation — all without writing custom integration code. A pipe has four stages: source (SQS, Kinesis, DynamoDB Streams, Kafka, or MQ), filter (EventBridge pattern matching to select events), enrichment (optional Lambda, Step Functions, or API Gateway call to augment events), and target (over 15 AWS services). The Pipes Config Builder helps you configure each stage with proper source parameters, filter patterns, enrichment settings, and target input transformations.

When to Use This Tool

•Connecting DynamoDB Streams to Step Functions with filtering to process only INSERT events for specific partition key patterns
•Building a pipe from SQS to Lambda with enrichment that looks up customer data before invoking the target
•Configuring Kinesis-to-EventBridge pipes with batch size, starting position, and dead-letter queue settings

Frequently Asked Questions

How do Pipes differ from EventBridge rules?: EventBridge rules react to events on an event bus — events must first be published to the bus. Pipes provide point-to-point integration between a source and a target without an event bus in the middle. Pipes support sources that rules cannot (SQS queues, Kinesis streams, DynamoDB Streams, Kafka topics, MQ brokers) and include built-in batching, filtering, and enrichment stages. Use rules for fan-out (one event, many targets) and Pipes for point-to-point integration with stream/queue sources.
What is the enrichment stage used for?: The enrichment stage lets you call a Lambda function, Step Functions state machine, API Gateway endpoint, or API destination to augment the event before it reaches the target. Common uses include looking up additional data from a database, transforming the event format, performing validation, or calling an external API. The enrichment response replaces or augments the event payload. If you do not need enrichment, you can skip this stage entirely — the pipe will pass the (optionally filtered and transformed) source event directly to the target.

Related Learning Guides

SQS vs SNS vs EventBridge25 min read

Disclaimer: This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Always verify outputs before using them in production. AWS, Azure, and GCP are trademarks of their respective owners.