Maintenance: cn-north-1 lambda layer is not publicly available #7975
Description
Expected Behaviour
Lambda layer for power tools is publicly available in cn-north-1 region.
This was advertised as a big feature of the v3.16.0 release:
https://github.com/aws-powertools/powertools-lambda-python/releases/tag/v3.16.0
We are thrilled to announce that Powertools for AWS Lambda (Python) now offers AWS Lambda layers in the AWS China region cn-north-1.
And described here in the getting started: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powertools/python/latest/getting-started/install/#aws-china-regions
arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:498634801083:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPythonV3-{python_version}-x86_64:27
aws --region cn-north-1 lambda get-layer-version-by-arn --arn "arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:498634801083:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPythonV3-python312-x86_64:27"
An error occurred (AccessDeniedException) when calling the GetLayerVersionByArn operation: User: REDACTED is not authorized to perform: lambda:GetLayerVersion on resource: arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:498634801083:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPythonV3-python312-x86_64:27 because no resource-based policy allows the lambda:GetLayerVersion action
By comparison, OTel in cn-north-1 works fine:
aws --region cn-north-1 lambda get-layer-version-by-arn --arn "arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:440179912924:layer:AWSOpenTelemetryDistroPython:7"
Current Behaviour
Lambda layer for power tools is not publicly available in cn-north-1 region.
Code snippet
aws --region cn-north-1 lambda get-layer-version-by-arn --arn "arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:498634801083:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPythonV3-python312-x86_64:27"Possible Solution
Ensure the layer ARN is published publicly.
Steps to Reproduce
aws --region cn-north-1 lambda get-layer-version-by-arn --arn "arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:498634801083:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPythonV3-python312-x86_64:27"
Powertools for AWS Lambda (Python) version
27
AWS Lambda function runtime
3.12
Packaging format used
Lambda Layers
Activity
boring-cyborg commentedon Jan 27, 2026
Thanks for opening your first issue here! We'll come back to you as soon as we can.
In the meantime, check out the #python channel on our Powertools for AWS Lambda Discord: Invite link
dsheehan commentedon Jan 27, 2026
I also tried to see if the ARN was listed via ssm:
aws --region cn-north-1 ssm get-parameter --name /aws/service/powertools/python/x86_64/python3.12/latestAlso access denied
For comparison (with global credentials), this works:
aws --region us-west-2 ssm get-parameter --name /aws/service/powertools/python/x86_64/python3.12/latestdsheehan commentedon Jan 27, 2026
Feature originally introduced in: #6900 in response to: #5269
leandrodamascena commentedon Jan 27, 2026
Hi @dsheehan, thank you for raising this issue! We don't publish parameters for the China/US gov partitions, so the aws ssm command shouldn't work on those partitions.
Regarding the layer, I've identified that we're not synchronizing the latest versions in China and the US partitions. I'll work to fix this, but there's no ETA yet.
Could you test with layer versions 22 and 23?
I'll keep this issue opened until I fix this.
dsheehan commentedon Jan 27, 2026
With some digging, it looks it might need to be manually triggered here?
https://github.com/aws-powertools/powertools-lambda-python/actions/workflows/layers_partitions.yml
With the latest release 3 month ago (Oct 2025): https://github.com/aws-powertools/powertools-lambda-python/actions/runs/18696289660
This appears to work:
aws --region cn-north-1 lambda get-layer-version-by-arn --arn "arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:498634801083:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPythonV3-python312-x86_64:25"As a stop-gap can we update the documentation to cite version 25?
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powertools/python/latest/getting-started/install/#aws-china-regions
dreamorosi commentedon Feb 6, 2026
Hi @dsheehan thanks for the info.
I tried backfilling versions 26, 27, and 28 in our gamma environment but it failed at the first version: https://github.com/aws-powertools/powertools-lambda-python/actions/runs/21756863663
We'll need some more time to investigate and see why this is happening.
Thank you for your patience.
3 remaining items
[-]Bug: cn-north-1 lambda layer is not publicly available[/-][+]Maintenance: `cn-north-1` lambda layer is not publicly available[/+]dreamorosi commentedon Sep 4, 2026
The latest version of the Lambda layers (v37) are now available in the
cn-north-1region at the following ARNs:arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:498634801083:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPythonV3-{python_version}-x86_64:37arn:aws-cn:lambda:cn-north-1:498634801083:layer:AWSLambdaPowertoolsPythonV3-{python_version}-arm64:37We're still working to restore our pipelines so that docs reflect the new ARNs and future releases don't drift again and this work is captured in the child issues, however the Lambda layers are already available to be attached, so I'm closing this issue as completed.
powertools-for-aws-oss-automation commentedon Sep 4, 2026
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