Overview
Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service) is AWS's pub-sub messaging service. The Automize AWS SNS connector covers topic management, subscriptions, message publishing (incl. SMS direct send + mobile push), and batch publish.
- Regions: SNS is regional. Topics are region-scoped – subscriptions can cross regions for some delivery protocols.
- Plans: Pay-as-you-go. Free tier: 1M requests + 100k notifications/month (varies by protocol).
Setting up the connection
Auth type: aws_sigv4.
- AWS Console → IAM → user with programmatic access.
- Attach AmazonSNSFullAccess or scope down (sns:Publish, sns:Subscribe, sns:CreateTopic).
- In Automize, open Settings → Connectors → AWS SNS → Add connection. Paste keys + region.
Find your credentials at https://us-east-1.console.aws.amazon.com/iam/home.
Rate limits
SNS scales horizontally – no practical TPS cap on Publish for most use cases. SMS has per-account spending caps (default $1/month – raise via support). The connector retries throttling errors with backoff.
Data model
Pub-sub:
Topic ─── Subscriptions ─┬─ HTTP/HTTPS endpoints (webhooks)
├─ Email / Email-JSON
├─ SQS queue ARNs
├─ Lambda function ARNs
├─ SMS phone numbers
└─ Mobile push (via Platform Applications)
Topic types: Standard (best-effort, at-least-once) + FIFO (ordered, exactly-once).Available operations
14 operations available. Click any row to jump to its detail.
| Operation | Category | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Create Platform Application | General | Create a push notification platform application |
| Create Platform Endpoint | General | Create a push notification endpoint |
| Create Topic | General | Create an SNS topic |
| Delete Topic | General | Delete an SNS topic |
| Get Topic Attributes | General | Get attributes of an SNS topic |
| List Platform Applications | General | List push notification platform applications |
| List Subscriptions | General | List all subscriptions |
| List Subscriptions by Topic | General | List subscriptions for a specific topic |
| List Topics | General | List all SNS topics |
| Publish Message | General | Publish a message to a topic, phone number, or target ARN |
| Publish Batch | General | Publish a batch of messages to a topic |
| Set Topic Attributes | General | Set an attribute on an SNS topic |
| Subscribe | General | Subscribe an endpoint to a topic |
| Unsubscribe | General | Unsubscribe from a topic |
Operations
Create Platform Application
Create a push notification platform application
No input parameters.
Tips
- For mobile push (APNS / FCM / etc.). Needs platform credentials.
Create Platform Endpoint
Create a push notification endpoint
No input parameters.
Tips
- Register a device under a platform app. Returns endpoint ARN to use in Publish.
Create Topic
Create an SNS topic
No input parameters.
Tips
- name: Standard topic. For FIFO, append .fifo and set FifoTopic=true.
- Returns TopicArn – use this everywhere downstream.
Delete Topic
Delete an SNS topic
No input parameters.
Tips
- Deletes topic + all subscriptions. Irreversible.
Get Topic Attributes
Get attributes of an SNS topic
No input parameters.
Tips
- Returns ARN, DisplayName, SubscriptionsConfirmed, SubscriptionsPending, EffectiveDeliveryPolicy.
List Platform Applications
List push notification platform applications
No input parameters.
Tips
- Mobile push platform configs.
List Subscriptions
List all subscriptions
No input parameters.
Tips
- All subscriptions across all topics. Use List Subscriptions By Topic for one-topic scoping.
List Subscriptions by Topic
List subscriptions for a specific topic
No input parameters.
Tips
- Filter by topic_arn. Returns subscription ARN + endpoint + protocol.
List Topics
List all SNS topics
No input parameters.
Tips
- Pages 100 per call (NextToken for next page).
Publish Message
Publish a message to a topic, phone number, or target ARN
No input parameters.
Tips
- topic_arn OR target_arn (mobile push) OR phone_number (SMS direct).
- Message: plain text, or JSON with per-protocol bodies (MessageStructure='json').
- MessageAttributes for filtering downstream.
Publish Batch
Publish a batch of messages to a topic
No input parameters.
Tips
- Up to 10 messages per call. Each gets its own MessageId. Returns per-message success/failure.
Set Topic Attributes
Set an attribute on an SNS topic
No input parameters.
Tips
- Update one attribute per call (AttributeName + AttributeValue).
Subscribe
Subscribe an endpoint to a topic
No input parameters.
Tips
- Protocol: http, https, email, email-json, sms, sqs, lambda, application (mobile push).
- Endpoint format varies – full URL for http(s), email address, phone number (E.164), or ARN for sqs/lambda.
- Email/HTTPS subscriptions require manual confirmation (Confirm Subscription URL emailed).
Unsubscribe
Unsubscribe from a topic
No input parameters.
Tips
- Subscription ARN. Irreversible – re-subscribe means a new confirmation.
FAQ
- Direct SMS – when?
- Send Publish with phone_number (E.164) and no topic. Works in regions where SNS supports SMS. Use Twilio for global SMS – AWS is cheaper per message but country coverage is patchier and harder to get number-pool features.
- Standard vs FIFO topics?
- Standard: at-least-once delivery, possible reorder, near-infinite throughput. FIFO: exactly-once, strict order, ~300 TPS. Use FIFO only when order matters.
- HTTPS subscription confirmation?
- When subscribing an HTTPS endpoint, SNS POSTs a SubscriptionConfirmation message. The endpoint must extract SubscribeURL from the body and GET it (or POST ConfirmSubscription) to confirm.
- Filter policies – how?
- Set subscription attribute FilterPolicy to a JSON document defining which message attributes a subscription accepts. Saves you from fan-out logic at the consumer.