AWS Lambda functions can now mount Amazon S3 buckets as file systems with S3 Files

Amazon Web Services announced that Lambda functions can now mount Amazon S3 buckets directly as file systems through a new service called S3 Files. The integration eliminates the need for Lambda functions to download S3 objects before processing them, instead allowing standard file operations to be performed directly on mounted buckets. Built on Amazon EFS infrastructure, S3 Files enables multiple Lambda functions to simultaneously access the same file system for shared data operations without requiring custom synchronization code. The new capability particularly targets AI and machine learning workloads where functions need to maintain persistent state and share data across pipeline steps. AWS positions this as a solution for stateful Lambda workloads by removing the overhead of object downloads, result uploads, and ephemeral storage management. The service works in conjunction with Lambda durable functions, which provide orchestration and automatic checkpointing for multi-step workflows that can now share data through the common S3 Files workspace. Developers can configure S3 Files mounting through the Lambda console, AWS CLI, SDKs, CloudFormation, or the Serverless Application Model. The feature addresses a longstanding limitation in serverless computing where functions traditionally operated in isolation without easy mechanisms for persistent shared storage between executions.