What’s new#

Boto3 is a ground-up rewrite of Boto. It uses a data-driven approach to generate classes at runtime from JSON description files that are shared between SDKs in various languages. This includes descriptions for a high level, object oriented interface similar to those available in previous versions of Boto.

Because Boto3 is generated from these shared JSON files, we get fast updates to the latest services and features and a consistent API across services. Community contributions to JSON description files in other SDKs also benefit Boto3, just as contributions to Boto3 benefit the other SDKs.

Major features#

Boto3 consists of the following major features:

  • Resources: a high level, object oriented interface

  • Collections: a tool to iterate and manipulate groups of resources

  • Clients: low level service connections

  • Paginators: automatic paging of responses

  • Waiters: a way to block until a certain state has been reached

Along with these major features, Boto3 also provides sessions and per-session credentials & configuration, as well as basic components like authentication, parameter & response handling, an event system for customizations and logic to retry failed requests.

Botocore#

Boto3 is built atop of a library called Botocore, which is shared by the AWS CLI. Botocore provides the low level clients, session, and credential & configuration data. Boto3 builds on top of Botocore by providing its own session, resources and collections.