Logging Amazon AppSync API calls using Amazon CloudTrail - Amazon AppSync GraphQL
Amazon AppSync information in CloudTrailAmazon AppSync data events in CloudTrailUnderstanding Amazon AppSync log file entries
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Logging Amazon AppSync API calls using Amazon CloudTrail

Amazon AppSync is integrated with Amazon CloudTrail, a service that provides a record of actions taken by a user, role, or Amazon service in Amazon AppSync. CloudTrail captures all API calls for Amazon AppSync as events. The calls captured include calls from the Amazon AppSync console and from code calls to the Amazon AppSync APIs. You can use the information collected by CloudTrail to determine the request that was made to Amazon AppSync, the IP address of the requester, who made the request, when the request was made, and additional details.

You can create a trail to enable continuous delivery of CloudTrail events to an Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket, including events for Amazon AppSync. If you don't configure a trail, you can still view the most recent events in the CloudTrail console.

For more information about CloudTrail, see the Amazon CloudTrail User Guide.

Amazon AppSync information in CloudTrail

CloudTrail is enabled on your Amazon account when you create the account. In the CloudTrail console in Event history, you can view, search, and download recent events in your Amazon account. For more information, see Viewing Events with CloudTrail Event History in the Amazon CloudTrail User Guide.

For an ongoing record of events in your Amazon account, including events for Amazon AppSync, create a trail. By default, when you create a trail in the console, the trail applies to all Amazon Regions. The trail logs events from all Regions in the Amazon partition and delivers the log files to the Amazon S3 bucket that you specify. Additionally, you can configure other Amazon services to further analyze and act upon the event data collected in CloudTrail logs. For more information, see the following in the Amazon CloudTrail User Guide:

CloudTrail logs all Amazon AppSync API operations. For example, calls to the CreateGraphqlApi, CreateDataSource, and ListResolvers APIs generate entries in the CloudTrail log files. These and other operations are documented in the Amazon AppSync API Reference.

Every event or log entry contains information about who generated the request. The identity information helps you determine:

  • Whether the request was made with root or Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) user credentials.

  • Whether the request was made with temporary security credentials for a role or federated user.

  • Whether the request was made by another Amazon service.

For more information, see CloudTrail userIdentity Element in the Amazon CloudTrail User Guide.

Amazon AppSync data events in CloudTrail

Data events provide information about the resource operations performed on or in a resource (for example, reading or writing to an Amazon S3 object). These are also known as data plane operations. Data events are often high-volume activities. By default, CloudTrail doesn’t log data events. The CloudTrail Event history doesn't record data events.

Additional charges apply for data events. For more information about CloudTrail pricing, see Amazon CloudTrail Pricing.

You can log data events for the AWS::AppSync::GraphQLApi resource type by using the CloudTrail console, Amazon CLI, or CloudTrail API operations (these include query, mutation, and subscription operations, connect operations to your real-time WebSocket endpoint, but not messages sent over your real-time WebSocket endpoint.) For more information about how to log data events, see Logging data events with the Amazon Web Services Management Console and Logging data events with the Amazon Command Line Interface in the Amazon CloudTrail User Guide.

The following table lists the Amazon AppSync resource type for which you can log data events. The Data event type (console) column shows the value to choose from the Data event type list in the CloudTrail console. The resources.type value column shows the resources.type value, which you would specify when configuring advanced event selectors using the Amazon CLI or CloudTrail APIs. The Data APIs logged to CloudTrail column shows the API calls logged to CloudTrail for the resource type.

Data event type (console) resources.type value Data APIs logged to CloudTrail
AppSync GraphQL AWS::AppSync::GraphQLApi

GraphQL

You can configure advanced event selectors to filter on the eventName, readOnly, and resources.ARN fields to log only those events that are important to you. For more information about these fields, see AdvancedFieldSelector in the Amazon CloudTrail API Reference.

[
  {
    "name": "Only 1 AppSync API",
    "fieldSelectors": [
      {
        "field": "eventCategory",
        "equals": [
          "Data"
        ]
      },
      {
        "field": "resources.type",
        "equals": [
          "AWS::AppSync::GraphQLApi"
        ]
      },
      {
        "field": "resources.ARN",
        "equals": [
          "arn:aws:appsync:us-east-1:111122223333:apis/YourGraphQLApiId"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

Understanding Amazon AppSync log file entries

CloudTrail delivers events as log files that contain one or more log entries. An event represents a single request from any source and includes information about the requested operation, the date and time of the operation, the request parameters, and so on. Because these log files aren't an ordered stack trace of the public API calls, they don't appear in any specific order.

Note

The requestID isn't an authoritative unique ID for logs emitted from Amazon AppSync. The requestID can be overwritten by the client. Therefore, you should use caution when making decisions based on this information.

The following example CloudTrail log entry demonstrates the CreateApiKey operation.

{
  "Records": [{
    "eventVersion": "1.05",
    "userIdentity": {
      "type": "IAMUser",
      "principalId": "A1B2C3D4E5F6G7EXAMPLE",
      "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:user/Alice",
      "accountId": "111122223333",
      "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
      "userName": "diego_ramirez"
    },
    "eventTime": "2018-01-31T21:49:09Z",
    "eventSource": "appsync.amazonaws.com",
    "eventName": "CreateApiKey",
    "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
    "sourceIPAddress": "192.2.0.1",
    "userAgent": "aws-cli/1.11.72 Python/2.7.11 Darwin/16.7.0 botocore/1.5.35",
    "requestParameters": {
      "apiId": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9jexample"
    },
    "responseElements": {
      "apiKey": {
      "id": "***",
      "expires": 1518037200000
      }
    },
    "requestID": "99999999-9999-9999-9999-999999999999",
    "eventID": "99999999-9999-9999-9999-999999999999",
    "readOnly": false,
    "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
    "recipientAccountId": "111122223333"
    }
  ]
}

The following example CloudTrail log entry demonstrates the ListApiKeys operation.

{
  "Records": [{
    "eventVersion": "1.05",
    "userIdentity": {
      "type": "IAMUser",
      "principalId": "A1B2C3D4E5F6G7EXAMPLE",
      "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:user/diego_ramirez",
      "accountId": "111122223333",
      "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
      "userName": "diego_ramirez"
    },
    "eventTime": "2018-01-31T21:49:09Z",
    "eventSource": "appsync.amazonaws.com",
    "eventName": "ListApiKeys",
    "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
    "sourceIPAddress": "192.2.0.1",
    "userAgent": "aws-cli/1.11.72 Python/2.7.11 Darwin/16.7.0 botocore/1.5.35",
    "requestParameters": {
      "apiId": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9jexample"
    },
    "responseElements": {
      "apiKeys": [
              {
                    "id": "***",
                    "expires": 1517954400000
              },
              {
                    "id": "***",
                    "expires": 1518037200000
              },
            ]
    },
    "requestID": "99999999-9999-9999-9999-999999999999",
    "eventID": "99999999-9999-9999-9999-999999999999",
    "readOnly": false,
    "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
    "recipientAccountId": "111122223333"
    }
  ]
}

The following example CloudTrail log entry demonstrates the DeleteApiKey operation.

{
  "Records": [{
    "eventVersion": "1.05",
    "userIdentity": {
      "type": "IAMUser",
      "principalId": "A1B2C3D4E5F6G7EXAMPLE",
      "arn": "arn:aws:iam::111122223333:user/diego_ramirez",
      "accountId": "111122223333",
      "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
      "userName": "diego_ramirez"
    },
    "eventTime": "2018-01-31T21:49:09Z",
    "eventSource": "appsync.amazonaws.com",
    "eventName": "DeleteApiKey",
    "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
    "sourceIPAddress": "192.2.0.1",
    "userAgent": "aws-cli/1.11.72 Python/2.7.11 Darwin/16.7.0 botocore/1.5.35",
    "requestParameters": {
      "id": "***",
      "apiId": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9jexample"
    },
    "responseElements": null,
    "requestID": "99999999-9999-9999-9999-999999999999",
    "eventID": "99999999-9999-9999-9999-999999999999",
    "readOnly": false,
    "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
    "recipientAccountId": "111122223333"
    }
  ]
}

The following example CloudTrail log entry demonstrates a successful GraphQL mutation authorized with a custom Lambda function authorizer.

{
  "eventVersion": "1.10",
    "userIdentity": {
      "type": "Unknown"
    },
    "eventTime": "2024-11-06T15:42:30Z",
    "eventSource": "appsync.amazonaws.com",
    "eventName": "GraphQL",
    "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
    "sourceIPAddress": "15.248.1.214",
    "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:131.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/131.0",
    "requestParameters": null,
    "responseElements": null,
    "additionalEventData": {
      "operationName": "MyMutation",
      "authType": [
        "AWS_LAMBDA"
      ],
      "fieldAuthorizationResults": {
        "deniedFields": []
      }
    },
    "requestID": "c2d3768b-3446-40a1-bd95-8399fe776f96",
    "eventID": "21568be1-a1a8-4f43-b978-63cb4cc02a96",
    "readOnly": false,
    "resources": [
    {
      "accountId": "123456789012",
      "type": "AWS::AppSync::GraphQLApi",
      "ARN": "arn:aws:appsync:us-west-2:123456789012:apis/rxfqcxzi3nbvza2hsq4njqqq6u"
    }
    ],
    "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
    "managementEvent": false,
    "recipientAccountId": "123456789012",
    "eventCategory": "Data"
}

The following example CloudTrail log entry demonstrates a partially successful GraphQL operation authorized with a custom Lambda function authorizer. Note the fieldAuthorizationResults.deniedFields property that specifies the denied fields.

{
  "eventVersion": "1.10",
  "userIdentity": {
    "type": "Unknown"
  },
  "eventTime": "2024-11-06T16:11:49Z",
  "eventSource": "appsync.amazonaws.com",
  "eventName": "GraphQL",
  "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
  "sourceIPAddress": "15.248.1.214",
  "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:131.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/131.0",
  "requestParameters": null,
  "responseElements": null,
  "additionalEventData": {
    "operationName": "MyMutation",
    "authType": [
      "AWS_LAMBDA"
    ],
    "fieldAuthorizationResults": {
      "deniedFields": [
        "arn:aws:appsync:us-west-2:123456789012:apis/rxfqcxzi3nbvza2hsq4njqqq6u/types/Mutation/fields/createPost",
        "arn:aws:appsync:us-west-2:123456789012:apis/rxfqcxzi3nbvza2hsq4njqqq6u/types/Subscription/fields/onCreatePost",
        "arn:aws:appsync:us-west-2:123456789012:apis/rxfqcxzi3nbvza2hsq4njqqq6u/types/Post/fields/status"
      ]
    }
  },
  "requestID": "ae817c4c-66ba-4f64-92a5-ba9c9c341dcd",
  "eventID": "30109698-7605-476a-9dff-b7ed78d134dc",
  "readOnly": false,
  "resources": [
    {
      "accountId": "123456789012",
      "type": "AWS::AppSync::GraphQLApi",
      "ARN": "arn:aws:appsync:us-west-2:123456789012:apis/rxfqcxzi3nbvza2hsq4njqqq6u"
    }
  ],
  "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
  "managementEvent": false,
  "recipientAccountId": "123456789012",
  "eventCategory": "Data"
}

The following example CloudTrail log entry demonstrates a failed GraphQL operation.

{
  "eventVersion": "1.10",
  "userIdentity": {
    "type": "Unknown"
  },
  "eventTime": "2024-11-06T15:51:11Z",
  "eventSource": "appsync.amazonaws.com",
  "eventName": "GraphQL",
  "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
  "sourceIPAddress": "15.248.1.214",
  "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:131.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/131.0",
  "errorCode": "AccessDenied",
  "errorMessage": "{\n \"errors\" : [ {\n \"errorType\" : \"UnauthorizedException\",\n \"message\" : \"You are not authorized to make this call.\"\n } ]\n}",
  "requestParameters": null,
  "responseElements": null,
  "additionalEventData": {
    "operationName": "MyFullyDeniedLambdaMutation"
  },
  "requestID": "0bef3cf3-a48b-4de9-8b1f-038afb563516",
  "eventID": "b738651f-4ec0-4548-8fec-200c6b42842b",
  "readOnly": false,
  "resources": [
    {
      "accountId": "123456789012",
      "type": "AWS::AppSync::GraphQLApi",
      "ARN": "arn:aws:appsync:us-west-2:123456789012:apis/rxfqcxzi3nbvza2hsq4njqqq6u"
    }
  ],
  "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
  "managementEvent": false,
  "recipientAccountId": "123456789012",
  "eventCategory": "Data"
}

The following example demonstrates a successful GraphQL request.

{
  "eventVersion": "1.10",
  "userIdentity": {
    "type": "AssumedRole",
    "principalId": "AIDACKCEVSQ6C2EXAMPLE:jane_doe",
    "arn": "arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/admin/jane_doe",
    "accountId": "123456789012",
    "sessionContext": {
      "sessionIssuer": {
        "type": "Role",
        "principalId": "AIDACKCEVSQ6C2EXAMPLE",
        "arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/admin",
        "accountId": "123456789012",
        "userName": "jane_doe"
      },
      "attributes": {
        "creationDate": "2024-11-06T15:40:09Z",
        "mfaAuthenticated": "false"
      }
    }
  },
  "eventTime": "2024-11-06T16:03:43Z",
  "eventSource": "appsync.amazonaws.com",
  "eventName": "GraphQL",
  "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
  "sourceIPAddress": "15.248.1.214",
  "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:131.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/131.0",
  "requestParameters": null,
  "responseElements": null,
  "additionalEventData": {
    "operationName": "IamFullSuccess",
    "authType": [
      "AWS_IAM"
    ],
    "fieldAuthorizationResults": {
      "allowedFields": [
        "arn:aws:appsync:us-west-2:123456789012:apis/rxfqcxzi3nbvza2hsq4njqqq6u/types/Mutation/fields/createSecondPostAllowed"
      ],
      "deniedFields": []
    }
  },
  "requestID": "edc6bbbf-6bf2-40f5-820f-ef444f12e0c1",
  "eventID": "524656a5-0925-4370-9e7e-08888e9c299f",
  "readOnly": false,
  "resources": [
    {
      "accountId": "123456789012",
      "type": "AWS::AppSync::GraphQLApi",
      "ARN": "arn:aws:appsync:us-west-2:123456789012:apis/rxfqcxzi3nbvza2hsq4njqqq6u"
    }
  ],
  "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
  "managementEvent": false,
  "recipientAccountId": "123456789012",
  "eventCategory": "Data"
}