eventbridge

name	eventbridge
description	Manage Amazon EventBridge event buses, rules, targets, schedules, and event replay via AWS CLI.
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"🚌","requires":{"bins":["aws"]}}}

Amazon EventBridge

Use this skill for event-driven architecture: creating and managing event buses, defining rules and targets, scheduling events, managing schemas, and replaying archived events.

Prerequisites

• AWS CLI v2 configured with valid credentials
• IAM permissions: events:*, scheduler:* for full access, or scoped policies for specific operations
• Target services (Lambda, SQS, SNS, etc.) must have resource-based policies allowing EventBridge invocation

Common Operations

List and Inspect (Read-Only)

# List all event buses
aws events list-event-buses --output table

# List rules on default bus
aws events list-rules --output table

# List rules on a custom bus
aws events list-rules --event-bus-name <bus-name> --output table

# Describe a specific rule
aws events describe-rule --name <rule-name>

# List targets for a rule
aws events list-targets-by-rule --rule <rule-name>

# List archives
aws events list-archives --output table

# List replays
aws events list-replays --output table

# List connections (for API destinations)
aws events list-connections --output table

# List API destinations
aws events list-api-destinations --output table

# List EventBridge Scheduler schedules
aws scheduler list-schedules --output table

# Describe a schedule
aws scheduler get-schedule --name <schedule-name>

# List schema registries
aws schemas list-registries --output table

# Search discovered schemas
aws schemas search-schemas --registry-name discovered-schemas --keywords <keyword>

Create Rules and Targets

⚠️ Cost note: EventBridge charges $1.00 per million custom events published. AWS service events are free. Scheduler: $1.00 per million invocations.

# Create a custom event bus
aws events create-event-bus --name <bus-name>

# Create a rule matching EC2 state changes
aws events put-rule \
  --name <rule-name> \
  --event-pattern '{
    "source": ["aws.ec2"],
    "detail-type": ["EC2 Instance State-change Notification"],
    "detail": {"state": ["stopped", "terminated"]}
  }' \
  --state ENABLED \
  --description "Notify on EC2 stop/terminate"

# Create a scheduled rule (rate)
aws events put-rule \
  --name <rule-name> \
  --schedule-expression "rate(5 minutes)" \
  --state ENABLED

# Create a scheduled rule (cron)
aws events put-rule \
  --name <rule-name> \
  --schedule-expression "cron(0 9 * * ? *)" \
  --state ENABLED \
  --description "Run daily at 9 AM UTC"

# Add a Lambda target to a rule
aws events put-targets \
  --rule <rule-name> \
  --targets '[{
    "Id": "1",
    "Arn": "<lambda-function-arn>"
  }]'

# Add an SQS target with input transformation
aws events put-targets \
  --rule <rule-name> \
  --targets '[{
    "Id": "1",
    "Arn": "<sqs-queue-arn>",
    "InputTransformer": {
      "InputPathsMap": {"instance": "$.detail.instance-id", "state": "$.detail.state"},
      "InputTemplate": "\"Instance <instance> changed to <state>\""
    }
  }]'

# Create an EventBridge Scheduler schedule (one-time)
aws scheduler create-schedule \
  --name <schedule-name> \
  --schedule-expression "at(2024-12-31T23:59:00)" \
  --target '{"Arn": "<lambda-arn>", "RoleArn": "<role-arn>", "Input": "{}"}' \
  --flexible-time-window '{"Mode": "OFF"}'

# Create a recurring schedule
aws scheduler create-schedule \
  --name <schedule-name> \
  --schedule-expression "rate(1 hour)" \
  --target '{"Arn": "<lambda-arn>", "RoleArn": "<role-arn>"}' \
  --flexible-time-window '{"Mode": "FLEXIBLE", "MaximumWindowInMinutes": 15}'

Enable / Disable Rules

# Disable a rule
aws events disable-rule --name <rule-name>

# Enable a rule
aws events enable-rule --name <rule-name>

Archive and Replay

# Create an archive
aws events create-archive \
  --archive-name <archive-name> \
  --source-arn <event-bus-arn> \
  --retention-days 90

# Start a replay
aws events start-replay \
  --replay-name <replay-name> \
  --event-source-arn <archive-arn> \
  --destination '{"Arn": "<event-bus-arn>"}' \
  --event-start-time "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z" \
  --event-end-time "2024-01-02T00:00:00Z"

Send Events

# Send a custom event
aws events put-events \
  --entries '[{
    "Source": "my.application",
    "DetailType": "OrderPlaced",
    "Detail": "{\"orderId\": \"12345\", \"amount\": 99.99}",
    "EventBusName": "default"
  }]'

# Send multiple events (batch)
aws events put-events \
  --entries '[
    {"Source": "my.app", "DetailType": "Event1", "Detail": "{}", "EventBusName": "default"},
    {"Source": "my.app", "DetailType": "Event2", "Detail": "{}", "EventBusName": "default"}
  ]'

Delete / Destructive

🛑 DESTRUCTIVE — Always confirm with the user before executing any of these commands.

# Remove targets from a rule (must remove all targets before deleting rule)
aws events remove-targets --rule <rule-name> --ids "1" "2"

# Delete a rule
aws events delete-rule --name <rule-name>

# Delete a custom event bus (must remove all rules first)
aws events delete-event-bus --name <bus-name>

# Delete an archive
aws events delete-archive --archive-name <archive-name>

# Delete a schedule
aws scheduler delete-schedule --name <schedule-name>

Safety Rules

1. NEVER delete rules or event buses without explicit user confirmation.
2. NEVER expose or log AWS credentials, access keys, or secret keys.
3. ALWAYS confirm the target event bus and region before write operations.
4. ALWAYS warn that deleting a rule requires removing all targets first.
5. WARN about event replay costs — replayed events are charged as custom events.
6. WARN that disabling a rule stops event delivery but does not delete it.

Best Practices

• Use custom event buses to isolate application events from AWS service events.
• Use dead-letter queues on targets to capture failed event deliveries.
• Use input transformers to send only relevant data to targets.
• Archive events for replay and debugging — set appropriate retention periods.
• Use EventBridge Scheduler instead of CloudWatch Events cron for new scheduled tasks.

Common Patterns

Pattern: Fan-Out Event to Multiple Targets

# Create a rule
aws events put-rule \
  --name order-events \
  --event-pattern '{"source": ["my.orders"], "detail-type": ["OrderPlaced"]}'

# Add multiple targets (Lambda + SQS + SNS)
aws events put-targets \
  --rule order-events \
  --targets '[
    {"Id": "notify", "Arn": "<sns-topic-arn>"},
    {"Id": "process", "Arn": "<lambda-arn>"},
    {"Id": "audit", "Arn": "<sqs-queue-arn>"}
  ]'

Pattern: Cross-Account Event Forwarding

# On source account: allow target account to receive events
aws events put-permission \
  --event-bus-name default \
  --action events:PutEvents \
  --principal <target-account-id> \
  --statement-id "AllowCrossAccount"

Pattern: Debug with Test Events

# Send a test event and check CloudWatch Logs
aws events put-events \
  --entries '[{
    "Source": "debug.test",
    "DetailType": "TestEvent",
    "Detail": "{\"test\": true}",
    "EventBusName": "default"
  }]'

# Check if the rule matched
aws events describe-rule --name <rule-name> \
  --query '{State: State, EventPattern: EventPattern}'

Troubleshooting

Error	Cause	Fix
ResourceNotFoundException	Rule or bus doesn't exist	Verify name and region; check list-rules
Events not triggering target	Event pattern mismatch	Test pattern with aws events test-event-pattern
ManagedRuleException	Trying to modify AWS-managed rule	AWS-managed rules can't be edited or deleted
Target invocation failing	Missing resource-based policy on target	Add permission for events.amazonaws.com to invoke the target
ValidationException on schedule	Invalid cron/rate expression	Check schedule expression syntax
Duplicate events delivered	At-least-once delivery	Design targets to be idempotent