Python Version Support¶

Chalice supports all versions of python supported by AWS Lambda, which is currently Python 3.6 and greater. You can see the list of supported python versions for Lambda in their docs.

Chalice will automatically pick which version of python to use for Lambda based on the major version of python you are using. You don’t have to explicitly configure which version of python you want to use. For example:

$ python --version
Python 3.6.1
$ chalice new-project test-versions
$ cd test-versions
$ chalice package test-package
$ grep -C 3 python test-package/sam.json
    "APIHandler": {
      "Type": "AWS::Serverless::Function",
      "Properties": {
        "Runtime": "python3.6",
        "Handler": "app.app",
        "CodeUri": "./deployment.zip",
        "Events": {

# Similarly, if we were to run "chalice deploy" we'd
# use python3.6 for the runtime.
$ chalice --debug deploy
Initiating first time deployment...
Deploying to: dev
...
"Runtime":"python3.6"
...
https://rest-api-id.execute-api.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/api/

In the example above, we’re using python 3.6.1 so chalice automatically selects the python3.6 runtime for lambda. If we were using python 3.9.6, chalice would automatically select python3.9 as the runtime.

Chalice will emit a warning if the minor version does not match a python version supported by Lambda. Chalice will select the closest Lambda version in this scenario, as shown in the table below.

We strongly encourage you to develop your application using the same major/minor version of python you plan on using on AWS Lambda.

Changing Python Runtime Versions¶

The version of the python runtime to use in AWS Lambda can be reconfigured whenever you deploy your chalice app. This allows you to migrate to newer Python versions in AWS Lambda by creating a new virtual environment that uses python3. For example, suppose you have an existing chalice app that uses Python 3.6

$ python --version
Python 3.6.1
$ chalice deploy
...
https://endpoint/api

To upgrade the application to use Python 3.9, create a python3 virtual environment and redeploy.

$ deactivate
$ python3 -m venv /tmp/venv3
$ source /tmp/venv3/bin/activate
$ python --version
Python 3.9.6
$ chalice deploy
...