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AWS Step Functions
API Reference (API Version 2016-11-23)

AWS Documentation » AWS Step Functions » API Reference » Actions » DescribeStateMachine

DescribeStateMachine

Describes a state machine.

Note

This operation is eventually consistent. The results are best effort and may not reflect very recent updates and changes.

Request Syntax

{
   "stateMachineArn": "string"
}

Request Parameters

For information about the parameters that are common to all actions, see Common Parameters.

The request accepts the following data in JSON format.

stateMachineArn

The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the state machine to describe.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 256.

Required: Yes

Response Syntax

{
   "creationDate": number,
   "definition": "string",
   "name": "string",
   "roleArn": "string",
   "stateMachineArn": "string",
   "status": "string"
}

Response Elements

If the action is successful, the service sends back an HTTP 200 response.

The following data is returned in JSON format by the service.

creationDate

The date the state machine is created.

Type: Timestamp

definition

The Amazon States Language definition of the state machine. See Amazon States Language.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 1048576.

name

The name of the state machine.

Important

When you make multiple StartExecution calls with the same name, the new execution does not run, and the following rules apply:

  • When the original execution is open and the execution input from the new call is different, the ExecutionAlreadyExists message is returned.

  • When the original execution is open and the execution input from the new call is identical, the Success message is returned.

  • When the original execution has been closed within 90 days, the ExecutionAlreadyExists message is returned regardless of input.

A name must not contain:

  • whitespace

  • brackets < > { } [ ]

  • wildcard characters ? *

  • special characters " # % \ ^ | ~ ` $ & , ; : /

  • control characters (U+0000-001F, U+007F-009F)

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 80.

roleArn

The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the IAM role used when creating this state machine. (The IAM role maintains security by granting Step Functions access to AWS resources.)

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 256.

stateMachineArn

The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) that identifies the state machine.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 1. Maximum length of 256.

status

The current status of the state machine.

Type: String

Valid Values: ACTIVE | DELETING

Errors

For information about the errors that are common to all actions, see Common Errors.

InvalidArn

The provided Amazon Resource Name (ARN) is invalid.

HTTP Status Code: 400

StateMachineDoesNotExist

The specified state machine does not exist.

HTTP Status Code: 400

See Also

For more information about using this API in one of the language-specific AWS SDKs, see the following: