I have just completed my AI Content Generator — a tool that utilizes Amazon Bedrock’s Claude model to create on-demand content through a Streamlit frontend. What was supposed to be a quick project turned into a marathon debugging session, teaching me more about AWS, API Gateway, and stubborn error messages than I ever expected.

GitHub Repo: https://github.com/desinthecloud/ai-content-generator

How It Works

The user submits a prompt in the Streamlit app.

The request is routed to an API Gateway endpoint.

A Lambda function processes it and calls the Claude v2.1 model in Bedrock.

The generated content returns to the user like magic!

(Except the magic required 7 hours of troubleshooting.)

The Problems (and Fixes) That Almost Broke Me

1. Claude Wasn’t Even Enabled

Error: Bedrock access denied.

Realization: I’d forgotten to enable Claude in AWS Bedrock.

Fix: I requested access to anthropic.claude-v2:1. In the Bedrock Console, but I only had to wait a few minutes for approval.

2. Model Version Mismatch

Error: Lambda kept failing.

Root Cause: My code referenced anthropic.claude-v2, but the console showed anthropic.claude-v2:1.

Fix: Updated the modelId everywhere and redeployed.

3. Streamlit’s Phantom Variable

Error: NameError: name ‘prompt’ is not defined

Facepalm Moment: I’d mixed up user_input and prompt in the code.

Fix: Standardized variable names across the front end.

4. API Gateway’s Missing /generate Route

Error: 404 Not Found

Mistake: My Streamlit app called /generate. But API Gateway had no such route.

Fix: Simplified the endpoint to /prod and adjusted the front end.

5. API Gateway’s Silent POST Absence

Error: No routes, no methods, just void.

Realization: I’d never configured a POST method in the API Gateway.

Fix: Added a POST method, linked it to Lambda, and enabled CORS.

6. The Mysterious 403 Forbidden

Error: 403 Client Error: Forbidden

Debugging Saga: Triple-checked IAM roles, Lambda permissions, and API Gateway resource policies.

Fix: Granted explicit invocation permissions and redeployed.

7. Streamlit & Pip’s Mac Meltdown

Error: can’t open file pip: [Errno 2] No such file…

Terminal Kung Fu: Fixed it with: Shell -> Copy -> Caption

python3 -m pip install — upgrade pip install — upgrade streamlit

Why I’m Proud of This Project

Terminal-Only Workflow: No AWS Console drag-and-drop — everything was coded, deployed, and debugged via CLI.

Cross-Service Debugging: Learned how Lambda, API Gateway, and Bedrock interact (the hard way).

Error Message Literacy: Now, I read error logs instead of panicking and refreshing.

What’s Next?

Add response streaming for faster outputs.

Deploy the Streamlit app publicly.

Fine-tune Claude for niche content types.

Lesson Learned:

Debugging is like detective work — except you’re also the prime suspect.

Check out the GitHub repo if you want to dive deeper! Feedback and contributions are welcome.