How do I increase my Lambda environment variable size quota?
I want to configure more than 4 KB of environment variables for my AWS Lambda function.
Resolution
The Lambda environment variables default quota service quota is 4 KB and isn't adjustable. For more information, see Lambda quotas.
To configure more than 4 KB of environment variables for your Lambda function, you must use an external data store. For example, use another database or an AWS Service such
AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store or an Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket.
Note: If you use Parameter Store or Amazon S3, then additional charges might occur. For more information, see AWS pricing.
Related information
How do I get a Lambda function in a VPC to access Systems Manager Parameter Store?
Can I change the environment variables in a published version of my Lambda function?
- Topics
- Compute
- Tags
- AWS Lambda
- Language
- English
I know there are many workarounds (some mentioned above), however, AWS should up the hard limit to at least 8 KB (either as a default or via a soft limit), either way let the customer accept the performance hit.
replied 7 months ago
This article was reviewed and updated on 2026-04-27.
