Amazon SNS

# Fix list: Amazon SNS

From Anchor Terminal's listing at https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-sns, the October 2026 research run, assessed 8 October 2026. Grade BB, 72.8 out of 100.

This is everything the published grade says the listing lacks, the biggest possible gain to the total first. It comes from the reason given for each score, the checklist each category was scored against (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist), the provenance checks, the deductions, what we couldn't check and what the review panel asked for. A fix counts at the next check, once it's public.

For a coding agent working on Amazon SNS: work through the items below in the product, its docs and its public pages. Each category gives the reason for its score, with the points each checklist item earned, and the checklist itself, so the gap is the items that earned less than their points. Change the product, not the wording, and keep a note of what you changed and where it's published.

## 1. Payments & pricing, 35 out of 100, up to 8.1 more on the total

Why it scored 35: No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-request and per-notification prices published without login, with a price feed the pricing page loads (20). Standard topics carry a monthly free allowance of 1,000,000 API requests, 1,000,000 mobile push notifications, 100,000 HTTP notifications and 1,000 emails. The Free Tier FAQ says most new customers don't need a payment method, though AWS may still ask for one, so 15 of 20. A person signs up for the AWS account, and SMS production access needs a support case, so no autonomous route (0).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-payments):

The published rubric, also on the [x402 page](https://www.anchorterminal.com/x402/).

- 40, a machine payment protocol (x402, MPP or L402) on the tool's own endpoints. 10 to 30 when it covers only some endpoints or only goes through a third party, and the note says which.
- 20, per-call or per-unit pricing published without a login. 10 for public plan-only pricing, 0 for "contact sales" or prices behind a login.
- 20, a free tier or trial that doesn't need a card.
- 20, autonomous onboarding, meaning an agent can get access without a person signing up in a browser (keyless use, x402, a programmatic key API).

Payment platforms and agent wallets rarely charge for their own API over a machine protocol, so the first line has steps for them, and the highest one that applies counts. 40 when x402, MPP or L402 runs on all their own endpoints, 30 when it runs on part of their own API, 25 when their merchants can accept one, 20 for running a facilitator, 15 for paying as a buyer, and 0 when the only protocol is their own. Merchant acceptance sits above a facilitator because the platform's own customers can charge agents through it, while a facilitator settles for sellers who wire up the protocol themselves. The counter-argument (a facilitator does more for the protocol as a whole) has a point. Each note says which step applied.

Open-source software you run yourself is scored on its hosted or paid option if it has one. A free, self-hosted package with nothing to buy gets 20, 20 and 20 for the last three lines, and 0 to 40 for the first only if it ships a payment protocol.

## 2. Agent ergonomics, 65 out of 100, up to 5.7 more on the total

Why it scored 65: Graded on the SNS API through the AWS CLI and SDKs. AWS Labs also publishes a local MCP server for SNS and SQS, which belongs to our AWS MCP servers listing. `Publish` returns only a `MessageId`. Eight list actions page with `NextToken`, and only `ListSMSSandboxPhoneNumbers` takes `MaxResults` (14 of 25). No server-side filter on the list actions beyond `ListSubscriptionsByTopic` and listing endpoints by platform application (10 of 20). 34 typed errors with HTTP status codes, plus a page of mobile push errors with causes (16 of 20). `CreateTopic` and `CreatePlatformEndpoint` are documented as idempotent, `PublishBatch` answers per entry ID, and FIFO topics deduplicate for five minutes. `Publish` to a standard topic has no idempotency token, so a retried send can go out twice (12 of 20). `Publish` requires only `Message` and one target, and SDKs exist in every major language, but every call needs SigV4 and responses are XML outside the SDKs (13 of 15).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-ergonomics):

- 0 to 25, context cost. For MCP, the number and size of the tool definitions (25 for ten or fewer compact tools, 15 for 11 to 30, 5 for more than 30, plus up to 10 back for toolsets, dynamic loading or read-only subsets). For APIs, whether responses can be sized (field selection, limits, summaries).
- 20, pagination, filtering and output-size controls.
- 20, actionable, documented error responses, codes and messages an agent can recover from.
- 20, idempotency or safe retries, and for MCP the `readOnlyHint` and `destructiveHint` annotations.
- 15, sensible defaults, few required parameters, and official SDKs in at least two languages.

Models are read for tool use, structured output, prompt caching, context length, batch and SDKs. Frameworks for how much code and how many defaults a tool-calling agent with MCP needs.

## 3. Reliability, 75 out of 100, up to 5 more on the total

Why it scored 75: AWS Health Dashboard with per-service, per-Region history (20). AWS's dashboard history file, read on 8 October, lists Amazon Simple Notification Service in the Middle East (UAE) me-central-1 and Middle East (Bahrain) me-south-1 multi-service events, open since 1 and 2 March 2026 at disruption status. On 15 September 2026, inside the 90-day window, AWS said it can't restore resources and data hosted only in me-south-1 or the mec1-az2 zone. None of the other eleven events since 10 July names the service. One major event, read as the Amazon SES and AWS End User Messaging dossiers read it (10). The quotas page gives published messages a second per account by Region (30,000 in US East (N. Virginia), 9,000 in two Regions, 1,500 in eight, 300 elsewhere) and a fixed rate for each other action (15). `ThrottlingException` is documented with a note that the AWS SDKs retry it, and the SDK reference describes exponential backoff with jitter. FIFO topics deduplicate on `MessageDeduplicationId` for five minutes, but `Publish` to a standard topic takes no idempotency token and the API model marks no error as retryable (10 of 15). The Amazon Messaging SLA commits 99.9 per cent monthly uptime per Region for SNS and SQS (10). Generally available (10).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-reliability):

Hosted APIs, MCP servers, models and platforms.

- 20, a public status page with component history (Statuspage, Instatus, BetterStack or the vendor's own).
- 0 to 30, the incident record for the last 90 days on that page. 30 for a clean record or trivial incidents only, 20 for minor incidents only, 10 for one major outage (an hour or more of a core API down, or errors across the board), 0 for several. 5 when there's no history we could read, and the note says so.
- 15, rate limits documented with numbers.
- 15, documented 429 or overload handling (Retry-After, backoff guidance), and idempotency keys or safe-retry guidance where writes are involved.
- 10, an SLA published for any paid tier.
- 10, the surface agents use is generally available, not beta or preview.

Local packages, SDKs, frameworks and stdio MCP servers.

- 20, installs from an official package with supported runtimes stated.
- 25, a public CI and test suite, passing on the default branch.
- 0 to 25, open crash or regression issues relative to activity (25 for few and handled, 0 for many, old and unanswered).
- 15, semver discipline and breaking changes called out in a changelog.
- 15, version 1.0 or later, or declared stable.

Protocols are read from their reference implementations, the public facilitators or servers, spec stability and test vectors.

## 4. Schema & documentation, 83 out of 100, up to 2.8 more on the total

Why it scored 83: No OpenAPI, but the Smithy model is published in aws/api-models-aws, 42 operations under API version 2010-03-31 (25). llms.txt for the developer guide and the API reference, with a Markdown twin of every page (10). The API reference explains each action and the guide says when to pick FIFO over standard topics. Few actions say when not to use them (12 of 20). 65 required members are marked, but the model has only 4 enumerated types and 11 length, pattern or range constraints. Topic, subscription and endpoint settings are string-to-string maps, and delivery policies, filter policies and per-channel messages are JSON inside strings (8 of 15). The `Publish` reference page carries three request and response examples and lists 15 errors with HTTP status codes, and the guide has SDK and CLI examples. The model itself carries no examples (13 of 15). Versioned API and a dated document history, last entry 30 April 2026 (15).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-schema):

APIs and MCP servers.

- 25, a machine-readable contract (a public OpenAPI file or similar; for MCP, typed JSON Schema inputs on every tool).
- 10, llms.txt or Markdown docs served for agents.
- 0 to 20, descriptions that say what a tool is for, when to use it and when not to, read from the tool definitions in the source or the API reference.
- 0 to 15, typed inputs with enums, constraints and required fields, and no free-form JSON blobs.
- 0 to 15, examples and documented error responses.
- 15, versioning and a public changelog.

Models are read from the API reference, the OpenAPI file, llms.txt, the structured-output and tool-use docs and the model cards. Frameworks from docs a model can follow, typed interfaces, examples and the API reference.

## 5. Maintenance & community, 75 out of 100, up to 2.2 more on the total

Why it scored 75: The SNS model last changed on 17 September 2026, and the JavaScript SDK client shipped 3.1147.0 on 6 October (30). That model change, a documentation update, is the only SNS change in aws/api-models-aws since 10 July, and the guide's document history has no entry after 30 April 2026. The SDK client had 63 versions in the same period, published with the whole SDK, so half (10 of 20). Closed service with a dated document history and AWS re:Post. Direct support is a paid plan (10 of 15). Official SDKs released on most working days (15). The JavaScript client needs Node 20 or later and is published from the SDK's release pipeline (10).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-maintenance):

- 0 to 30, time since the last release, or the last published model or API change for a closed service. 30 within 30 days, 20 within 90, 10 within 180, 0 older.
- 20, at least three releases or dated changelog entries in the last 90 days.
- 0 to 25, responsiveness. Issues and pull requests answered on GitHub (the open issues and how recent the replies are). For closed services, a public changelog and a support or community channel that answers, 0 to 15.
- 15, presence in the official MCP registry under a verified namespace (MCP servers), or current official SDKs (APIs and models).
- 10, package health, current dependencies and CI.

Models are read for deprecation notice periods and model churn rather than release counts.

## 6. Security & auth, 89 out of 100, up to 1.9 more on the total

Why it scored 89: IAM with identity policies and topic resource policies per action and ARN, service condition keys, temporary credentials and rotation. No secret travels in a URL (30). `AmazonSNSReadOnlyAccess` is an AWS managed policy, and a policy can allow `sns:Publish` on one topic only. Email addresses have to confirm a subscription before receiving anything. No confirmation step for sends, which IAM leaves to the caller (16 of 20). API responses carry no third-party content. SNS signs the messages it posts to HTTPS endpoints and the guide tells receivers to verify the signature (10). CloudTrail logs control-plane calls as management events and `Publish` and `PublishBatch` on topics and platform endpoints as optional data events. Publishes to a phone number are not logged by CloudTrail. Delivery status can go to CloudWatch Logs (15). In scope for SOC 1, 2 and 3 (page updated 11 August 2026), with a vulnerability disclosure programme on HackerOne. aws.amazon.com's security.txt expired on 24 September 2026, and we found no paid bug bounty. Read as the Amazon SES re-check read the same evidence (18 of 20).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-security):

- 0 to 30, the credential model. 30 for OAuth 2.1 with scopes, or scoped and revocable keys with rotation. 20 for plain revocable API keys. 10 for one all-powerful key. 10 off when a secret can travel in a URL query string as a documented option.
- 0 to 20, read-only or least-privilege modes, and confirmation or approval for destructive actions.
- 0 to 15, prompt-injection posture where the tool returns untrusted content (documented mitigations or guidance). A tool that returns no untrusted content gets 10.
- 0 to 15, audit logs or per-call visibility for the operator.
- 0 to 20, a security programme. security.txt or a disclosure policy, a bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001, advisories handled in public.

Models are read for retention, whether API data trains models (and whether that's off by default), zero-retention options and certifications. Frameworks for telemetry defaults, approval hooks, guardrails and sandboxing.

## 7. Transparency & trust, 83 out of 100, up to 1.5 more on the total

Made of editorial 71, provenance 95.

Why it scored 83: Closed service under the AWS Customer Agreement and section 11 of the Service Terms, with Apache-2.0 SDKs (20 of 30). The guide says SNS stores messages with disk encryption by default, with optional server-side encryption under AWS KMS keys, and the retry page gives how long an undelivered message is kept (up to 23 days for AWS endpoints, 6 hours for push, SMS and email). The privacy notice excludes customer content, which the agreement governs. We found no statement on retention of subscription data or delivery logs (18 of 30). Message data protection was closed to new customers on 30 April 2026 with a notice dated 31 March 2026, 30 days ahead. No general deprecation policy found (15 of 20). The sub-processor page, last updated 28 July 2026, names AMCS LLC and AMCS SG Private Limited as sellers of SNS and promises 30 days' notice of new ones. The carriers and push services that messages pass through are not listed (18 of 20).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-transparency):

- 0 to 30, source availability and licence clarity. 30 for open source under an OSI licence, 15 for closed with clear terms, 0 for unclear terms.
- 0 to 30, data handling and retention statements that agree with each other (privacy policy, DPA, retention periods, subprocessors).
- 0 to 20, a deprecation policy or notices with dates.
- 0 to 20, telemetry disclosed with an opt-out (local software), or subprocessors and data locations disclosed (hosted).

The other half of Transparency and trust is the provenance score, computed from checked facts (below). The category score is the mean of the two.

Provenance checks not met in full (half of this category, computed from checked facts):

- security.txt: published but past its Expires date (5 of 10)

## What we couldn't check

What we couldn't read counted as absent. Publishing it on a page a plain HTTP fetch can read (not only in a browser) lets the next check count it.

- unchecked: SMS prices and registration rules. SMS sent through SNS is billed by AWS End User Messaging, which has its own listing, and we did not re-read its price pages for this one.
- unchecked: which subscription protocols FIFO topics support, and the archive retention period for FIFO topics. We read the FIFO overview and deduplication pages only.
- unchecked: the SNS condition keys in the service authorisation reference, which the guide links to.
- unchecked: the tool list of the AWS Labs SNS and SQS MCP server at run time. We read its source and README and did not run it.
- unchecked: PyPI weekly downloads. `boto3` covers every AWS service, so no SNS figure exists there.
- No retention period for subscription data or delivery status logs was found in the pages read.
- The lead called the interface a REST API. The model declares the AWS Query protocol, form-encoded requests with XML responses, signed with SigV4.
- The category fits only in part. SNS sends push, SMS and email but has no user preferences, digests, templates or in-app channel, and much of its use is application-to-application fan-out.

## Weaknesses

- No idempotency token on `Publish` to a standard topic. Only FIFO topics deduplicate, over a five-minute window
- No user preferences, digests, templates or in-app channel. Email is plain text and each address has to confirm its subscription
- SMS starts in a sandbox with ten verified numbers and a $1 monthly spend quota, raised through an AWS Support case
- Topic, subscription and endpoint settings travel as string maps and JSON inside strings, and the model has only four enumerated types
- The AWS Health Dashboard lists the service in the UAE and Bahrain Region disruptions open since March 2026

## What costs an agent a turn today

The notes we give agents before they call it. Each one is a workaround an agent shouldn't need.

- Sign requests with SigV4 for service `sns` at `sns.<region>.amazonaws.com`, or call `aws sns publish --topic-arn <arn> --message <text>` from the AWS CLI
- Track `MessageId` yourself on standard topics, because a retried `Publish` sends again. Use a FIFO topic with `MessageDeduplicationId` when duplicates matter
- Send per-channel text by setting `MessageStructure` to `json` and passing a JSON string with a `default` key plus keys such as `APNS`, `GCM`, `email` and `sms`
- Check `GetSMSSandboxAccountStatus` and the monthly spend quota before texting. Sandbox sends reach only verified numbers
- Expect an email subscription to stay in `PendingConfirmation` until the recipient clicks the link, and keep each email subscription under 10 messages a second

## When it's done

Send what changed and where it's published as a dispute (https://www.anchorterminal.com/builders/#disputes, or `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/contact` with `"kind": "dispute"`). Disputes are answered in public, and the listing is checked again by the same checklist. Paying for an audit or a listing claim changes nothing here.