Automated AWS Receipt Processing System using Textract, Lambda & MySQL

Source: Dev.to

Introduction

In this blog I’ll walk you through how I built an end‑to‑end automated receipt processing system on AWS using:

• Amazon S3
• AWS Lambda
• Amazon Textract (AnalyzeExpense)
• Amazon RDS (MySQL)
• Lambda Layers (pymysql)

Use this repo if needed

Architecture Overview
User uploads receipt (PDF / JPG)
        ↓
Amazon S3 (ObjectCreated event)
        ↓
AWS Lambda
        ↓
Amazon Textract (AnalyzeExpense)
        ↓
Amazon RDS (MySQL)

Step 1 – Create the MySQL Database (RDS)

CREATE DATABASE receipt_db;

USE receipt_db;

CREATE TABLE ride_receipts (
    receipt_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    customer_name VARCHAR(100),
    ride_id VARCHAR(50),
    driver_name VARCHAR(100),
    vehicle_number VARCHAR(20),
    mode_of_vehicle VARCHAR(50),
    selected_price DECIMAL(10,2),
    time_of_ride TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

Step 2 – Create a Lambda Layer for pymysql

mkdir pymysql_layer
cd pymysql_layer
mkdir python
pip install pymysql -t python/
zip -r pymysql_layer.zip python

Upload the layer in AWS

1. Go to Lambda → Layers → Create layer
2. Runtime: Python 3.10
3. Upload pymysql_layer.zip

Step 3 – Create the Lambda Function

• Runtime: Python 3.10
• Attach the pymysql layer
• Add IAM permissions:
  • AmazonTextractFullAccess
  • AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess
  • CloudWatchLogsFullAccess

Step 4 – Lambda Function Code Overview

The function:

1. Listens for a receipt upload event from Amazon S3.
2. Reads the bucket name and object key.
3. Sends the receipt to Amazon Textract for structured data extraction.
4. Processes the extracted text to identify key receipt details.
5. Stores the structured data into the MySQL database.

(Full source code can be found in the linked repository.)

Step 5 – Configure the S3 Trigger

1. Open Lambda → Configuration → Triggers.
2. Add an S3 trigger:
   • Event type: ObjectCreated (PUT)
   • Bucket: receipt‑inp‑ak

Step 6 – Upload a Receipt to S3

Upload a clean file such as receipt1.jpg or receipt.pdf to the bucket.

Step 7 – Debug Using CloudWatch

Check logs at:

CloudWatch → /aws/lambda/receipt-textract

Successful log example

Processing file: receipt.pdf
Extracted: {
 'vehicle_number': 'TN01B3694',
 'mode_of_vehicle': 'Car',
 'selected_price': 150.0
}

Step 8 – Verify Data in MySQL

Run a SELECT query to confirm the records were inserted.

Note: Remember to delete the resources you created after testing. Stay tuned for more blogs and deployments.