How can I retrieve the list of available models or model versions programmatically via the Bedrock API?

To retrieve the list of available models or model versions programmatically via the Bedrock API, you can use the ListFoundationModels API operation provided by AWS Bedrock. This method returns metadata about the foundation models available in your AWS account’s region, including details like model IDs, providers (e.g., Anthropic, Meta), and supported input/output modalities. The process involves initializing the Bedrock client with AWS credentials, calling the API, and parsing the response to extract the model details. This approach is useful for dynamically discovering models without manual configuration.

Here’s how to implement this in practice. First, ensure you have the AWS SDK installed for your programming language (e.g., boto3 for Python). Initialize the Bedrock client with your AWS region and credentials. For example, in Python:

import boto3
client = boto3.client('bedrock', region_name='us-west-2')
response = client.list_foundation_models()

The response will contain a modelSummaries array, where each entry includes the modelId, providerName, and other attributes like inputModalities (e.g., “TEXT”) and outputModalities. You can filter results using optional parameters like byProvider or byOutputModality to narrow down models from specific providers or supporting certain tasks. For example, list_foundation_models(byProvider='anthropic') returns only Anthropic’s Claude models.

When handling the response, you’ll likely iterate through the modelSummaries to extract the model IDs and versions. Note that some models may have multiple versions (e.g., anthropic.claude-v2 and anthropic.claude-v2:1), which are listed as separate entries. To avoid hardcoding model IDs in your application, you can cache this list periodically or fetch it at runtime. Be aware of API rate limits and implement retries if necessary. For full details, refer to the AWS Bedrock API documentation, which describes all response fields and filtering options.