Aldera is a lightweight, framework-agnostic messaging toolkit providing a unified API for sending email and SMS messages. It supports both Django and Flask, and includes production-ready AWS backends using SES (email) and SNS (SMS).

Aldera is specifically designed for AWS EC2 environments using IAM instance roles. No AWS keys should be hardcoded or stored in application configuration.

• Framework-agnostic: Works with Django and Flask; FastAPI support coming soon.
• AWS-powered SMS delivery via SNS.
• Simple configuration using your framework's native settings pattern.
• Minimal code changes needed to adopt across different frameworks.
• Explicit backend selection for predictable behavior.

pip install aldera

To use asynchronous functionality, add [async] qualifier:

pip install aldera[async]

Aldera does not accept AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID or AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY settings.

Instead, Aldera relies entirely on the standard AWS credential chain, with the expectation that production deployments run on:

• EC2 instances with an IAM role
• ECS tasks with task roles
• Lambda execution roles
• Local development using AWS CLI profiles (optional)

This enforces best-practice AWS security and prevents accidental leakage of sensitive credentials.

from flask import Flask
from aldera.sms.flask_sms import AlderaSMS
from aldera.sms import send_sms_message

aldera = AlderaSMS()

def create_app():
    app = Flask(__name__)
    app.config['ALDERA_SMS_BACKEND'] = 'aws'
    app.config['ALDERA_AWS_REGION'] = 'us-east-1'
    aldera.init_app(app)
    return app

@app.route("/test-sms")
def test_sms():
    send_sms_message("Hello from Flask!", "+15555555555")
    return "Message sent!"

No API keys needed — Aldera uses the EC2 instance role.

from flask import Flask
from aldera.mail.flask_mail import AlderaEmail, Message

mail = AlderaEmail()

def create_app():
    app = Flask(__name__)
    app.config['ALDERA_AWS_REGION'] = 'us-east-1'
    app.config['ALDERA_CONFIGURATION_SET'] = 'config-set'
    mail.init_app(app)
    return app

@app.route('/send')
def send_email():
    msg = Message(
        subject='Hello',
        recipients=['user@example.com'],
        body='This is a test email'
    )
    mail.send(msg)
    return 'Email sent!'

Again: no AWS credentials needed.

Add Aldera to your installed apps:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    "aldera.app.AlderaConfig",
]

Configure the SMS system:

ALDERA = {
    'SMS_BACKEND': 'aws',      # or "locmem"
    'AWS_REGION': 'us-east-1',
}

Send an SMS:

from aldera.sms import send_sms_message

send_sms_message("Hello!", "+15555555555")

No AWS keys required. Django code will automatically use the EC2 instance role.

Use Aldera's AWS SES backend:

EMAIL_BACKEND = "aldera.mail.backends.aws.AWSEmailBackend"

Configure the AWS region:

ALDERA = {
    'AWS_REGION': 'us-east-1',
}

Then send email using Django’s built-in tools:

from django.core.mail import send_mail

send_mail(
    "Subject",
    "Body",
    "from@example.com",
    ["to@example.com"],
)

Aldera is designed to run in environments where IAM roles are the correct security mechanism. Hardcoding credentials is insecure, error-prone, and unnecessary.

Aldera follows AWS best practices by relying on:

• EC2 metadata credentials
• ECS task roles
• Lambda execution roles
• Optional AWS CLI profiles during local development

This makes migrations, deployments, and CI/CD pipelines safer and easier.

Pull requests are welcome! If you'd like to add support for another framework or SMS backend, feel free to open an issue or PR.

Aldera is released under an Apache License 2.0.

Zack Young