# Publishing a custom lens in AWS WA Tool for the first time
<a name="lenses-publish"></a>

**To publish a custom lens**

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Well-Architected Tool console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/wellarchitected/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/wellarchitected/).

1. In the left navigation pane, choose **Custom lenses**.

1. Select the desired custom lens and choose **Publish lens**.

1. In the **Version name** box, enter a unique identifier for the version change. This value can be up to 32 characters and must only contain alphanumeric characters and periods (".").

1. Choose **Publish custom lens**.

   After a custom lens has been published, it's in **PUBLISHED** status. 

The custom lens can now be applied to workloads or shared with other AWS accounts or users.