AWS CLI Cheatsheet

AWS CLI stands for Amazon Web Services Command Line Interface. When managing your AWS services, there are a few options as far as tools go. Two of the most common options are the AWS Console or AWS CLI. The AWS Console is a web interface you log into to manage your AWS services. AWS CLI is in contrast to the AWS Console. It is a great tool to manage AWS resources across different accounts, regions, and environments from the command line. It allows you to control services manually or create automation with scripts.

If you haven’t installed AWS CLI yet, start by Installing the AWS CLI Guide from Amazon.

Pro-tip 1 – use the command-completion feature.

We think the best cheat sheet you can have for AWS CLI is the command-completion feature. It allows you to use the Tab key to complete a partially entered command. It will either complete your command or display a list of suggested commands. It isn’t always automatically installed, so you’ll need to configure it manually. Here is the AWS guide to get it up and running.

Pro-tip 2 – use the help command.

When you need extra help, just lean on the AWS CLI help command to get detailed documentation on what is available. To use this command, you just append help at the end of a command name. For example, if you do ‘aws help, ‘ it will show the general AWS CLI options and list all the services. If you need to see all the available commands for AWS EC2 specifically, you will type ‘aws ec2 help.’ It will become a huge aid to you in becoming an AWS CLI pro.

Pro-tip 3 – use jq.

This cheatsheet utilizes jq, a lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor. We highly recommend using it for AWS CLI. You can find more information on it in the Github repository.

Create profiles

aws configure --profile profilename

Output format

aws configure output format {json, yaml, yaml-stream, text, table}

Specify your AWS Region

aws configure region (region-name)

List API Gateway IDs and Names

aws apigateway get-rest-apis | jq -r ‘.items[ ] | .id+” “+.name’

List API Gateway keys

aws apigateway get-api-keys | jq -r ‘.items[ ] | .id+” “+.name’

List API Gateway domain names

aws apigateway get-domain-names | jq -r ‘.items[ ] | .domainName+” “+.regionalDomainName’

List resources for API Gateway

aws apigateway get-resources --rest-api-id ee86b4cde | jq -r ‘.items[ ] | .id+” “+.path’

Find Lambda for API Gateway resource

aws apigateway get-integration --rest-api-id (id) --resource-id (resource id) --http-method GET | jq -r ‘.uri’

List Amplify apps and source repository.

aws amplify list-apps | jq -r ‘.apps[ ] | .name+” “+.defaultDomain+”

List CloudFront distributions and origins

aws cloudfront list-distributions | jq -r ‘.DistributionList.Items[ ] | .DomainName+” “+.Origins.Items[0].DomainName’

Create a new invalidation.

aws cloudfront create-invalidation [distribution-id]

List information about an alarm

aws cloudwatch describe-alarms | jq -r ‘.MetricAlarms[ ] | .AlarmName+” “+.Namespace+” “+.StateValue’

Delete an alarm or alarms (you can delete up to 100 at a time)

aws cloudwatch delete-alarms --alarm-names (alarmnames)

List user pool IDs and names

aws cognito-idp list-user-pools --max-results 60 | jq -r ‘.UserPools[ ] | .Id+” “+.Name’

List phone and email of all users

aws cognito-idp list-users --user-pool-id (resource) | jq -r ‘.Users[ ].Attributes | from_entries | .sub + “ “ + .phone_number + “ “ + .email’

List DynamoDB tables

aws dynamodb list-tables | jq -r .TableNames [ ]

Get all items from a table.

aws dynamodb scan --table-name events

Get the item count from a table.

aws dynamodb scan --table-name events --select count | jq .ScannedCount

Get the item using a key.

aws dynamodb get-item --table-name events --key ‘{“email””"email@example.com”}}’

Get specific fields from an item.

aws dynamodb get-item --table-name events --key ‘{“email””"email@example.com"}}’ --attributes-to-get event_type

Delete the item using a key.

aws dynamodb delete-item --table-name events --key ‘{“email””email@domain.com”}}’

Complete a Snapshot

aws ebs complete-snapshot (snapshot-id)

Start a Snapshot

aws ebs start-snapshot --volume-size (value)

Get a Snapshot block.

aws ebs get-snapshot-block

--snapshot-id (value)

--block-index (value)

--block-token (value)

List Instance ID, Type and Name

aws ec2 describe-instances | jq -r '.Reservations[].Instances[]|.InstanceId+" "+.InstanceType+" "+(.Tags[] | select(.Key == "Name").Value)'

List Instances with public IP address and Name

aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[?not_null(PublicIpAddress)]' | jq -r '.[][]|.PublicIpAddress+" "+(.Tags[]|select(.Key=="Name").Value)'

List VPCs and CIDR IP Block

aws ec2 describe-vpcs | jq -r '.Vpcs[]|.VpcId+" "+(.Tags[]|select(.Key=="Name").Value)+" "+.CidrBlock'

List Subnets for a VPC

aws ec2 describe-subnets --filter Name=vpc-id,Values=vpc-0d1c1cf4e980ac593 | jq -r '.Subnets[]|.SubnetId+" "+.CidrBlock+" "+(.Tags[]|select(.Key=="Name").Value)'

List Security Groups

aws ec2 describe-security-groups | jq -r '.SecurityGroups[]|.GroupId+" "+.GroupName'

Print Security Groups for an Instance

aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids i-0dae5d4daa47fe4a2 | jq -r '.Reservations[].Instances[].SecurityGroups[]|.GroupId+" "+.GroupName'

Edit Security Groups of an Instance

aws ec2 modify-instance-attribute --instance-id i-0dae5d4daa47fe4a2 --groups sg-02a63c67684d8deed sg-0dae5d4daa47fe4a2

Print Security Group Rules as FromAddress and ToPort

aws ec2 describe-security-groups --group-ids sg-02a63c67684d8deed | jq -r '.SecurityGroups[].IpPermissions[]|. as $parent|(.IpRanges[].CidrIp+" "+($parent.ToPort|tostring))'

Add Rule to Security Group

aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id sg-02a63c67684d8deed --protocol tcp --port 443 --cidr 35.0.0.1

Delete Rule from Security Group

aws ec2 revoke-security-group-ingress --group-id sg-02a63c67684d8deed --protocol tcp --port 443 --cidr 35.0.0.1

Edit Rules of Security Group

aws ec2 update-security-group-rule-descriptions-ingress --group-id sg-02a63c67684d8deed --ip-permissions 'ToPort=443,IpProtocol=tcp,IpRanges=[{CidrIp=202.171.186.133/32,Description=Home}]'

Delete Security Group

aws ec2 delete-security-group --group-id sg-02a63c67684d8deed

Create an ECS cluster.

aws ecs create-cluster --cluster-name=NAME --generate-cli-skeleton

Create an ECS service.

aws ecs create-service

Create a cluster

aws eks create-cluster --name (cluster name)

Delete a cluster

aws eks delete-cluster --name (cluster name)

List descriptive information about a cluster.

aws eks describe-cluster --name (cluster name)

List clusters in your default region

aws eks list-clusters

Tag a resource

aws eks tag-resource --resource-arn (resource_ARN) --tags (tags)

Untag a resource

aws eks untag-resource --resource-arn (resource_ARN) --tag-keys (tag-key)

Get information about a specific cache cluster.

aws elasticache describe-cache-clusters | jq -r ‘.CacheClusters[ ] | .CacheNodeType+” “+.CacheClusterId’

List ElastiCache replication groups.

aws elasticache describe-replication-groups | jq -r ‘.ReplicationGroups [ ] | .ReplicationGroupId+” “+.NodeGroups[ ].PrimaryEndpoint.Address’

List ElastiCache snapshots

aws elasticache describe-snapshots | jq -r ‘.Snapshots[ ] | .SnapshotName’

Create ElastiCache snapshot

aws elasticache create-snapshot --snapshot-name backend-login-hk-snap-1 --replication-group-id backend-login-hk --cache-cluster-id backend-login-hk

Delete ElastiCache snapshot

aws elasticache delete-snapshot --snapshot-name login-snap-1

Scale up/down the ElastiCache replica

aws elasticache increase-replica-count --replication-group-id backend-login --apply-immediately

aws elasticache decrease-replica-count --replication-group-id backend-login --apply-immediately

List ELB Hostnames

aws elbv2 describe-load-balancers --query ‘LoadBalancers[*].DNSName’ | jq -r ‘to_entries[ ] | .value’

List ELB ARNs

aws elbv2 describe-load-balancers | jq -r ‘.LoadBalancers[ ] | .LoadBalancerArn’

List of ELB target group ARNs

aws elbv2 describe-target-groups | jq -r ‘.TargetGroups[ ] | .TargetGroupArn’

Find instances for a target group.

aws elbv2 describe-target-health --target-group-arn arn:aws:elasticloadbalancing:ap-northwest-1:20394823094:targetgroup/wordpress-ph/203942b32a23 | jq -r ‘.TargetHealthDescriptions[ ] | .Target.Id’

List groups

aws iam list-groups | jq -r .Groups[ ].GroupName

Add/Delete groups

aws iam create-group --group-name (groupName)

List policies and ARNs

aws iam list-policies | jq -r ‘.Policies[ ]|.PolicyName+” “+.Arn’

aws iam list-policies --scope AWS | jq -r ‘.Policies[ ]|.PolicyName+” “+.Arn’

aws iam list-policies --scope Local | jq -r ‘.Policies[ ]|.PolicyName+” “+.Arn’

List user/group/roles for a policy

aws iam list-entities-for-policy --policy-arn arn:aws:iam:2308345:policy/example-ReadOnly

List policies for a group

aws iam list-attached-group-policies --group-name (groupname)

Add policy to a group

aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name (groupname) --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/exampleReadOnlyAccess

Add user to a group

aws iam add-user-to-group --group-name (groupname) --user-name (username)

Remove user from a group

aws iam remove-user-from-group --group-name (groupname) --user-name (username)

List users in a group

aws iam get-group --group-name (groupname)

List groups for a user

aws iam list-groups-for-user --user-name (username)

Attach/detach policy to a group.

aws iam attach-group-policy --group-name (groupname) --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/DynamoDBFullAccess

aws iam detach-group-policy --group-name (groupname) --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/DynamoDBFullAccess

List userId and UserName

aws iam list-users | jq -r ‘.Users[ ]|.UserId+” “+.UserName’

Get single user

aws iam get-user --user-name (username)

Add user

aws iam create-user --user-name (username)

Delete user

aws iam delete-user --user-name (username)

List access keys for the user

aws iam list-access-keys --user-name (username) | jq -r .AccessKeyMetadata[ ].AccessKeyId

Delete the access key for the user

aws iam delete-access-key --user-name (username) --access-key-id (accessKeyID)

Activate/deactivate the access key for the user

aws iam update-access-key --status Active --user-name (username) --access-key-id (access key)

aws iam update-access-key --status Inactive --user-name (username) --access-key-id (access key)

Generate a new access key for the user

aws iam create-access-key --user-name (username) | jq -r ‘.AccessKey | .AccessKeyId+” “+.SecretAccessKey’

List Lambda functions, runtime, and memory

aws lambda list-functions | jq -r ‘.Functions[ ] | .FunctionName+” “+.Runtime+” “+(.MemorySize|tostring)’

List Lambda layers

aws lambda list-layers | jq -r ‘.Layers[ ] | .LayerName’

List source event for Lambda

aws lambda list-event-source-mappings | jq -r ‘.EventSourceMappings[ ] | .FunctionArn+” “+.EventSourceArn’

Download Lambda code

aws lambda get-function --function-name DynamoToSQS | jq -r .Code.Location

List DB clusters

aws rds describe-db-clusters | jq -r ‘.DBClusters[ ] | .DBClusterIdentifier+” “+.Endpoint’

List DB instances

aws rds describe-db-instances | jq -r ‘.DBInstances[ ] | .DBInstanceIdentifier+” “+.DBInstanceClass+” “+.Endpoint.Address’

Take DB Instance Snapshot

aws rds create-db-snapshot --db-snapshot-identifier snapshot-1 --db-instance-identifier dev-1

aws rds describe-db-snapshots --db-snapshot-identifier snapshot-1 --db-instance-identifier general

Take DB cluster snapshot.

aws rds create-db-cluster-snapshot --db-cluster-snapshot-identifier

Create hosted zone

aws route53 create-hosted-zone --name exampledomain.com

Delete hosted zone

aws route53 delete-hosted-zone --id example

Get hosted zone

aws route53 get-hosted-zone --id example

List hosted zones

aws route53 list-hosted-zones

Create a record set.

To do this, you’ll first need to create a JSON file with a list of changed items in the body and use the CREATE action. For example, the JSON file would look like this.

{
     "Comment": "CREATE/DELETE/UPSERT a record",
     "Changes": [{
     "Action": "CREATE",
          "ResourceRecordSet":{
               "Name": "a.example.com",
               "Type": "A",
               "TTL": 300,
          "ResourceRecords":[{"Value":"4.4.4.4"}]
}}]
}

Once you have a JSON file with the correct information like above you will be able to enter the command

aws route53 change-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id (zone-id) --change-batch file://exampleabove.json

Update a record set.

You’ll first need to create a JSON file with a list of change items in the body and use the UPSERT action. This will either create a new record set with the specified value or update a record set if it already exists. For example, the JSON file would look like this.

{
     "Comment": "CREATE/DELETE/UPSERT a record",
     "Changes": [{
     "Action": "UPSERT",
          "ResourceRecordSet":{
               "Name": "a.example.com",
               "Type": "A",
               "TTL": 300,
          "ResourceRecords": [{"Value":"4.4.4.4"}]
}}]
}

Once you have a JSON file with the correct information like above, you will be able to enter the command.

aws route53 change-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id (zone-id) --change-batch file://exampleabove.json

Delete a record set.

To do this, you’ll first need to create a JSON file with a list of the record set values you want to delete in the body and use the DELETE action. For example, the JSON file would look like this.

{
     "Comment": "CREATE/DELETE/UPSERT a record",
     "Changes": [{
     "Action": "DELETE",
          "ResourceRecordSet": {
               "Name": "a.example.com",
               "Type": "A",
               "TTL": 300,
          "ResourceRecords": [{"Value":"4.4.4.4"}]
}}]
}

Once you have a JSON file with the correct information like above, you will be able to enter the following command.

aws route53 change-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id (zone-id) --change-batch file://exampleabove.json

List Buckets

aws s3 ls

List files in a Bucket

aws s3 ls s3://mybucket

Create Bucket

aws s3 mb s3://bucket-name
make_bucket: bucket-name

Delete Bucket

aws s3 rb s3://bucket-name --force

Download S3 object to local

aws s3 cp s3://bucket-name
download: ./backup.tar from s3://bucket-name/backup.tar

Upload local file as S3 object

aws s3 cp backup.tar s3://bucket-name
upload: ./backup.tar to s3://bucket-name/backup.tar

Delete S3 object

aws s3 rm s3://bucket-name/secret-file.gz .
delete: s3://bucket-name/secret-file.gz

Download bucket to local

aws s3 sync s3://bucket-name/ /media/pasport-ultra/backup

Upload local directory to bucket

aws s3 sync (directory) s3://bucket-name/

Share S3 object without public access

aws s3 presign s3://bucket-name/file-name --expires-in (time value)
https://bucket-name.s3.amazonaws.com/file-name.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=(key)&Expires=(value)&Signature=(value)

List SNS topics

aws sns list-topics | jq -r ‘.Topics[ ] | .TopicArn’

List SNS topic and related subscriptions

aws sns list-subscriptions | jq -r ‘.Subscriptions[ ] | .TopicArn+” “+.Protocol+” “+.Endpoint’

Publish to SNS topic

aws sns publish --topic-arn arn:aws:sns:ap-southeast-1:232398:backend-api-monitoring

List queues

aws sqs list-queues | jq -r ‘.QueueUrls[ ]’

Create queue

aws sqs create-queue --queue-name public-events.fifo | jq -r .queueURL

Send message

aws sqs send-message --queue-url (url) --message-body (message)

Receive message

aws sqs receive-message --queue-url (url) | jq -r ‘.Messages[ ] | .Body’

Delete message

aws sqs delete-message --queue url (url) --receipt-handle (receipt handle)

Purge queue

aws sqs purge-queue --queue-url (url)

Delete queue

aws sqs delete-queue --queue-url (url)