| name | opscenter-diagnostics |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| last_updated | 2025-04-12 |
| description | Use this skill to investigate and troubleshoot AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter problems by analyzing OpsItem creation, automation runbooks, related resources, deduplication, EventBridge integration, notifications, and following structured runbooks. Activate when: OpsItem creation failures, automation runbook errors, resource association issues, deduplication problems, EventBridge rule failures, notification delivery issues, or the user says something is wrong with OpsCenter.
|
| compatibility | Requires AWS CLI or SDK access with ssm, iam, events, sns, cloudtrail, and cloudwatch permissions.
|
AWS SSM OpsCenter Diagnostics
When to use
Any SSM OpsCenter investigation — OpsItem creation, automation runbook execution, related resource management, deduplication configuration, EventBridge integration, or notification delivery.
Investigation workflow
Step 1 — Collect and triage
aws ssm describe-ops-items --ops-item-filters "Key=Status,Values=Open,Operator=Equal" --query 'OpsItemSummaries[*].{Id:OpsItemId,Title:Title,Status:Status,Severity:Severity,Source:Source}'
aws ssm get-service-setting --setting-id /ssm/opsCenter
aws events list-rules --name-prefix "SSM"
Step 2 — Domain deep dive
aws ssm get-ops-item --ops-item-id <id>
aws ssm describe-automation-executions --filters "Key=ExecutionId,Values=<id>"
aws ssm list-ops-item-related-items --ops-item-id <id>
Step 3 — Detailed investigation
aws cloudtrail lookup-events --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=EventSource,AttributeValue=ssm.amazonaws.com --max-results 20
aws sns list-topics
aws events describe-rule --name <rule-name>
Read references/guardrails.md before concluding on any OpsCenter issue.
Tool quick reference
| Tool / API | When to use |
|---|
ssm describe-ops-items | List OpsItems with filters |
ssm get-ops-item | Get OpsItem details |
ssm create-ops-item | Create new OpsItem |
ssm update-ops-item | Update OpsItem status/details |
ssm describe-automation-executions | Check runbook execution |
ssm list-ops-item-related-items | List related resources |
Gotchas: AWS SSM OpsCenter
- OpsCenter is for operational issues, NOT incident management. It tracks and resolves operational issues using OpsItems.
- OpsItems can be created manually, by EventBridge rules, or by AWS services (Config, CloudWatch, etc.). Each source has different deduplication behavior.
- Automation runbooks associated with OpsItems require an IAM role with permissions for the actions in the runbook.
- Related resources are references (ARNs) attached to OpsItems. They are NOT live links — resource state changes don't auto-update the OpsItem.
- Deduplication uses an operational data hash. Duplicate OpsItems with the same hash are merged, not created as separate items.
- OpsCenter is regional. OpsItems in us-east-1 are not visible in eu-west-1. Use Explorer for cross-region aggregation.
Anti-hallucination rules
- Always cite specific OpsItem IDs, statuses, or API responses as evidence.
- OpsCenter is NOT incident management. Never conflate with Incident Manager.
- Related resources are static references. Never claim they auto-update.
- Deduplication uses hash-based matching. Never assume content-based dedup.
- Spend no more than 2 minutes on any single hypothesis. Pivot if inconclusive.
12 runbooks
| Category | IDs | Covers |
|---|
| A — OpsItems | A1-A2 | Creation, management |
| B — Automation | B1-B2 | Runbooks, execution |
| C — Resources | C1-C2 | Related resources, association |
| D — Deduplication | D1-D2 | Dedup behavior, configuration |
| E — EventBridge | E1-E2 | Integration, event rules |
| F — Notifications | F1 | Notification delivery |
| Z — Catch-All | Z1 | General troubleshooting |
