| name | aws-best-practices |
| description | No-web local AWS best-practices catalog. Use the local catalog files first and do not browse, search the web, open AWS docs, or use live documentation tools for ordinary answers unless the user explicitly asks for live/current verification or the local file is missing. Trigger when the user needs AWS best practices for any AWS service, based on their use case: security, reliability, performance, cost, operations, or sustainability. Trigger on "best practices for <AWS service>", "how should I configure <service>", "is my <service> setup correct", "AWS Well-Architected guidance for <service>", "harden / optimize / secure my <service>", or any question about recommended ways to run an AWS service. Also covers cross-service AWS best practices (account baseline, multi-account, cost governance, DR, observability, tagging). Consult it for any "how should I set up / secure / harden / optimize / run my <AWS service>" question, even when the user never says the words "best practice". This skill contains ONLY best practices and nothing else about the services. |
AWS Best Practices
A curated, source-linked collection of AWS best practices for every AWS
service, plus cross-service general guidance. Organized so you can find what
matters for a specific use case.
No live web for ordinary answers: use the local files in this repository.
Do not search the web, open AWS documentation URLs, or use live documentation
tools unless the user explicitly asks for a current/live refresh or the local
catalog is missing the requested service/topic.
Unofficial project: this skill is independently maintained. It is not an
official AWS skill, AWS product, or AWS-maintained resource, and it is not
affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon Web Services.
What this contains / does NOT contain
- ✅ Only best practices, per service, organized by the 6 AWS Well-Architected
pillars, each practice tagged with a
[when-it-applies] context and linked to
the official AWS source.
- ❌ No service descriptions/overviews, no pricing or cost estimates, no
tutorials or getting-started guides, no extended code samples. If you need
those, go to the AWS docs directly; this skill is best practices only.
How to use this skill
- From the user's use case, identify (a) the AWS service(s) involved and
(b) the concern/pillar that matters (security, reliability, performance,
cost, operations, sustainability).
- Open
catalog.md (or the index below) and find the service's
file path.
- Open
services/<category>/<service>.md.
- Read the
## Common scenarios block first to map the use case to the
relevant pillars, then read those pillar sections. Each bullet's
[context] tag tells you whether it applies to the user's situation.
- For cross-service questions (account setup, multi-account, cost governance,
DR, observability, tagging), use the General section under
general/.
- When you cite a best practice, include the source URL already present in the
local file. Copy the URL text from the local Markdown; do not open it.
Web access policy
For ordinary best-practice answers, use this repository as the source of truth:
read SKILL.md, catalog.md, and the relevant local services/ or general/
file. Do not call web search, open AWS documentation URLs, fetch pages, or
use live documentation tools just to verify or cite a bullet that is already in
the local file. The [doc](...) URLs in those files are pre-recorded citations:
copy them from the local Markdown when useful, but do not visit them.
Use live web/documentation access only when the user explicitly asks for a
current/live refresh, asks you to verify whether AWS changed something, or when
the requested service/topic is not covered by the local catalog.
If a service is not yet covered, say so plainly; do not invent best practices.
Use-case targeting
Prefer a targeted answer over an exhaustive dump. If the user gives a specific
scenario, workload, constraint, or concern, select only the best practices that
apply to that case.
Examples:
- "secure my S3 bucket" → focus on Security, access control, encryption,
public access prevention, audit, and network restrictions.
- "SQS queue in production" → give a production baseline across reliability,
security, performance, cost, and operations.
- "reduce DynamoDB cost" → focus on Cost Optimization and any performance or
operational practices that directly affect spend.
- "is this Lambda setup production-ready?" → structure the answer as gaps,
risks, and concrete fixes.
If the user does not provide a specific scenario, give the general
production baseline for that service: the most broadly useful practices across
Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization, and
Operational Excellence. Do not list every bullet in the file unless the user
asks for a complete/deep-dive answer.
Answer style
Default to an actionable production baseline, not an encyclopedia. Use this
shape unless the user asks for another format:
- Start with one sentence that names the local service file used.
- Give a short "baseline consigliata" / "recommended baseline" list of the
highest-impact settings or practices.
- Add "decisioni chiave" / "key decisions" when the service has important
trade-offs (for example Standard vs FIFO, SSE-S3 vs SSE-KMS, single-Region
vs replication).
- Group additional guidance by relevant Well-Architected pillars only when it
helps the user act.
- Add caveats for special cases, such as Lambda consumers, FIFO ordering,
sensitive data, private networking, compliance, or high throughput.
- End with the local file path and last_reviewed date when available. Include
only a few source URLs, copied from the local Markdown, unless the user asks
for full citations.
Avoid very wide tables by default because they often wrap poorly in terminals.
Use compact bullets unless the user explicitly asks for a table.
File layout
services/<category>/<service>.md # per-service best practices (pillar-organized)
general/<topic>.md # cross-service best practices
catalog.md # human index (generated)
catalog.json # machine-readable source of truth
Index
Compute
Containers
Storage
Database
Networking & Content Delivery
Security, Identity & Compliance
Management & Governance
Application Integration
Analytics
Machine Learning
Developer Tools
Migration & Transfer
Front-End Web & Mobile
Internet of Things
Media Services
End User Computing
Business Applications
Cloud Financial Management
Blockchain
Quantum Technologies
Satellite
Game Tech
General AWS Best Practices
