| name | awsclaw-general |
| description | General AWS management in VS Code using awsclaw extension. Covers AWS connectivity, session management, profiles, regions, endpoints, file operations, testing connections, safety model, cross-service discovery, and extension capabilities. |
Awsclaw General
Awsclaw is a VS Code extension that provides AI-assisted AWS management capabilities. It allows users to interact with AWS services using natural language prompts directly within VS Code.
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when the user:
- Asks how to connect to AWS or configure credentials
- Wants to switch AWS profiles, regions, or endpoints
- Needs to test AWS connectivity
- Asks about awsclaw extension capabilities or features
- Wants to perform local file operations (read, write, zip)
- Needs to understand cross-service relationships (e.g., which services produce CloudWatch logs)
- Asks about safety, permissions, or readonly mode
- Wants to manage session settings
Extension Capabilities
Natural Language AWS Management
- Ask questions about your AWS resources in plain English
- Execute AWS API calls through chat prompts
- Automatic pagination handling with "Load More" in chat
UI Features
- S3 Explorer: Interactive bucket browser via
OpenS3Explorer command
- CloudWatch Log Viewer: Interactive log viewer via
OpenCloudWatchLogView command
- Command History: Panel showing all API calls with responses
- Service Access View: Enable/disable individual tools per workspace
- Status Bar: Quick selectors for AWS profile and region
MCP Support
- Built-in for VS Code / GitHub Copilot (no setup needed)
- Stdio MCP bridge for Google Antigravity, Windsurf, Cursor, and other editors
- Up to 3 concurrent MCP sessions
- Tool availability controlled via
awsclaw.mcp.disabledTools setting
Safety Model
- Read-only operations (list, describe, get): Execute automatically without confirmation
- Mutating operations (put, post, upload, delete, create, update, invoke, start, execute): Require user confirmation before execution
- Readonly mode: Available via
SetAwsReadonlyMode to block all write operations
AWS Connectivity & Session Management
How Credentials Work
Awsclaw uses the standard AWS SDK credential provider chain:
- Environment variables (
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY)
- AWS SSO (Single Sign-On) via
aws sso login
- Shared credentials file (
~/.aws/credentials)
- Shared config file (
~/.aws/config)
Important: No credentials are ever sent to AI services. All API calls execute locally.
Quick Setup Steps
- Install the awsclaw extension in VS Code
- Use
TestAwsConnectionTool to verify connectivity
- Use
SessionTool with ListProfiles to see available profiles
- Use
SessionTool with SetSession to configure profile and region
- Start using any AWS service tool via chat
Tool: SessionTool
Get or set AWS session values (AwsProfile, AwsEndPoint, AwsRegion), list available profiles, or refresh cached credentials.
Commands
GetSession
Read current session values (profile, region, endpoint).
{ "command": "GetSession", "params": {} }
Parameters: None required.
SetSession
Update session values. Omit any param to leave it unchanged.
{ "command": "SetSession", "params": { "AwsProfile": "my-profile", "AwsRegion": "us-west-2" } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| AwsProfile | string | No | AWS profile name to set |
| AwsEndPoint | string | No | Custom AWS/S3-compatible endpoint to set (e.g., LocalStack) |
| AwsRegion | string | No | AWS region to set (e.g., us-east-1, eu-west-1) |
ListProfiles
Return profile names detected from AWS config/credentials files.
{ "command": "ListProfiles", "params": {} }
Parameters: None required.
RefreshCredentials
Clear and reload cached credentials. Use after aws sso login or credential rotation.
{ "command": "RefreshCredentials", "params": {} }
Parameters: None required.
Tool: FileOperationsTool
Perform local file operations: read, write, append, get metadata, list directories, create zip archives.
Commands
ReadFile
Read file content with optional encoding.
{ "command": "ReadFile", "params": { "filePath": "/path/to/file.txt" } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| filePath | string | Yes | File path to read |
| encoding | string | No | File encoding (default: utf-8) |
WriteFile
Create or overwrite a file.
{ "command": "WriteFile", "params": { "filePath": "/path/to/file.txt", "content": "Hello World" } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| filePath | string | Yes | File path to write |
| content | string | Yes | Content to write |
| encoding | string | No | File encoding |
| overwrite | boolean | No | Allow overwriting existing files |
| ensureDir | boolean | No | Create parent directories when missing |
AppendFile
Append content to an existing file.
{ "command": "AppendFile", "params": { "filePath": "/path/to/file.txt", "content": "new line" } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| filePath | string | Yes | File path to append to |
| content | string | Yes | Content to append |
| encoding | string | No | File encoding |
| ensureDir | boolean | No | Create parent directories when missing |
ReadFileStream
Get file metadata (size, type, modified date) without reading content.
{ "command": "ReadFileStream", "params": { "filePath": "/path/to/file.txt" } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| filePath | string | Yes | File path |
ReadFileAsBase64
Read file content as Base64 encoded string.
{ "command": "ReadFileAsBase64", "params": { "filePath": "/path/to/image.png" } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| filePath | string | Yes | File path to read |
GetFileInfo
Get file statistics (size, creation time, modification time, etc.).
{ "command": "GetFileInfo", "params": { "filePath": "/path/to/file.txt" } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| filePath | string | Yes | File path |
ListFiles
List contents of a directory.
{ "command": "ListFiles", "params": { "dirPath": "/path/to/dir", "recursive": true } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| dirPath | string | Yes | Directory path to list |
| recursive | boolean | No | Recursively list files in subdirectories |
ZipTextFile
Create a zip archive of a file or directory.
{ "command": "ZipTextFile", "params": { "filePath": "/path/to/dir" } }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| filePath | string | Yes | File or directory path to zip |
| outputPath | string | No | Custom output path for zip file |
Tool: TestAwsConnectionTool
Tests AWS connectivity using STS GetCallerIdentity. Returns true if the connection is successful.
{ "region": "us-east-1" }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
| region | string | No | AWS region to test (default: us-east-1) |
Cross-Service Discovery Guide
Many AWS services produce logs, metrics, and resources that can be found through other services. Use this guide to navigate between related services.
CloudWatch Log Group Naming Conventions
| AWS Service | Log Group Pattern | How to Find |
|---|
| Lambda | /aws/lambda/{functionName} | Use CloudWatchLogTool with DescribeLogGroups prefix /aws/lambda/ |
| API Gateway | API-Gateway-Execution-Logs_{restApiId}/{stageName} | Use CloudWatchLogTool with prefix API-Gateway-Execution-Logs_ |
| Glue | /aws-glue/jobs/output | Use CloudWatchLogTool with prefix /aws-glue/ |
| RDS | /aws/rds/instance/{instanceId}/{logType} | Use CloudWatchLogTool with prefix /aws/rds/ |
| ECS | /ecs/{serviceName} or custom | Use CloudWatchLogTool with prefix /ecs/ |
| Step Functions | /aws/vendedlogs/states/{stateMachineName} | Use CloudWatchLogTool with prefix /aws/vendedlogs/states/ |
| CloudTrail | aws-cloudtrail-logs-{accountId} | Use CloudWatchLogTool with prefix aws-cloudtrail-logs- |
| VPC Flow Logs | Custom log group (check EC2 flow log config) | Use EC2Tool DescribeFlowLogs to find log group |
Service Relationship Map
| From Service | Related Service | How to Navigate |
|---|
| Lambda Function | CloudWatch Logs | Log group: /aws/lambda/{functionName} |
| Lambda Function | SQS/SNS/DynamoDB/Kinesis | Use LambdaTool ListEventSourceMappings to find event sources |
| Lambda Function | IAM Role | Check GetFunctionConfiguration for Role field |
| EC2 Instance | VPC, Subnet, Security Groups | Instance metadata contains vpcId, subnetId, securityGroups |
| EC2 Instance | CloudWatch | VPC Flow Logs → CloudWatch Log Group |
| API Gateway | Lambda | Integration targets in GetIntegration response |
| API Gateway | CloudWatch | Execution logs: API-Gateway-Execution-Logs_{id}/{stage} |
| Glue Job | CloudWatch Logs | Output logs: /aws-glue/jobs/output |
| Glue Job | S3 | Job scripts and data stored in S3 |
| Step Functions | Lambda/ECS/Glue/SNS/SQS/DynamoDB | Task states reference other services by ARN |
| CloudFormation | All Services | DescribeStackResources lists all managed resources |
| CloudFormation | Templates | GetTemplate returns the infrastructure definition |
| IAM Role | All Services | Roles are used by Lambda, EC2, Glue, Step Functions, etc. |
| RDS | RDS Data API | Use RDSDataTool for SQL execution on Aurora Serverless |
| RDS | CloudWatch | RDS logs → CloudWatch, Enhanced Monitoring → CloudWatch |
| S3 | SNS/SQS/Lambda | Event notifications trigger other services |
| SNS | SQS/Lambda/HTTP | Subscriptions deliver to other service endpoints |
| SQS | Lambda | SQS queues as Lambda event sources |
| SQS | Dead Letter Queue | ListDeadLetterSourceQueues finds failed message sources |
| EMR | S3/EC2/CloudWatch | Clusters use S3 for data, EC2 for compute, CW for logs |
Tips for Finding Related Resources
- Start with CloudFormation: If infrastructure is managed by CloudFormation, use
DescribeStackResources to discover all related resources in a stack
- Check IAM roles: Use
IAMTool GetRole and ListAttachedRolePolicies to understand what services a role can access
- Use tags: Many services support tags — use tag-based queries to find related resources across services
- Follow ARNs: When a service response includes ARNs to other resources, use the appropriate tool to inspect those resources
