aws-cli

name	aws-cli
description	Use the AWS CLI to manage S3 buckets, Lambda functions, EC2 instances, IAM, DynamoDB, and all AWS services from the terminal. Use this instead of the AWS MCP server.

AWS CLI

Official CLI for Amazon Web Services. Manage all AWS services from the terminal.

• Official repo: https://github.com/aws/aws-cli
• Docs: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/

Authentication

aws configure                        # Set up credentials interactively
aws configure --profile staging      # Configure named profile
aws sts get-caller-identity          # Verify current identity
aws sso login --profile my-sso       # SSO-based login

Environment variables: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_DEFAULT_REGION

Common Commands

S3

aws s3 ls                                    # List buckets
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket/                    # List objects
aws s3 cp file.txt s3://my-bucket/           # Upload file
aws s3 cp s3://my-bucket/file.txt ./         # Download file
aws s3 sync ./dist s3://my-bucket/ --delete  # Sync directory
aws s3 rm s3://my-bucket/file.txt            # Delete object
aws s3 mb s3://new-bucket                    # Create bucket

Lambda

aws lambda list-functions --query 'Functions[].FunctionName'
aws lambda invoke --function-name my-func --payload '{}' output.json
aws lambda update-function-code --function-name my-func --zip-file fileb://deploy.zip
aws lambda get-function --function-name my-func
aws logs tail /aws/lambda/my-func --follow   # Tail CloudWatch logs

EC2

aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,State.Name,PublicIpAddress]' --output table
aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids i-xxx
aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids i-xxx

IAM

aws iam list-users
aws iam list-roles --query 'Roles[].RoleName'
aws iam get-role --role-name my-role

DynamoDB

aws dynamodb list-tables
aws dynamodb scan --table-name my-table --max-items 10
aws dynamodb put-item --table-name my-table --item '{"id":{"S":"123"}}'
aws dynamodb query --table-name my-table --key-condition-expression "id = :v" --expression-attribute-values '{":v":{"S":"123"}}'

CloudFormation

aws cloudformation list-stacks --stack-status-filter CREATE_COMPLETE
aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name my-stack

Agent Best Practices

• Always use --output json with --query (JMESPath) for structured output
• Use --dry-run flag where available before destructive operations
• Use --profile to target specific accounts
• Use aws sts get-caller-identity to confirm which account you're operating on
• Prefer aws s3 (high-level) over aws s3api (low-level) for common operations
• Use --no-paginate or --max-items to control output size

Example Workflows

Deploy static site to S3

aws s3 sync ./build s3://my-site-bucket/ --delete
aws cloudfront create-invalidation --distribution-id E1234 --paths "/*"

Check Lambda function status

aws lambda get-function --function-name my-func --query 'Configuration.{State:State,Runtime:Runtime,Memory:MemorySize}' --output table