iwantcoding.com
🔥 Daily 👥 Rooms 🏆 Top Log in Sign up

Cheatsheet

By · Reviewed & last updated · Part of AWS Tutorial

The AWS CLI commands you reach for daily, on one page.

Daily AWS

EXAMPLE
# Identity
aws sts get-caller-identity
aws configure list-profiles
aws configure get region --profile prod

# S3
aws s3 ls
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket --recursive --human-readable --summarize
aws s3 cp file.txt s3://my-bucket/
aws s3 sync ./dist s3://my-bucket --delete --cache-control 'max-age=31536000'
aws s3 presign s3://my-bucket/key --expires-in 3600

# EC2
aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,State.Name,Tags[?Key==\`Name\`].Value|[0]]' --output table
aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids i-...
aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids i-...

# SSM (no SSH)
aws ssm start-session --target i-...
aws ssm send-command --document-name AWS-RunShellScript --instance-ids i-... --parameters 'commands=["uptime"]'

# Lambda
aws lambda list-functions --query 'Functions[].FunctionName' --output text
aws lambda invoke --function-name my-fn out.json
aws logs tail /aws/lambda/my-fn --follow --since 10m

# RDS
aws rds describe-db-instances --query 'DBInstances[].[DBInstanceIdentifier,DBInstanceStatus,Endpoint.Address]' --output table
aws rds create-db-snapshot --db-instance-identifier prod --db-snapshot-identifier prod-$(date +%s)

# IAM
aws iam list-users
aws iam list-roles
aws iam get-policy --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess
aws iam simulate-principal-policy --policy-source-arn arn:... --action-names s3:GetObject --resource-arns arn:aws:s3:::bucket/key

# CloudFormation
aws cloudformation deploy --stack-name foo --template-file t.yaml --parameter-overrides Foo=Bar
aws cloudformation describe-stack-events --stack-name foo --max-items 20

# CloudWatch logs
aws logs tail /aws/ecs/my-service --follow --since 5m --filter-pattern 'ERROR'

# Secrets + SSM Parameter Store
aws ssm get-parameter --name /app/prod/db --with-decryption --query Parameter.Value --output text
aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id app/prod --query SecretString --output text | jq -r .password

# Cost
aws ce get-cost-and-usage --time-period Start=2026-06-01,End=2026-06-30 --granularity MONTHLY --metrics UnblendedCost

# aws-vault for MFA-backed sessions
aws-vault login prod
aws-vault exec prod -- aws s3 ls

# Region + profile
export AWS_PROFILE=prod
export AWS_REGION=ap-southeast-2

# Output formats
--output json|table|text|yaml
--query 'foo[].bar'

Why it matters

Use SSM Session Manager instead of SSH, use aws-vault for short-lived MFA creds, never paste long-lived keys into a shell. --query is the unsung hero - smaller, parseable output without piping into jq.

Tip: Tweak the snippet with Try it Yourself », then sit the quiz at the bottom of the page.

Example

Example
aws s3 ls
aws ec2 describe-instances
aws lambda invoke --function-name fn out.json
aws logs tail /aws/lambda/fn --follow
Try it Yourself »

Discussion

Loading…