AWS CLI Best Practices & Usage Guide

Learn to configure AWS CLI for secure, efficient cloud management. Follow step-by-step guidance for installation, configuration, and usage patterns.

🚀 Download CLI 📚 View Docs

Why AWS CLI is Essential

Powerful and flexible CLI interface for managing AWS services efficiently

Full Service Coverage

Access all AWS services, including EC2, S3, IAM, and more from the command line

Scriptable Workflows

Write automated scripts for tasks, reducing the need for manual work

Secure by Design

Supports encrypted profiles, IAM roles, and temporary authentication

Setup Your Environment

Install and configure the CLI to begin using AWS services

Linux

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip
unzip -q awscliv2.zip
sudo ./aws/install
More Details

macOS

brew install awscli
aws --version
More Details

Windows

msiexec /i AWSCLIV2.msi
More Details

Configure CLI Credentials

Securely store your AWS credentials and region settings

AWS configure

aws configure
AWS Access Key ID: AKIAXXXXXXX
AWS Secret Access Key: 1234abcd
Default region name: us-east-1
Default output format: json

Stored at: ~/.aws/credentials (Linux/macOS) or %UserProfile%\.aws\credentials (Windows)

Full docs

Advanced Topics

Named profiles, credential providers, and role switching

💡

Named Profiles

aws configure set profile.prod.aws_access_key_id AKIAXXXXXXX
aws configure set profile.prod.aws_secret_access_key abcd1234
aws configure set profile.prod.region us-east-1

Usage: aws ec2 describe-instances --profile prod

🔄

Assume Roles

aws sts assume-role --role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/MyRole
--role-session-name TestSession

Returns temporary credentials for cross-account access

Common Workflow Examples

Everyday commands to get you started managing AWS infrastructure

List EC2 Instances
aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].{ID:InstanceId,Type:InstanceType}' --output table

Shows instance IDs and types in a formatted table

S3 Commands
aws s3 cp local-file.txt s3://your-bucket

aws s3 sync . s3://your-bucket/

Upload and synchronize files with Amazon S3

IAM Management
aws iam list-users

aws iam create-user --user-name DevUser

List all IAM users or create new ones

CloudTrail Audit
aws cloudtrail describe-trails

aws cloudtrail start-logging --trail-name MyTrail

View and start auditing trail logging

Need Help Getting Started?

The AWS CLI makes it easy to manage and automate AWS services from your terminal.

📚 View Docs ⬇️ Download
```