AWS CLI

AWS CLI

Cloud control-plane access from a shell. Great for enumeration, dangerous for the incautious.

When to use AWS CLI

Use AWS CLI when you need to:

• confirm who you are in AWS and which account you reached
• enumerate common resources such as S3, EC2, IAM, or Lambda
• script repeatable cloud recon without living in the console
• validate permissions and region/profile assumptions quickly

Quick Start

# Confirm version and identity
aws --version
aws sts get-caller-identity

# List S3 buckets and EC2 instances
aws s3 ls
aws ec2 describe-instances --output json

High-Value Workflows

Identity, profile, and region sanity

aws sts get-caller-identity --profile default
aws configure list

Core enumeration examples

aws s3 ls
aws iam list-users
aws ec2 describe-instances --region us-east-1 --output json
aws lambda list-functions --output json

Safer structured output

aws ec2 describe-instances --query "Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceId" --output text
aws s3api list-buckets --output json

Practical Notes

• Prefer explicit --profile and --region in notes, scripts, and repeatable workflows.
• Start with read-only enumeration unless the task explicitly requires mutation.
• s3 ls and s3api list-buckets together usually answer the first bucket-discovery question quickly.
• This skill also covers simple S3 bucket reconnaissance; a separate wrapper-only skill is unnecessary.

Caveats

• AWS CLI is an API client, not a safety rail; many commands can mutate or destroy resources.
• Missing region/profile context is the classic cause of misleading empty output.
• Version 2 is the supported baseline for current features and docs.

Resources

No bundled scripts/, references/, or assets/. Use the AWS CLI v2 user guide for install, auth, profile precedence, and service-specific commands.