# AWS Ops

> AWS operations, queries, and resource management

- Skill: `agenticdevops/aws-ops` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add agenticdevops/aws-ops`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/agenticdevops/aws-ops/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: agenticdevops (https://skillmd.com/u/agenticdevops)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/agenticdevops/aws-ops

---


# AWS Operations

Common AWS CLI operations for infrastructure management.

## When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:
- Managing AWS resources
- Querying resource state
- Troubleshooting AWS issues
- Cost investigation

## Setup & Authentication

### Check Current Identity

```bash
# Who am I?
aws sts get-caller-identity

# Current region
aws configure get region
```

### Switch Profile/Region

```bash
# Use specific profile
export AWS_PROFILE=production

# Or per-command
aws s3 ls --profile production

# Switch region
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-west-2
```

### List Profiles

```bash
aws configure list-profiles
```

## EC2 Instances

### List Instances

```bash
# All instances with key info
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,State.Name,InstanceType,PrivateIpAddress,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' \
  --output table

# Running only
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=instance-state-name,Values=running" \
  --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,InstanceType,PrivateIpAddress,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' \
  --output table

# By tag
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=tag:Environment,Values=production"
```

### Instance Actions

```bash
# Start instance
aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0

# Stop instance
aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0

# Reboot instance
aws ec2 reboot-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0

# Get console output (for debugging)
aws ec2 get-console-output --instance-id i-1234567890abcdef0
```

### Instance Details

```bash
# Full details
aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0

# Security groups
aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0 \
  --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].SecurityGroups'
```

## S3 Storage

### List Buckets & Objects

```bash
# List buckets
aws s3 ls

# List objects in bucket
aws s3 ls s3://bucket-name/

# With sizes (human readable)
aws s3 ls s3://bucket-name/ --human-readable --summarize

# Recursive
aws s3 ls s3://bucket-name/ --recursive
```

### Copy Files

```bash
# Upload
aws s3 cp file.txt s3://bucket-name/

# Download
aws s3 cp s3://bucket-name/file.txt ./

# Sync directory
aws s3 sync ./local-dir s3://bucket-name/prefix/

# Sync with delete
aws s3 sync ./local-dir s3://bucket-name/prefix/ --delete
```

### Bucket Info

```bash
# Bucket location
aws s3api get-bucket-location --bucket bucket-name

# Bucket size (can be slow for large buckets)
aws s3 ls s3://bucket-name --recursive --summarize | tail -2
```

## EKS (Kubernetes)

### List Clusters

```bash
aws eks list-clusters
```

### Update Kubeconfig

```bash
# Add cluster to kubeconfig
aws eks update-kubeconfig --name cluster-name --region us-east-1

# With specific profile
aws eks update-kubeconfig --name cluster-name --profile production
```

### Cluster Info

```bash
aws eks describe-cluster --name cluster-name
```

## CloudWatch Logs

### List Log Groups

```bash
aws logs describe-log-groups \
  --query 'logGroups[].logGroupName'
```

### Tail Logs

```bash
# Tail logs (requires awslogs or use CloudWatch Insights)
aws logs tail /aws/lambda/function-name --follow

# Get recent logs
aws logs get-log-events \
  --log-group-name /aws/lambda/function-name \
  --log-stream-name 'stream-name' \
  --limit 50
```

### Search Logs (Insights)

```bash
# Start query
aws logs start-query \
  --log-group-name /aws/lambda/function-name \
  --start-time $(date -d '1 hour ago' +%s) \
  --end-time $(date +%s) \
  --query-string 'fields @timestamp, @message | filter @message like /ERROR/ | limit 20'

# Get results (use query-id from above)
aws logs get-query-results --query-id "query-id-here"
```

## IAM

### Current User/Role

```bash
aws sts get-caller-identity
```

### List Users/Roles

```bash
# Users
aws iam list-users --query 'Users[].[UserName,CreateDate]' --output table

# Roles
aws iam list-roles --query 'Roles[].[RoleName,CreateDate]' --output table
```

### Check Permissions

```bash
# Simulate policy
aws iam simulate-principal-policy \
  --policy-source-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789:user/myuser \
  --action-names s3:GetObject \
  --resource-arns arn:aws:s3:::bucket-name/*
```

## Lambda

### List Functions

```bash
aws lambda list-functions \
  --query 'Functions[].[FunctionName,Runtime,LastModified]' \
  --output table
```

### Invoke Function

```bash
# Invoke
aws lambda invoke \
  --function-name my-function \
  --payload '{"key": "value"}' \
  response.json

# View response
cat response.json
```

### View Logs

```bash
aws logs tail /aws/lambda/my-function --follow
```

## RDS

### List Databases

```bash
aws rds describe-db-instances \
  --query 'DBInstances[].[DBInstanceIdentifier,DBInstanceStatus,Engine,DBInstanceClass]' \
  --output table
```

### Database Status

```bash
aws rds describe-db-instances \
  --db-instance-identifier my-database
```

## Cost & Billing

### Quick Cost Check

```bash
# Month-to-date costs
aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
  --time-period Start=$(date -d "$(date +%Y-%m-01)" +%Y-%m-%d),End=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) \
  --granularity MONTHLY \
  --metrics BlendedCost \
  --query 'ResultsByTime[].Total.BlendedCost'
```

### Cost by Service

```bash
aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
  --time-period Start=$(date -d "$(date +%Y-%m-01)" +%Y-%m-%d),End=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) \
  --granularity MONTHLY \
  --metrics BlendedCost \
  --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE \
  --query 'ResultsByTime[].Groups[].[Keys[0],Metrics.BlendedCost.Amount]' \
  --output table
```

## Troubleshooting

### Common Issues

| Issue | Check | Command |
|-------|-------|---------|
| Access Denied | IAM permissions | `aws sts get-caller-identity` |
| Resource not found | Region mismatch | `aws configure get region` |
| Rate limiting | API throttling | Add `--debug` flag |
| Credential issues | Profile/env vars | `aws configure list` |

### Debug Mode

```bash
# Verbose output
aws s3 ls --debug 2>&1 | head -50
```

## Quick Reference

```bash
# EC2: List running instances
aws ec2 describe-instances --filters "Name=instance-state-name,Values=running" --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' --output table

# S3: Bucket sizes
aws s3api list-buckets --query 'Buckets[].Name' --output text | xargs -I {} sh -c 'echo -n "{}: "; aws s3 ls s3://{} --recursive --summarize 2>/dev/null | tail -1'

# Lambda: Recent errors
aws logs tail /aws/lambda/FUNCTION --since 1h --filter-pattern "ERROR"

# Costs: This month
aws ce get-cost-and-usage --time-period Start=$(date +%Y-%m-01),End=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) --granularity MONTHLY --metrics BlendedCost
```

## Related Skills

- **cost-optimization**: For detailed cost analysis
- **terraform-workflow**: For IaC management
- **incident-response**: For AWS-related incidents