AWS CLI Playbook

AWS CLI Playbook

Purpose

This skill provides canonical AWS CLI patterns for safe, effective AWS interactions. It covers discovery, planning, deployment, validation, and rollback patterns across major AWS services.

When to Use

• Discovering AWS resources and current state
• Planning AWS operations and changes
• Executing approved changes via CLI
• Validating changes and outcomes
• Rolling back failed or unwanted changes

When NOT to Use

• Production changes (use IaC via CI/CD instead)
• Complex multi-resource deployments (prefer CDK/Terraform)
• One-off scripts that should be IaC

Core Principles

1. Always Specify Profile and Region

# Always explicit - never rely on defaults
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --profile dev-admin \
  --region us-east-1

2. Use Output Formatting

# JSON for parsing
aws ec2 describe-instances --output json

# Table for human review
aws ec2 describe-instances --output table

# Text for scripting
aws ec2 describe-instances --output text

# JMESPath queries for specific data
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].[InstanceId,State.Name,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' \
  --output table

3. Use Dry Run When Available

# Test before execute
aws ec2 run-instances --dry-run ...
aws ec2 terminate-instances --dry-run ...

4. Capture Output for Validation

# Capture and verify
RESULT=$(aws ec2 run-instances ... --output json)
INSTANCE_ID=$(echo $RESULT | jq -r '.Instances[0].InstanceId')
echo "Created instance: $INSTANCE_ID"

Discovery Patterns

Identity and Access

# Who am I?
aws sts get-caller-identity --profile {profile}

# What permissions do I have? (simulate)
aws iam simulate-principal-policy \
  --policy-source-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/myuser \
  --action-names ec2:DescribeInstances ec2:RunInstances \
  --profile {profile}

# List my roles
aws iam list-roles --profile {profile}

EC2

# All instances
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Running instances only
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=instance-state-name,Values=running" \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Instances by tag
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=tag:Environment,Values=production" \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Instance summary table
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].[InstanceId,InstanceType,State.Name,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0],PrivateIpAddress]' \
  --output table \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

VPC and Networking

# All VPCs
aws ec2 describe-vpcs \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Subnets with details
aws ec2 describe-subnets \
  --query 'Subnets[*].[SubnetId,VpcId,CidrBlock,AvailabilityZone,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' \
  --output table \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Security groups
aws ec2 describe-security-groups \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Security groups with risky rules (0.0.0.0/0)
aws ec2 describe-security-groups \
  --query 'SecurityGroups[?IpPermissions[?IpRanges[?CidrIp==`0.0.0.0/0`]]].[GroupId,GroupName,Description]' \
  --output table \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

S3

# All buckets
aws s3 ls --profile {profile}

# Bucket details
aws s3api get-bucket-location --bucket {bucket} --profile {profile}
aws s3api get-bucket-versioning --bucket {bucket} --profile {profile}
aws s3api get-bucket-encryption --bucket {bucket} --profile {profile}
aws s3api get-public-access-block --bucket {bucket} --profile {profile}

# Bucket size (can be slow for large buckets)
aws s3 ls s3://{bucket} --recursive --summarize --profile {profile}

RDS

# All DB instances
aws rds describe-db-instances \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# DB instance summary
aws rds describe-db-instances \
  --query 'DBInstances[*].[DBInstanceIdentifier,DBInstanceClass,Engine,DBInstanceStatus]' \
  --output table \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# DB clusters (Aurora)
aws rds describe-db-clusters \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

Lambda

# All functions
aws lambda list-functions \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Function details
aws lambda get-function \
  --function-name {function-name} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Function summary
aws lambda list-functions \
  --query 'Functions[*].[FunctionName,Runtime,MemorySize,Timeout]' \
  --output table \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

IAM

# All users
aws iam list-users --profile {profile}

# All roles
aws iam list-roles \
  --query 'Roles[*].[RoleName,Arn,CreateDate]' \
  --output table \
  --profile {profile}

# Role policy
aws iam list-attached-role-policies --role-name {role} --profile {profile}
aws iam list-role-policies --role-name {role} --profile {profile}
aws iam get-role-policy --role-name {role} --policy-name {policy} --profile {profile}

CloudFormation

# All stacks
aws cloudformation list-stacks \
  --stack-status-filter CREATE_COMPLETE UPDATE_COMPLETE \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Stack details
aws cloudformation describe-stacks \
  --stack-name {stack} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Stack resources
aws cloudformation list-stack-resources \
  --stack-name {stack} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Stack events (useful for debugging)
aws cloudformation describe-stack-events \
  --stack-name {stack} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

Safe Mutation Patterns

EC2 Instance Management

# Start instance
aws ec2 start-instances \
  --instance-ids i-xxxxxxxxx \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Stop instance (data preserved)
aws ec2 stop-instances \
  --instance-ids i-xxxxxxxxx \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Terminate instance (DESTRUCTIVE)
aws ec2 terminate-instances \
  --instance-ids i-xxxxxxxxx \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}
# WARNING: Instance and non-persistent storage deleted

Security Group Rules

# Add ingress rule
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
  --group-id sg-xxxxxxxxx \
  --protocol tcp \
  --port 443 \
  --cidr 10.0.0.0/8 \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Remove ingress rule
aws ec2 revoke-security-group-ingress \
  --group-id sg-xxxxxxxxx \
  --protocol tcp \
  --port 22 \
  --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

S3 Operations

# Copy file
aws s3 cp local-file.txt s3://{bucket}/path/ --profile {profile}

# Sync directory
aws s3 sync ./local-dir s3://{bucket}/path/ --profile {profile}

# Delete object (DESTRUCTIVE)
aws s3 rm s3://{bucket}/path/file.txt --profile {profile}

# Delete bucket contents (VERY DESTRUCTIVE)
aws s3 rm s3://{bucket} --recursive --profile {profile}
# WARNING: All objects deleted, cannot be undone unless versioning enabled

Tags

# Add/update tags
aws ec2 create-tags \
  --resources i-xxxxxxxxx \
  --tags Key=Environment,Value=production Key=Owner,Value=platform-team \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Remove tags
aws ec2 delete-tags \
  --resources i-xxxxxxxxx \
  --tags Key=Temporary \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

IaC Deployment Patterns

CloudFormation

# Create stack
aws cloudformation create-stack \
  --stack-name {stack-name} \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --parameters ParameterKey=Environment,ParameterValue=dev \
  --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM \
  --tags Key=Environment,Value=dev \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Update stack (creates change set)
aws cloudformation create-change-set \
  --stack-name {stack-name} \
  --change-set-name {change-set-name} \
  --template-body file://template.yaml \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Review change set
aws cloudformation describe-change-set \
  --stack-name {stack-name} \
  --change-set-name {change-set-name} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Execute change set
aws cloudformation execute-change-set \
  --stack-name {stack-name} \
  --change-set-name {change-set-name} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Wait for completion
aws cloudformation wait stack-update-complete \
  --stack-name {stack-name} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

CDK

# Synthesize (preview CloudFormation)
cdk synth --profile {profile}

# Diff (show changes)
cdk diff --profile {profile}

# Deploy (with approval)
cdk deploy --profile {profile} --require-approval broadening

# Deploy specific stack
cdk deploy MyStack --profile {profile}

Terraform

# Initialize
terraform init

# Plan (preview)
terraform plan -var-file={env}.tfvars -out=plan.tfplan

# Apply plan
terraform apply plan.tfplan

# Apply with auto-approve (use with caution)
terraform apply -var-file={env}.tfvars -auto-approve

Rollback Patterns

CloudFormation Rollback

# Automatic rollback on failure (default)
# Stack returns to previous state

# Manual rollback via update
aws cloudformation update-stack \
  --stack-name {stack-name} \
  --use-previous-template \
  --parameters ParameterKey=SomeParam,UsePreviousValue=true \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Delete failed stack
aws cloudformation delete-stack \
  --stack-name {stack-name} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Cancel update in progress
aws cloudformation cancel-update-stack \
  --stack-name {stack-name} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

EC2 Recovery

# From snapshot (EBS)
aws ec2 create-volume \
  --snapshot-id snap-xxxxxxxxx \
  --availability-zone {az} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

# Restore from AMI
aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-xxxxxxxxx \
  --instance-type {type} \
  --profile {profile} \
  --region {region}

S3 Recovery

# List object versions (if versioning enabled)
aws s3api list-object-versions \
  --bucket {bucket} \
  --prefix {key} \
  --profile {profile}

# Restore previous version
aws s3api copy-object \
  --bucket {bucket} \
  --copy-source {bucket}/{key}?versionId={version-id} \
  --key {key} \
  --profile {profile}

Related Files

Detailed service-specific commands are in:

• commands/bedrock.md - Bedrock patterns (model access, inference, guardrails)
• commands/bedrock-agentcore.md - Bedrock AgentCore patterns (agent runtimes, identity, gateway)
• commands/cloudformation.md - CloudFormation patterns
• commands/ec2.md - EC2 patterns
• commands/ecs.md - ECS patterns
• commands/eks.md - EKS patterns
• commands/iam.md - IAM patterns
• commands/lambda.md - Lambda patterns
• commands/organizations.md - Organizations patterns
• commands/rds.md - RDS patterns
• commands/s3.md - S3 patterns
• commands/vpc.md - VPC/networking patterns

Related Skills

• aws-well-architected — Architectural alignment
• aws-governance-guardrails — Policy compliance
• aws-org-strategy — Multi-account context

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