aws-shell - The interactive productivity booster for the AWS CLI

.. image:: https://aws-developer-blog-media.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/cli/Super-Charge-Your-AWS-Command-Line-Experience-with-aws-shell/aws-shell-final.gif

Installation

The aws-shell requires python and pip_ to install.
You can install the aws-shell using pip_::

$ pip install aws-shell

If you are not installing into a virtualenv you can run::

$ sudo pip install aws-shell

Mac OS X (10.11 El Capitan) users: There is a known issue with Apple and
its included python package dependencies (more info at
https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/3165).
We are investigating ways to fix this issue but in the meantime,
to install the aws-shell, you can run:
sudo pip install aws-shell --upgrade --ignore-installed six

Once you've installed the aws-shell, you can now run::

$ aws-shell

To exit the shell, press Ctrl-D.

Upgrading the aws-shell

If you want to upgrade to the latest version of the aws-shell,
you can run::

$ pip install --upgrade aws-shell

You can also use this upgrade command whenever a new version of the AWS CLI is
released that includes new services and API updates. You will then be
able to use these new services and API updates in the aws-shell.

Supported Python Versions

The aws-shell works on the same python versions supported by the AWS CLI:

• 2.6.5 and greater
• 2.7.x and greater
• 3.3.x and greater
• 3.4.x and greater

Configuration

The aws-shell uses the same configuration settings as the AWS CLI.
If you've never used the AWS CLI before, the easiest way to get
started is to run the configure command::

$ aws-shell
aws> configure
AWS Access Key ID [None]: your-access-key-id
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: your-secret-access-key
Default region name [None]: region-to-use (e.g us-west-2, us-west-1, etc).
Default output format [None]:
aws>

For more information about configure settings, see the
AWS CLI Getting Started Guide_.

Basic Usage

The aws-shell accepts the same commands as the AWS CLI, except you don't
need to provide the aws prefix. For example, here are a few commands
you can try::

$ aws-shell
aws> ec2 describe-regions
{
    "Regions": [
        {
            "Endpoint": "ec2.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com",
            "RegionName": "eu-west-1"
        },
        ...
aws> s3 ls
2015-12-07 15:03:34 bucket1
2015-12-07 15:03:34 bucket2
aws> dynamodb list-tables --output text
TABLENAMES     First
TABLENAMES     Second
TABLENAMES     Third

Profiles

The aws-shell supports AWS CLI profiles. You have two options to use
profiles. First, you can provide a profile when you start the aws-shell::

$ aws-shell --profile prod
aws>

When you do this all the server side completion as well as CLI commands
you run will automatically use the prod profile.

You can also change the current profile while you're in the aws-shell::

$ aws-shell
aws> .profile demo
Current shell profile changed to: demo

You can also check what profile you've configured in the aws-shell using::

aws> .profile
Current shell profile: demo

After changing your profile using the .profile dot command, all
server side completion as well as CLI commands will automatically use
the new profile you've configured.

Features

Auto Completion of Commands and Options

The aws-shell provides auto completion of commands and
options as you type.

.. image:: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/368057/11824078/784a613e-a32c-11e5-8ac5-f1d1873cc643.png

Shorthand Auto Completion

The aws-shell can also fill in an example of the
shorthand syntax used for various AWS CLI options:

.. image:: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/368057/11823453/e95d85da-a328-11e5-8b8d-67566eccf9e3.png

Server Side Auto Completion

The aws-shell also leverages boto3_, the AWS SDK for Python, to auto complete
server side resources such as Amazon EC2 instance Ids, Amazon Dynamodb table
names, AWS IAM user names, Amazon S3 bucket names, etc.

This feature is under active development. The list of supported resources
continues to grow.

.. image:: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/368057/11824022/3648b4fc-a32c-11e5-8e18-92f028eb1cee.png

Fuzzy Searching

Every auto completion value supports fuzzy searching. This enables you to
specify the commands, options, and values you want to run with even less
typing. You can try typing:

• The first letter of each sub word: ec2 describe-reserved-instances-offerings
  -> ec2 drio
• A little bit of each word: ec2 describe-instances -> ec2 descinst
• Any part of the command: dynamodb table -> Offers all commands that
  contain the subsequence table.

.. image:: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/368057/11823996/18e69d16-a32c-11e5-80a2-defbaa6a8a80.png

Inline Documentation

The aws-shell will automatically pull up documentation as you type commands.
It will show inline documentation for CLI options. There is also a separate
documentation panel that will show documentation for the current command or
option you are typing. Pressing F9 will toggle focus to the documentation panel
allowing you to navigate it using your selected keybindings.

.. image:: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/368057/11823320/36ae9b04-a328-11e5-9661-81abfc0afe5a.png

Fish-Style Auto Suggestions

The aws-shell supports Fish-style auto-suggestions. Use the right arrow key to
complete a suggestion.

.. image:: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/368057/11822961/4bceff94-a326-11e5-87fa-c664e1e82be4.png

Command History

The aws-shell records the commands you run and writes them to
~/.aws/shell/history. You can use the up and down arrow keys to scroll
through your history.

.. image:: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/368057/11823211/b5851e9a-a327-11e5-877f-687dc1f90e27.png

Toolbar Options

The aws-shell has a bottom toolbar that provides several options:

• F2 toggles between fuzzy and substring matching
• F3 toggles between VI and Emacs key bindings
• F4 toggles between single and multi column auto completions
• F5 shows and hides the help documentation pane
• F9 toggles focus between the cli and documentation pane
• F10 or Ctrl-D exits the aws-shell

As you toggle options in the toolbar, your preferences are persisted
to the ~/.aws/shell/awsshellrc file so that the next time you run
the aws-shell, your preferences will be restored.

.. image:: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/368057/11823907/8c3f1e60-a32b-11e5-9f99-fe504ea0a5dc.png

Dot Commands

The aws-shell provides additional commands specific to the aws-shell.
The commands are available by adding the . prefix before a command.

Exiting the Shell

You can run the ``.exit`` or ``.quit`` commands to exit the shell.

Creating Shell Scripts with .edit

There are times when you may want to take a sequence of commands
you've run in the aws-shell and combine them into a shell script.
In addition to the command history that's persisted to the
history file, the aws-shell also keeps track of all the commands
you've run since you first started your aws-shell session.

You can run the .edit command to open all these commands in
an editor. The aws-shell will use the EDITOR environment
variable before defaulting to notepad on Windows and
vi on other platforms.

::

aws> ec2 describe-instances
aws> dynamodb list-tables
aws> .edit

Changing Profiles with .profile

You can change the current AWS CLI profile used by the aws-shell
by using the ``.profile`` dot command.  If you run the ``.profile``
command with no arguments, the currently configured shell profile
will be printed.

::

    aws> .profile demo
    Current shell profile changed to: demo
    aws> .profile
    Current shell profile: demo


.cd
~~~

You can change the current working directory of the aws-shell by using
the ``.cd`` command::

    aws> !pwd
    /usr
    aws> .cd /tmp
    aws> !pwd
    /tmp


Executing Shell Commands
------------------------

The aws-shell integrates with other commands in several ways.
First, you can pipe AWS CLI commands to other processes as well
as redirect output to a file::

    aws> dynamodb list-tables --output text, head -n 1
    TABLENAMES     First
    aws> dynamodb list-tables --output text > /tmp/foo.txt

Second, if you want to run a shell command rather than an AWS CLI
command, you can add the ``!`` prefix to your command::

    aws> !ls /tmp/
    foo.txt                                    bar.txt

Developer Preview Status
========================

The aws-shell is currently in developer preview.
We welcome feedback, feature requests, and bug reports.
There may be backwards incompatible changes made in order
to respond to customer feedback as we continue to iterate
on the aws-shell.


More Information
================

Below are miscellaneous links for more information:

* `AWS CLI Reference Docs`_
* `AWS CLI User Guide`_
* `AWS CLI Blog`_
* `AWS CLI Github Repo`_

.. _pip: http://www.pip-installer.org/en/latest/
.. _AWS CLI Getting Started Guide: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-started.html
.. _boto3: https://github.com/boto/boto3
.. _AWS CLI Reference Docs: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/
.. _AWS CLI User Guide: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/
.. _AWS CLI Blog: https://blogs.aws.amazon.com/cli/
.. _AWS CLI Github Repo: https://github.com/aws/aws-cli