AWS CLI Setup

The AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) is a unified tool to manage your AWS services from the command line.

Prerequisites

You'll need an AWS account and IAM credentials before configuring the CLI.

Installation

Install with Homebrew (Recommended)

brew install awscli

Or download the official installer:

Manual Installation

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/AWSCLIV2.pkg" -o "AWSCLIV2.pkg"
sudo installer -pkg AWSCLIV2.pkg -target /

Download and Install

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

For ARM-based systems:

ARM64 Installation

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-aarch64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip
sudo ./aws/install

MSI Installer

msiexec.exe /i https://awscli.amazonaws.com/AWSCLIV2.msi

Or download from the AWS CLI page.

Configuration

Run Configuration Wizard

Configure AWS CLI

aws configure

You'll be prompted for:

AWS Access Key ID: Your access key
AWS Secret Access Key: Your secret key
Default region name: e.g., us-east-1
Default output format: json, yaml, text, or table

Verify Configuration

Test Your Setup

aws sts get-caller-identity

Expected output:

Success Response

{
    "UserId": "AIDAEXAMPLEID",
    "Account": "123456789012",
    "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/username"
}

Named Profiles

Create multiple profiles for different environments:

Configure Named Profile

# Configure a named profile
aws configure --profile production

# Use a named profile
aws s3 ls --profile production

# Set default profile
export AWS_PROFILE=production

Configuration Files

AWS CLI stores configuration in two files:

config

credentials

~/.aws/credentials

[default]
aws_access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_KEY

[production]
aws_access_key_id = PROD_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key = PROD_SECRET_KEY

~/.aws/config

[default]
region = us-east-1
output = json

[profile production]
region = us-west-2
output = yaml

Security

Never commit AWS credentials to version control. Use environment variables or AWS profiles instead.

Verify Installation

Check Version

aws --version

Common Options

Option	Description
`--profile`	Use a specific profile
`--region`	Override the default region
`--output`	Output format (json, yaml, text, table)
`--query`	JMESPath query for filtering output
`--dry-run`	Check permissions without making changes

Environment Variables

Set Credentials via Environment

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-east-1"

Use a Specific Profile

export AWS_PROFILE="production"

Credential Precedence

AWS CLI uses credentials in this order: CLI options → Environment variables → Config files → Instance metadata (EC2/ECS).