aws-shell 0.2.1

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

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.

Auto Completion of Commands and Options

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

Shorthand Auto Completion

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

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.

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.

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.

Fish-Style Auto Suggestions

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

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.

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.

Dot Commands

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

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

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

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