AWS CLI Cheat Sheet 2026 — Quick Command Reference

AWS CLI Cheat Sheet is the complete quick-reference of AWS CLI commands grouped by function. Copy any command with one click and find what you need with Ctrl+F in under 3 seconds.

Command Sections

Pick a section — each is a focused, verified cheat sheet:

IAM & Authentication (6 commands)
EC2 & Instances (12 commands)
S3 & Storage (12 commands)
Lambda & Serverless (7 commands)
EKS & Kubernetes (8 commands)
CloudFormation (7 commands)
Cleanup & Prune (4 commands)

Cross-Cloud Equivalents (AWS · Azure · GCP)

Translate the same task between the three major clouds. Searchable with the filter above.

Action	AWS CLI	Azure CLI	gcloud
List compute instances	`aws ec2 describe-instances`	`az vm list`	`gcloud compute instances list`
Create storage bucket/container	`aws s3 mb s3://my-bucket`	`az storage container create --account-name mystorageaccount --name mycontainer`	`gcloud storage buckets create gs://my-bucket`
List IAM users	`aws iam list-users`	`az ad user list`	`gcloud iam service-accounts list`
List IAM roles	`aws iam list-roles`	`az role definition list`	`gcloud iam roles list`
Get cluster credentials	`aws eks update-kubeconfig --name my-cluster`	`az aks get-credentials --resource-group my-rg --name my-aks-cluster`	`gcloud container clusters get-credentials my-gke-cluster --zone us-central1-a`
View logs	`aws logs describe-log-groups`	`az monitor activity-log list`	`gcloud logging logs list`
Delete resource group/stack	`aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name my-stack`	`az group delete --name my-resource-group --yes`	`gcloud deployment-manager deployments delete my-deployment`
List storage buckets	`aws s3 ls`	`az storage container list --account-name mystorageaccount`	`gcloud storage buckets list`
List Kubernetes clusters	`aws eks list-clusters`	`az aks list`	`gcloud container clusters list`
Describe a virtual machine	`aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids i-1234567890abcdef0`	`az vm show --resource-group my-rg --name my-vm`	`gcloud compute instances describe my-instance --zone us-central1-a`

⚠️ Dangerous / Destructive Commands

These commands are irreversible. Verify your environment (dev/staging vs prod) before running them.

Action	Command	Warning
⚠️ Eks delete-cluster	`aws eks delete-cluster --name <cluster_name>`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Cloudformation delete-stack	`aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name mystack`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Cloudformation delete-stack	`aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name my-stack`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Ec2 delete-volume	`aws ec2 delete-volume --volume-id vol-0abcd1234efgh5678`	Irreversible — verify the target before running
⚠️ Cloudformation delete-stack	`aws cloudformation delete-stack --stack-name my-stack`	Irreversible — verify the target before running

FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between IAM & Authentication and EC2 & Instances?

Each group in this AWS CLI cheat sheet covers a distinct area. IAM & Authentication focuses on its specific scope, while EC2 & Instances and the remaining groups cover networking, storage, security and diagnostics respectively.

How do I check the installed AWS CLI version?

Run the version command (usually aws version or aws --version). The output shows the client and, when applicable, the server version.

Why does AWS CLI return ‘permission denied’?

A ‘permission denied’ error in AWS CLI usually means the current user lacks sufficient privileges or credentials are not configured. Check: (1) assigned IAM/RBAC roles, (2) an active authentication context via the corresponding login command.

How do I filter AWS CLI output by status or name?

Use flags such as --filter, --selector or --query depending on the tool. You can also pipe into grep or jq to process JSON:

aws list | grep RUNNING

What is the fastest way to debug a AWS CLI error?

Add the verbose flag (--verbose, -v or --debug) to the failing command. This reveals the underlying HTTP/API calls and the full error response body.

Official sources & references

Commands cross-checked against vendor documentation and high-authority repositories: