AWS CLI: AWS CLI version 2. Tips and tricks. Part 1. Wizard
AWS on re:Invent 2020 announced many new features and enhancements to AWS CLI. In this post I will try to describe some Wizard features which boosts productivity:
Let us quickly remind ourselves about command structure:
Every command starts with (guess what ) — aws, followed by service, then operation and then by parameters.
However, not all of us are AWS CLI gurus, and re-reading documentation every time to add all necessary parameters significantly slows down the process. Here is a useful feature: AWS CLI wizard command.
In the example below I will create a new DynamoDB table
- aws dynamodb wizard returns a warning that I need to specify a subcommand:
- How can we figure out what subcommand to use? Imagine that I don’t know that the command is new-table, and I type create-table instead:
- As you can see it does not work, but AWS CLI returns a tip: valid choices are new-table
- Typing aws dynamodb wizard new-table, bring us to GUI:
- Look at that! It gives you all the necessary parameters to fill and asks for a Yes/No on optional parameters:
- Navigation is simple: Use Arrow keys, TAB, and SHIFT+TAB
- There are more Easter eggs though — Preview menu
- You can preview output as AWS CLI command or AWS CloudFormation YAML template.
The wizard feature is fantastic.
Please note:
- Not all services support wizard (for example Lightsail)- you will figure it out from the output
Note: DynamoDB option returns error with wizard available, while Lightsail does not.
In summary. The Wizard feature boosts productivity for beginners and gurus alike.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
