aws-resource-query

✓ Official★ 36,202

by github · part of github/awesome-copilot

Query AWS resources using natural language. Covers EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, ECS, EKS, Secrets Manager, IAM, VPC, networking, messaging, and more. Strictly read-only — no writes, deletes, or mutations.

🧩 One of 7 skills in the github/awesome-copilot package — works on its own, and pairs well with its siblings.

This is the playbook your agent receives when the skill activates — you don't need to read it to use the skill, but it's here to audit before installing.

AWS Resource Query

Answer natural language questions about AWS resources by translating intent into read-only AWS CLI commands. This skill never runs commands that create, modify, or delete resources.

Safety Contract

STRICTLY READ-ONLY. This skill exclusively uses:

aws <service> describe-*
aws <service> list-*
aws <service> get-*
aws sts get-caller-identity
aws configure get
aws resourcegroupstaggingapi get-resources
aws ce get-*
aws support describe-*

NEVER run any of the following, regardless of what the user asks: create-*, run-*, start-*, stop-*, reboot-*, delete-*, terminate-*, put-*, update-*, modify-*, attach-*, detach-*, send-*, publish-*, invoke-*, execute-*

If the user's query implies a write action, respond:

"This skill is read-only. I can show you the current state of [resource], but I cannot [create/modify/delete] it. Would you like to see what currently exists?"

Workflow

Step 1: Parse Intent

Identify: target service(s), scope (all / filtered / specific), detail level, and region.

Step 2: Confirm Account & Region

aws sts get-caller-identity --query '{Account:Account,UserId:UserId}'
aws configure get region

Append --region <region> to all commands when the user specifies one.

Step 3: Execute & Format

Run the matched read-only command(s) below and format results as a readable table. For large result sets show a count first and offer to filter further.

Intent → Command Mapping

COMPUTE

EC2 Instances

# "list EC2 instances" / "show my VMs" / "what instances are running"
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,InstanceType,State.Name,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0],PrivateIpAddress,PublicIpAddress]' \
  --output table

# "running instances only"
aws ec2 describe-instances --filters Name=instance-state-name,Values=running \
  --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,InstanceType,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0],PrivateIpAddress]' \
  --output table

# "stopped instances"
aws ec2 describe-instances --filters Name=instance-state-name,Values=stopped \
  --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].[InstanceId,InstanceType,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' \
  --output table

# "instance types in use"
aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceType' --output text | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

# "auto scaling groups" / "ASGs"
aws autoscaling describe-auto-scaling-groups \
  --query 'AutoScalingGroups[].[AutoScalingGroupName,MinSize,MaxSize,DesiredCapacity]' --output table

# "elastic IPs" / "EIPs"
aws ec2 describe-addresses \
  --query 'Addresses[].[PublicIp,InstanceId,AllocationId,AssociationId]' --output table

# "key pairs"
aws ec2 describe-key-pairs \
  --query 'KeyPairs[].[KeyName,CreateTime]' --output table

# "AMIs I own"
aws ec2 describe-images --owners self \
  --query 'Images[].[ImageId,Name,CreationDate,State]' --output table

# "spot instances"
aws ec2 describe-spot-instance-requests \
  --query 'SpotInstanceRequests[].[SpotInstanceRequestId,State,InstanceId,LaunchSpecification.InstanceType]' --output table

Lambda Functions

# "list Lambda functions" / "show serverless functions"
aws lambda list-functions \
  --query 'Functions[].[FunctionName,Runtime,MemorySize,Timeout,LastModified]' --output table

# "Lambda function details for <name>"
aws lambda get-function-configuration --function-name <name>

# "Lambda event source mappings" / "Lambda triggers"
aws lambda list-event-source-mappings \
  --query 'EventSourceMappings[].[FunctionArn,EventSourceArn,State,BatchSize]' --output table

# "Lambda layers"
aws lambda list-layers \
  --query 'Layers[].[LayerName,LatestMatchingVersion.LayerVersionArn]' --output table

# "Lambda concurrency for <name>"
aws lambda get-function-concurrency --function-name <name>

ECS

# "ECS clusters"
aws ecs list-clusters --query 'clusterArns' --output table

# "ECS cluster details"
aws ecs describe-clusters \
  --clusters $(aws ecs list-clusters --query 'clusterArns[]' --output text) \
  --query 'clusters[].[clusterName,status,runningTasksCount,activeServicesCount]' --output table

# "ECS services in <cluster>"
aws ecs describe-services --cluster <cluster> \
  --services $(aws ecs list-services --cluster <cluster> --query 'serviceArns[]' --output text) \
  --query 'services[].[serviceName,status,runningCount,desiredCount]' --output table

# "ECS task definitions"
aws ecs list-task-definitions --query 'taskDefinitionArns' --output table

EKS

# "EKS clusters" / "Kubernetes clusters"
aws eks list-clusters --query 'clusters' --output table

# "EKS cluster details for <name>"
aws eks describe-cluster --name <name> \
  --query 'cluster.[name,status,version,endpoint]'

# "EKS node groups for <cluster>"
aws eks list-nodegroups --cluster-name <name> --query 'nodegroups' --output table

# "EKS add-ons for <cluster>"
aws eks list-addons --cluster-name <name> --query 'addons' --output table

Other Compute

# "Beanstalk environments"
aws elasticbeanstalk describe-environments \
  --query 'Environments[].[EnvironmentName,ApplicationName,Status,Health]' --output table

# "Batch job queues"
aws batch describe-job-queues \
  --query 'jobQueues[].[jobQueueName,state,status,priority]' --output table

# "Batch compute environments"
aws batch describe-compute-environments \
  --query 'computeEnvironments[].[computeEnvironmentName,type,state,status]' --output table

STORAGE

S3

# "list S3 buckets" / "show my buckets"
aws s3api list-buckets --query 'Buckets[].[Name,CreationDate]' --output table

# "S3 bucket encryption for <name>"
aws s3api get-bucket-encryption --bucket <name>

# "S3 bucket versioning for <name>"
aws s3api get-bucket-versioning --bucket <name>

# "S3 public access settings for <name>"
aws s3api get-public-access-block --bucket <name>

# "S3 lifecycle rules for <name>"
aws s3api get-bucket-lifecycle-configuration --bucket <name>

# "S3 bucket policy for <name>"
aws s3api get-bucket-policy --bucket <name>

# "list objects in s3://<bucket>/<prefix>"
aws s3api list-objects-v2 --bucket <bucket> --prefix <prefix> \
  --query 'Contents[].[Key,Size,LastModified,StorageClass]' --output table

EBS & EFS

# "EBS volumes" / "list volumes"
aws ec2 describe-volumes \
  --query 'Volumes[].[VolumeId,Size,VolumeType,State,AvailabilityZone,Attachments[0].InstanceId]' --output table

# "unattached EBS volumes" / "unused volumes"
aws ec2 describe-volumes --filters Name=status,Values=available \
  --query 'Volumes[].[VolumeId,Size,VolumeType,CreateTime]' --output table

# "EBS snapshots I own"
aws ec2 describe-snapshots --owner-ids self \
  --query 'Snapshots[].[SnapshotId,VolumeId,State,StartTime]' --output table

# "EFS file systems"
aws efs describe-file-systems \
  --query 'FileSystems[].[FileSystemId,Name,LifeCycleState,SizeInBytes.Value,ThroughputMode]' --output table

DATABASES

RDS

# "list RDS instances" / "show databases" / "what databases do I have"
aws rds describe-db-instances \
  --query 'DBInstances[].[DBInstanceIdentifier,DBInstanceClass,Engine,EngineVersion,DBInstanceStatus,MultiAZ,Endpoint.Address]' \
  --output table

# "Aurora clusters" / "RDS clusters"
aws rds describe-db-clusters \
  --query 'DBClusters[].[DBClusterIdentifier,Engine,EngineVersion,Status,MultiAZ,Endpoint]' --output table

# "RDS snapshots"
aws rds describe-db-snapshots \
  --query 'DBSnapshots[].[DBSnapshotIdentifier,DBInstanceIdentifier,Engine,Status,SnapshotCreateTime]' --output table

# "RDS parameter groups"
aws rds describe-db-parameter-groups \
  --query 'DBParameterGroups[].[DBParameterGroupName,DBParameterGroupFamily]' --output table

# "RDS subnet groups"
aws rds describe-db-subnet-groups \
  --query 'DBSubnetGroups[].[DBSubnetGroupName,VpcId]' --output table

DynamoDB

# "DynamoDB tables" / "list NoSQL tables"
aws dynamodb list-tables --query 'TableNames' --output table

# "DynamoDB table details for <name>"
aws dynamodb describe-table --table-name <name> \
  --query 'Table.[TableName,TableStatus,ItemCount,BillingModeSummary.BillingMode]'

# "DynamoDB backups"
aws dynamodb list-backups \
  --query 'BackupSummaries[].[TableName,BackupName,BackupStatus,BackupCreationDateTime]' --output table

# "DynamoDB global tables"
aws dynamodb list-global-tables \
  --query 'GlobalTables[].[GlobalTableName,ReplicationGroup[].RegionName]' --output table

ElastiCache & Redshift

# "ElastiCache clusters" / "Redis clusters"
aws elasticache describe-cache-clusters \
  --query 'CacheClusters[].[CacheClusterId,Engine,EngineVersion,CacheNodeType,CacheClusterStatus]' --output table

# "ElastiCache replication groups"
aws elasticache describe-replication-groups \
  --query 'ReplicationGroups[].[ReplicationGroupId,Status,AutomaticFailover]' --output table

# "Redshift clusters" / "data warehouse"
aws redshift describe-clusters \
  --query 'Clusters[].[ClusterIdentifier,ClusterStatus,NodeType,NumberOfNodes,Endpoint.Address]' --output table

# "DocumentDB clusters"
aws docdb describe-db-clusters \
  --query 'DBClusters[].[DBClusterIdentifier,Status,Engine,Endpoint]' --output table

# "Neptune clusters" / "graph databases"
aws neptune describe-db-clusters \
  --query 'DBClusters[].[DBClusterIdentifier,Status,Engine,Endpoint]' --output table

NETWORKING

VPC & Subnets

# "list VPCs" / "show my VPCs"
aws ec2 describe-vpcs \
  --query 'Vpcs[].[VpcId,CidrBlock,IsDefault,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0],State]' --output table

# "subnets" / "list subnets"
aws ec2 describe-subnets \
  --query 'Subnets[].[SubnetId,VpcId,CidrBlock,AvailabilityZone,MapPublicIpOnLaunch,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' --output table

# "public subnets"
aws ec2 describe-subnets --filters "Name=mapPublicIpOnLaunch,Values=true" \
  --query 'Subnets[].[SubnetId,VpcId,CidrBlock,AvailabilityZone]' --output table

# "security groups"
aws ec2 describe-security-groups \
  --query 'SecurityGroups[].[GroupId,GroupName,VpcId,Description]' --output table

# "security group rules for <group-id>"
aws ec2 describe-security-group-rules --filters "Name=group-id,Values=<id>" \
  --query 'SecurityGroupRules[].[IsEgress,IpProtocol,FromPort,ToPort,CidrIpv4,Description]' --output table

# "route tables"
aws ec2 describe-route-tables \
  --query 'RouteTables[].[RouteTableId,VpcId,Associations[0].SubnetId,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' --output table

# "internet gateways" / "IGWs"
aws ec2 describe-internet-gateways \
  --query 'InternetGateways[].[InternetGatewayId,Attachments[0].VpcId,Tags[?Key==`Name`].Value|[0]]' --output table

# "NAT gateways"
aws ec2 describe-nat-gateways \
  --query 'NatGateways[].[NatGatewayId,VpcId,SubnetId,State,NatGatewayAddresses[0].PublicIp]' --output table

# "VPC endpoints"
aws ec2 describe-vpc-endpoints \
  --query 'VpcEndpoints[].[VpcEndpointId,VpcId,ServiceName,State,VpcEndpointType]' --output table

# "VPC peering connections"
aws ec2 describe-vpc-peering-connections \
  --query 'VpcPeeringConnections[].[VpcPeeringConnectionId,Status.Code,RequesterVpcInfo.VpcId,AccepterVpcInfo.VpcId]' --output table

# "NACLs" / "network ACLs"
aws ec2 describe-network-acls \
  --query 'NetworkAcls[].[NetworkAclId,VpcId,IsDefault]' --output table

# "Transit Gateways"
aws ec2 describe-transit-gateways \
  --query 'TransitGateways[].[TransitGatewayId,State,Description]' --output table

Load Balancers & DNS

# "load balancers" / "ALBs" / "NLBs"
aws elbv2 describe-load-balancers \
  --query 'LoadBalancers[].[LoadBalancerName,Type,Scheme,State.Code,DNSName]' --output table

# "target groups"
aws elbv2 describe-target-groups \
  --query 'TargetGroups[].[TargetGroupName,Protocol,Port,TargetType,VpcId]' --output table

# "target health for <target-group-arn>"
aws elbv2 describe-target-health --target-group-arn <arn> \
  --query 'TargetHealthDescriptions[].[Target.Id,TargetHealth.State,TargetHealth.Description]' --output table

# "Route 53 hosted zones" / "DNS zones"
aws route53 list-hosted-zones \
  --query 'HostedZones[].[Id,Name,Config.PrivateZone,ResourceRecordSetCount]' --output table

# "DNS records in zone <id>"
aws route53 list-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id <id> \
  --query 'ResourceRecordSets[].[Name,Type,TTL]' --output table

# "CloudFront distributions"
aws cloudfront list-distributions \
  --query 'DistributionList.Items[].[Id,DomainName,Status,Origins.Items[0].DomainName]' --output table

# "VPN connections"
aws ec2 describe-vpn-connections \
  --query 'VpnConnections[].[VpnConnectionId,State,Type,CustomerGatewayId]' --output table

# "Direct Connect connections"
aws directconnect describe-connections \
  --query 'connections[].[connectionId,connectionName,connectionState,bandwidth]' --output table

SECURITY & IDENTITY

IAM

# "IAM users" / "list users"
aws iam list-users \
  --query 'Users[].[UserName,UserId,CreateDate,PasswordLastUsed]' --output table

# "IAM roles" / "list roles"
aws iam list-roles \
  --query 'Roles[].[RoleName,RoleId,CreateDate]' --output table

# "IAM policies attached to role <name>"
aws iam list-attached-role-policies --role-name <name> \
  --query 'AttachedPolicies[].[PolicyName,PolicyArn]' --output table

# "IAM groups"
aws iam list-groups \
  --query 'Groups[].[GroupName,GroupId,CreateDate]' --output table

# "IAM policies (customer managed)"
aws iam list-policies --scope Local \
  --query 'Policies[].[PolicyName,AttachmentCount,CreateDate]' --output table

# "who has MFA enabled" / "MFA devices"
aws iam list-virtual-mfa-devices \
  --query 'VirtualMFADevices[].[SerialNumber,User.UserName,EnableDate]' --output table

# "IAM account password policy"
aws iam get-account-password-policy

# "IAM account summary"
aws iam get-account-summary

Secrets Manager

# "list secrets" / "Secrets Manager secrets" / "show secrets"
aws secretsmanager list-secrets \
  --query 'SecretList[].[Name,ARN,LastChangedDate,LastAccessedDate,Description]' --output table

# "secret metadata for <name>"
aws secretsmanager describe-secret --secret-id <name> \
  --query '{Name:Name,ARN:ARN,RotationEnabled:RotationEnabled,LastRotatedDate:LastRotatedDate,Tags:Tags}'

# "secrets with rotation enabled"
aws secretsmanager list-secrets \
  --query 'SecretList[?RotationEnabled==`true`].[Name,LastRotatedDate]' --output table

⚠️ Note: Secret values are never retrieved (get-secret-value is excluded). Only metadata is shown.

SSM Parameter Store

# "SSM parameters" / "Parameter Store"
aws ssm describe-parameters \
  --query 'Parameters[].[Name,Type,LastModifiedDate,Description]' --output table

# "SSM parameters by path <path>"
aws ssm describe-parameters \
  --parameter-filters "Key=Path,Values=<path>" \
  --query 'Parameters[].[Name,Type,LastModifiedDate]' --output table

⚠️ Note: Parameter values are never retrieved (get-parameter is excluded). Only metadata is shown.

KMS & Certificates

# "KMS keys" / "encryption keys"
aws kms list-keys --query 'Keys[].[KeyId,KeyArn]' --output table

# "KMS key details for <id>"
aws kms describe-key --key-id <id> \
  --query 'KeyMetadata.[KeyId,Description,KeyState,KeyUsage,CreationDate,Enabled]'

# "KMS aliases"
aws kms list-aliases \
  --query 'Aliases[].[AliasName,AliasArn,TargetKeyId]' --output table

# "SSL certificates" / "ACM certificates"
aws acm list-certificates \
  --query 'CertificateSummaryList[].[CertificateArn,DomainName,Status,RenewalEligibility]' --output table

# "certificate details for <arn>"
aws acm describe-certificate --certificate-arn <arn> \
  --query 'Certificate.[DomainName,Status,NotAfter,NotBefore,InUseBy]'

GuardDuty, Security Hub & Config

# "GuardDuty detectors"
aws guardduty list-detectors --query 'DetectorIds' --output table

# "GuardDuty findings"
aws guardduty list-findings --detector-id <id> --query 'FindingIds' --output table

# "Security Hub findings"
aws securityhub get-findings \
  --query 'Findings[].[Title,Severity.Label,WorkflowState,UpdatedAt]' --output table

# "AWS Config rules"
aws configservice describe-config-rules \
  --query 'ConfigRules[].[ConfigRuleName,ConfigRuleState,Source.SourceIdentifier]' --output table

# "non-compliant resources"
aws configservice get-compliance-summary-by-config-rule \
  --query 'ComplianceSummariesByConfigRule[].[ConfigRuleName,Compliance.ComplianceType]' --output table

MESSAGING & EVENTS

# "SQS queues" / "list queues"
aws sqs list-queues --query 'QueueUrls' --output table

# "SQS queue details / message count for <url>"
aws sqs get-queue-attributes --queue-url <url> \
  --attribute-names ApproximateNumberOfMessages,ApproximateNumberOfMessagesNotVisible,ApproximateAgeOfOldestMessage

# "SNS topics"
aws sns list-topics --query 'Topics[].TopicArn' --output table

# "SNS subscriptions"
aws sns list-subscriptions \
  --query 'Subscriptions[].[SubscriptionArn,Protocol,Endpoint,TopicArn]' --output table

# "EventBridge rules"
aws events list-rules \
  --query 'Rules[].[Name,State,ScheduleExpression,EventPattern]' --output table

# "EventBridge event buses"
aws events list-event-buses \
  --query 'EventBuses[].[Name,Arn]' --output table

# "Kinesis streams"
aws kinesis list-streams --query 'StreamNames' --output table

# "Kinesis Firehose delivery streams"
aws firehose list-delivery-streams --query 'DeliveryStreamNames' --output table

API GATEWAY & SERVERLESS

# "API Gateway APIs" / "REST APIs"
aws apigateway get-rest-apis \
  --query 'items[].[id,name,description,createdDate]' --output table

# "HTTP APIs" / "API Gateway v2"
aws apigatewayv2 get-apis \
  --query 'Items[].[ApiId,Name,ProtocolType,ApiEndpoint,CreatedDate]' --output table

# "Step Functions state machines" / "workflows"
aws stepfunctions list-state-machines \
  --query 'stateMachines[].[name,stateMachineArn,type,creationDate]' --output table

# "Step Functions executions for <arn>"
aws stepfunctions list-executions --state-machine-arn <arn> \
  --query 'executions[].[name,status,startDate,stopDate]' --output table

MONITORING & OBSERVABILITY

# "CloudWatch alarms" / "list alarms"
aws cloudwatch describe-alarms \
  --query 'MetricAlarms[].[AlarmName,StateValue,MetricName,Namespace,Threshold]' --output table

# "alarms in ALARM state" / "triggered alarms"
aws cloudwatch describe-alarms --state-value ALARM \
  --query 'MetricAlarms[].[AlarmName,MetricName,StateReason]' --output table

# "CloudWatch dashboards"
aws cloudwatch list-dashboards \
  --query 'DashboardEntries[].[DashboardName,LastModified,Size]' --output table

# "CloudWatch log groups"
aws logs describe-log-groups \
  --query 'logGroups[].[logGroupName,retentionInDays,storedBytes]' --output table

# "CloudTrail trails"
aws cloudtrail describe-trails \
  --query 'trailList[].[Name,S3BucketName,IsMultiRegionTrail,LogFileValidationEnabled]' --output table

# "ECR repositories" / "container registries"
aws ecr describe-repositories \
  --query 'repositories[].[repositoryName,repositoryUri,createdAt]' --output table

COST & BILLING

# "current month cost" / "how much am I spending"
aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
  --time-period Start=$(date -u +%Y-%m-01),End=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d) \
  --granularity MONTHLY --metrics BlendedCost \
  --query 'ResultsByTime[].[TimePeriod.Start,Total.BlendedCost.Amount,Total.BlendedCost.Unit]' \
  --output table

# "cost by service" / "spending breakdown"
aws ce get-cost-and-usage \
  --time-period Start=$(date -u -d '30 days ago' +%Y-%m-%d),End=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d) \
  --granularity MONTHLY --metrics BlendedCost \
  --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=SERVICE --output table

# "AWS Budgets"
aws budgets describe-budgets \
  --account-id $(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Account --output text) \
  --query 'Budgets[].[BudgetName,BudgetType,BudgetLimit.Amount,CalculatedSpend.ActualSpend.Amount]' \
  --output table

# "Trusted Advisor recommendations"
aws support describe-trusted-advisor-checks --language en \
  --query 'checks[].[id,name,category]' --output table

CROSS-SERVICE QUERIES

# "resources tagged Environment=production" / "all production resources"
aws resourcegroupstaggingapi get-resources \
  --tag-filters Key=Environment,Values=production \
  --query 'ResourceTagMappingList[].[ResourceARN]' --output table

# "all resources tagged <key>=<value>"
aws resourcegroupstaggingapi get-resources \
  --tag-filters Key=<key>,Values=<value> \
  --query 'ResourceTagMappingList[].[ResourceARN,Tags]' --output table

# "inventory of all resources" (AWS Config)
aws configservice list-discovered-resources --resource-type <type> \
  --query 'resourceIdentifiers[].[resourceType,resourceId,resourceName]' --output table

Output Formatting Rules

Always use --output table for list results; use --output json only when deep detail is explicitly requested
Always use --query to extract only relevant fields — never dump raw JSON
For large result sets (>20 items), show a count first, then offer to filter
When a command returns nothing, explain why (wrong region, no resources, insufficient permissions)
Offer to drill into a specific resource: "Found 47 EC2 instances. Filter by state, type, or tag?"

Error Handling

Error	Response
`AccessDenied`	"You don't have permission to list [resource]. Required: `<service>:<Action>`."
`NoCredentialProviders`	"Run `aws configure` or set `AWS_PROFILE`."
Empty result	"No [resources] found in [region]. Check another region?"
Invalid identifier	"Could not find '[name]'. Check the name or provide the resource ID."