🚀 5 Essential AWS CLI Scripts Every DevOps Engineer Should Know ☁️

If you’re a DevOps engineer or cloud enthusiast, automating AWS tasks is a must. The AWS CLI allows you to manage your infrastructure directly from the terminal — saving time ⏱️, reducing errors ❌, and enabling repeatable workflows 🔁.

Here are 5 essential AWS CLI scripts with explanations, emojis, and example outputs — perfect for real-world DevOps workflows.

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1️⃣ Launch an EC2 Instance 🖥️

Quickly spin up servers for development, testing, or production:

#!/bin/bash

AMI="ami-09c813fb71547fc4f"
TYPE="t2.micro"
SG="sg-07c8acf3fa6b923fa"
KEY="my-key"

INSTANCE_ID=$(aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id $AMI \
  --instance-type $TYPE \
  --security-group-ids $SG \
  --key-name $KEY \
  --tag-specifications "ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=DevServer}]" \
  --query "Instances[0].InstanceId" \
  --output text)

echo "🚀 Launched instance: $INSTANCE_ID"

🔍 What This Script Does:

• aws ec2 run-instances → Launches a new EC2 instance with the specified AMI, instance type, security group, and key pair.

• --tag-specifications → Tags the instance with a name (DevServer) for easy identification.

• --query "Instances[0].InstanceId" → Extracts only the Instance ID from the JSON output.

• --output text → Formats output as plain text for use in scripts.📊 Example Output:

🚀 Launched instance: i-0a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8

✅ Use case: Automate provisioning of development or test servers.

---

2️⃣ List All Running Instances 📋

Check which instances are active in your AWS account:

#!/bin/bash

aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=instance-state-name,Values=running" \
  --query "Reservations[*].Instances[*].{ID:InstanceId,Name:Tags[?Key=='Name']|[0].Value,IP:PrivateIpAddress}" \
  --output table

🔍 What This Script Does:

• describe-instances → Lists all EC2 instances.

• --filters "Name=instance-state-name,Values=running" → Only shows instances that are currently running.

• --query ... → Extracts Instance ID, Name tag, and Private IP.

• --output table → Displays results in a clean table format.

📊 Example Output:

----------------------------------------------
|             DescribeInstances              |
+----------------------+------------+--------+
|          ID          |   Name     |   IP   |
+----------------------+------------+--------+
| i-0a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8  | DevServer  | 10.0.1.25 |
| i-0a2b3c4d5e6f7g8h9  | TestServer | 10.0.1.30 |
+----------------------+------------+--------+

✅ Use case: Quick monitoring without logging into the AWS console.

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3️⃣ Start or Stop an Instance by Name ⏯️

Control instance state with a single command:

#!/bin/bash
NAME=$1

INSTANCE_ID=$(aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=tag:Name,Values=$NAME" \
  --query "Reservations[0].Instances[0].InstanceId" \
  --output text)

STATE=$(aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --instance-ids $INSTANCE_ID \
  --query "Reservations[0].Instances[0].State.Name" \
  --output text)

if [ "$STATE" == "running" ]; then
  aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids $INSTANCE_ID
  echo "🛑 Stopped $NAME"
else
  aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids $INSTANCE_ID
  echo "▶️ Started $NAME"
fi

🔍 What This Script Does:

• Gets the Instance ID for the server with the specified name tag.

• Checks the current state (running or stopped) of the instance.

• Starts it if stopped, stops it if running using start-instances or stop-instances.

📊 Example Output:

▶️ Started DevServer
🛑 Stopped TestServer

✅ Use case: Save costs by automatically stopping dev servers after work hours.

---

4️⃣ Count Running EC2 Instances 🔢

Quickly check how many servers are active:

#!/bin/bash

COUNT=$(aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=instance-state-name,Values=running" \
  --query "length(Reservations[].Instances[])" \
  --output text)

echo "📊 Running EC2 instances: $COUNT"

🔍 What This Script Does:

• Counts all instances in the running state using length() in the query.

• --output text makes it easy to print or use in other scripts.

📊 Example Output:

📊 Running EC2 instances: 3

✅ Use case: Monitor infrastructure usage or include in automated reports.

---

5️⃣ Terminate All Stopped Instances 🗑️

Clean up unused resources and reduce costs:

#!/bin/bash

STOPPED=$(aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters "Name=instance-state-name,Values=stopped" \
  --query "Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceId" \
  --output text)

if [ -n "$STOPPED" ]; then
  aws ec2 terminate-instances --instance-ids $STOPPED
  echo "🗑 Terminated stopped instances: $STOPPED"
else
  echo "✅ No stopped instances to terminate."
fi

🔍 What This Script Does:

• describe-instances → Gets all stopped instances.

• terminate-instances → Permanently deletes them to free up resources.

• if [ -n "$STOPPED" ] → Checks if there are any stopped instances before trying to terminate.

📊 Example Output:

🗑 Terminated stopped instances: i-0a2b3c4d5e6f7g8h9
✅ No stopped instances to terminate.

✅ Use case: Prevent forgotten instances from accumulating costs in dev/test environments.

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💡 Why These Scripts Matter for DevOps

• ⚡ Automation: Reduce repetitive manual clicks.

• 📊 Monitoring: Quickly check infrastructure status.

• 💸 Cost Control: Stop or terminate idle instances automatically.

• 🔁 Repeatability: Ensure consistent environments for testing or production.

• 🚀 Efficiency: Combine multiple scripts for CI/CD workflows.

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🚀 Pro Tips

1. Use variables for AMI IDs, security groups, and regions.

2. Use --query and --output text for clean, script-friendly outputs.

3. Always use IAM roles or profiles instead of hardcoding credentials.

4. Add sleep if your scripts depend on instance readiness.

5. Use tables and emojis in outputs for clarity and readability.

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💡 Automating AWS tasks with CLI scripts is a game-changer for DevOps teams. Start small, combine scripts, and soon you’ll manage entire environments with just a few commands!

🌸 That’s a Wrap! Stay tuned for the next Learning Drop 💧

• Thanks for joining me on this little journey ✨.

  I’ll keep sharing my notes, and learnings — one page at a time 📓☕.

• 🌱 Peek into my GitHub for more shell scripts

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  🔍Check out my Google Drive Notes