AWS
Manage AWS infrastructure and services.
MCP Tools with Fallbacks
Prefer MCP tools (mcp__aws__*) when available. If MCP tools are not available (tool not found errors), fall back to the aws CLI.
| Operation | MCP Tool | CLI Fallback |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Search documentation | mcp__aws__aws___search_documentation | N/A (no CLI equivalent) |
| Read documentation page | mcp__aws__aws___read_documentation | N/A |
| Execute API call | mcp__aws__aws___call_aws | aws <service> <command> |
| List resources | mcp__aws__aws___call_aws | aws <service> list-* / aws <service> describe-* |
| List regions | mcp__aws__aws___list_regions | aws ec2 describe-regions |
| Regional availability | mcp__aws__aws___get_regional_availability | N/A |
The AWS MCP server provides access to 15,000+ AWS APIs. The aws CLI provides equivalent access for all services.
Common CLI examples:
# EC2
aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].{ID:InstanceId,State:State.Name,Type:InstanceType}'
# S3
aws s3 ls
aws s3 ls s3://bucket-name/
# Lambda
aws lambda list-functions --query 'Functions[].FunctionName'
# CloudWatch (BSD/GNU date — works on macOS and Linux)
START_TS="$(date -u -v-1H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S 2>/dev/null || date -u -d '1 hour ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S)"
aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics --namespace AWS/EC2 --metric-name CPUUtilization --period 3600 --statistics Average --start-time "$START_TS" --end-time "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S)"
# RDS
aws rds describe-db-instances --query 'DBInstances[].{ID:DBInstanceIdentifier,Status:DBInstanceStatus,Engine:Engine}'
Note: The aws CLI requires credentials via aws configure or env vars (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_REGION). Set AWS_PROFILE to select a specific named profile (e.g., export AWS_PROFILE=production). Both the MCP server and CLI respect this variable. If any MCP call or CLI command fails, exits non-zero, or returns output that does not parse, stop, report the exact error text to the user, and never present an empty or partial result as an answer — do not retry or substitute another region, profile or command.
Usage
- Understand the request — What service and operation? (EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS, etc.)
- Execute — Use MCP tools (preferred) or CLI fallback
- Present results — Format resource info clearly with IDs, statuses, and regions
Important Rules
- Never create, modify, or delete resources without user confirmation
- Cost awareness — Warn before operations that incur costs (launching instances, creating resources)
- Region awareness — Always specify or confirm the AWS region
- Use
--querywith CLI — Filter output with JMESPath to avoid overwhelming results