aws-cli-tui

Search-first terminal UI for AWS APIs. List, Get, and Describe operations can run today; every other Smithy operation remains searchable and is shown dimmed as unsupported.

The complete operation catalog is generated from the public aws/api-models-aws Smithy JSON AST. Users search across API and resource names with one fuzzy, typo-tolerant no-space token. Exact normalized matches rank first. AWS service names are not a navigation level; the resolved service appears on operation and resource detail views.

Demo

Click the animation to open the MP4. The screenshots and recording were captured with TUI Harness using synthetic AWS responses; they contain no customer or account data.

Fuzzy API search

Paginated List view

Focusable JSON detail

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or later
• AWS CLI v2 on PATH
• Configured AWS credentials

Install from GitHub

Install the packaged GitHub release:

npm install --global \
  https://github.com/jariy17/aws-cli-tui/releases/download/v0.1.1/aws-cli-tui-0.1.1.tgz

To install the latest main branch instead, force npm to materialize Git dependencies rather than linking its temporary checkout:

npm install --global --install-links github:jariy17/aws-cli-tui

If the project was previously installed with npm link, unlink that development installation once before switching:

npm unlink --global aws-cli-tui
npm install --global --install-links github:jariy17/aws-cli-tui

Then launch it with an AWS CLI profile and region:

awstui --profile my-profile --region us-west-2

The tool uses the AWS CLI's existing credential chain. Configure credentials first with aws configure, aws configure sso, or your usual profile setup.

Install from a clone

git clone https://github.com/jariy17/aws-cli-tui.git
cd aws-cli-tui
npm ci
npm link

awstui --profile my-profile --region us-west-2

To run without creating a global link:

npm start -- --profile my-profile --region us-west-2

Type a no-space search such as agentruntime, listagentruntimes, tables, or buckets. Typos and abbreviated subsequences such as agentruntmie or agntrntm are supported.

The search view uses the same flat table layout as List pages. It reserves fixed rows, shows API, action, and service in columns, and keeps the selected operation's input/pagination summary beneath the table.

Unsupported actions such as Create, Update, Delete, and Invoke are generated from the same Smithy models and shown dimmed. They can be searched and inspected in the result table, but Enter only runs supported List, Get, and Describe operations.

Search and List tables fill the available terminal height regardless of result count. The bottom three rows are reserved for status, help, and the hidden debug line.

Views use React Router's in-memory URL patterns. Routes identify API search, operation inputs, List pages, selected entries, resource details, and related resources. Back restores the previous route state, and stale asynchronous responses cannot replace a newer view.

Prefix a no-space query with service: or resource: to scope it:

service:sns
resource:topic

The Resource column uses formal Smithy resource-operation relationships when available and falls back to the operation-derived resource name.

Direct commands

# List API; returns the first API page as JSON
awstui list agentruntime --profile my-profile --region us-west-2

# List API with required Smithy inputs
awstui list memoryrecords \
  --input memoryId=my-memory-id \
  --input namespace=/users/example \
  --profile my-profile \
  --region us-west-2

# Get/Describe API; repeat --input for required identifiers
awstui get agentruntime \
  --input agentRuntimeId=my-runtime-id \
  --profile my-profile \
  --region us-west-2

List operations open an input view only for unresolved required Smithy inputs. Optional inputs are omitted initially, pagination tokens are managed internally, and modeled defaults are included automatically. Press E on a List page to configure its optional Smithy inputs and rerun from page 1. Booleans and enums render as filterable dropdowns. Left and Right move between API pages. Press / on a List page to fuzzy search only the rows already loaded for that page; this never makes another AWS request.

Pressing Enter on a List row opens a compatible Get/Describe detail API when its Smithy-declared inputs can be filled exactly from the selected row and the original List request. Selected-row values take precedence. For example, a DynamoDB table name from ListTables is passed to DescribeTable as TableName; GetMemoryRecord combines a selected memoryRecordId with the memoryId entered for ListMemoryRecords.

TUI controls

• Type letters or numbers: update the global fuzzy no-space search
• Up/Down: select a matching API, list row, or JSON entry
• Left/Right: move between result, API, or detail pages
• Enter: run an API or open/get the selected row
• / outside the main search: fuzzy filter the current view
• E on a List page: configure optional inputs and rerun from page 1
• R on a resource detail page: open its related resources
• Escape: clear search or go back

Resource views keep the navigation route and resolved Smithy keys in the header. For example:

>_ AWS TUI · Memory › Sessions       Amazon Bedrock AgentCore · Page 2/2
ListSessions · memoryId=mem-123 · actorId=actor-456 · maxResults=100

The detail page shows:

• Friendly AWS service title and Smithy operation in the header
• Syntax-colored, pretty-printed resource or Get response JSON
• Focusable JSON entries, with verified ARN values available to open
• Related child collections whose List inputs can inherit a parent identifier

Related resources prefer explicit Smithy resources relationships. When a model does not declare a child resource, the catalog conservatively offers a List operation only when it shares the modeled parent resource, belongs to the same AWS service family, and can inherit a parent identifier exactly. For example, GetMemory can open ListMemoryRecords, while GetPaymentManager follows the explicit Smithy child relationship to ListPaymentConnectors. Press R, or move to the related-resources entry and press Enter, then select the child collection and enter any inputs that were not inherited.

On a detail page, only ARNs that resolve to an unambiguous read operation are highlighted and selectable. Other ARN strings, such as a DynamoDB IndexArn without a direct index read API, remain ordinary JSON. The resolver checks the current public Smithy model on GitHub for the source and target services, follows aws.api#arnReference to a resource read operation when available, and otherwise uses a conservative ARN/service/Get-or-Describe fallback. Models are conditionally cached with GitHub ETags, so every drill-through checks for a newer model without redownloading unchanged JSON.

Smithy model directory names and AWS CLI service commands are stored separately. For example, the public model lives under dynamodb-streams, while execution correctly uses aws dynamodbstreams.

Refresh the Smithy catalog

Clone the public model repository, then regenerate:

git clone --depth 1 --filter=blob:none --sparse \
  https://github.com/aws/api-models-aws.git /tmp/api-models-aws
git -C /tmp/api-models-aws sparse-checkout set models
npm run models:generate -- /tmp/api-models-aws

The generated catalog records the source repository and commit SHA.

Development

npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build