# AWS CLI 22 Hacker News commenters recommended AWS CLI and 13 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Official command-line tool for AWS services, used to script and automate cloud tasks; critics find its bundled Python runtime bloated and its JSON output and syntax awkward. ## Why people recommend it - Smooth, reliable access to AWS (4 comments): "The compatibility with the AWS CLI was mostly excellent in my experiences." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47593669)) "It's made working with AWS really smooth." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48085191)) "AWS CLI is doing just fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47713586)) - Useful for scripting and queries (3 comments): "I can use aws command line to get internal ips behind the lb to curl to grep and find it in minutes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47556492)) "I found that useful since I don't have to expose any secrets to it, just a static set of commands" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49531252)) "The AWS CLI has a convenient "s3 sync" command that does a one-way directory sync" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49910565)) - Official AWS tool, temporary credentials (2 comments): "you can use the AWS CLI to sign you in and that goes through the HTTPS auth flow to provide you with temporary access keys" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265419)) "Official AWS cli from AWS is a bit different than "random binary off the internet"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46494404)) - Easy for agents and learners (3 comments): "it vastly improves readability, especially for those learning the syntax" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47762655)) "agents use it with a great effect even without any relevant skill" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47392918)) "GitHub & AWS it already knows how to operate the CLIs well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48330957)) ## What people warn about - Bundles Python runtime, feels bloated (3 comments): "Neither of these tools benefit the user by being in Python and distributing a runtime just for a CLI tool." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49883347)) "personally traumatized by the miniature standalone py3 distribution bundled within the aws cli" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49883190)) "hard to find a more bloated mess of strung together scripts held together by tape" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47257531)) - Confusing syntax and inconsistent flags (3 comments): "lovecraftian combination of positional arguments, named arguments, piping, json documents" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49737404)) "It thinks it knows aws cli, for instance, but there's some flags that don't exist" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48198230)) "AWSCLI's schizophrenic use (or not) of pagers for tiny results, on the other hand, is less defensible." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48854795)) - Defaults to JSON output (2 comments): "I am continuously irritated that the AWS CLI defaults to outputting in JSON." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48853868)) "the AWS CLI defaults to outputting in JSON" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48854523)) - Slow transfers from CLI overhead (3 comments): "The shell script wasn’t the performance issue, it was the fact that the shell script was calling the AWS CLI rather than the SDK." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48618370)) "it's the transport and protocol overhead that are burning the extra CPU time (power)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47989048)) "waiting for aws-cli to finish transfers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46300782)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [fzf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fzf.md): 78 recommend - [jq](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jq.md): 75 recommend - [grep](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grep.md): 65 recommend - [Atuin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atuin.md): 63 recommend - [GitHub CLI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-cli.md): 49 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "AWS CLI", https://hackerapproved.com/p/aws-cli/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).