MCPInstall

aws-compute

Provisions, scales, and operates Amazon EC2 virtual-machine workloads: instance-type selection (Graviton/Arm64, burstable T credits, GPU, instance store vs EBS), launch templates, Auto Scaling groups (scaling policies, instance refresh, mixed instances, Spot, warm pools, lifecycle hooks), IMDSv2, placement groups, Elastic IPs, AMI lifecycle, and Systems Manager fleet operations (Session Manager, Run Command, Patch Manager). Applies to EC2 instance and fleet questions, InsufficientInstanceCapacity, CPU-credit/surplus charges, IMDSv2 401s, instances stuck in Pending:Wait, ASG not replacing unhealthy instances, status-check failures, SSH refused/timed out, or instances missing as SSM managed nodes. For a single secure instance launch, the launching-ec2-instance-with-best-practices skill is more appropriate; for instance profiles, see setting-up-ec2-instance-profiles; for Image Builder, see amazon-ec2-image-builder. Does NOT cover Lambda, ECS/Fargate, EKS, VPC/ALB/NLB design, or IAM policy

Installs
5.6K
Last 24h
+58
Trending rank
#3046
Security
Pass

Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill aws-compute
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads aws-compute automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

Security audits

Independent scans of the skill's instructions and bundled files.

Gen Agent Trust Hub PassSAFE ·This skill provides comprehensive guidance on managing Amazon EC2 workloads. It includes security considerations such as sanitizing inputs for remote execution tools like AWS Systems Manager Run Command to prevent potential command injection. These patterns are documented as best practices for secure operations.
Socket PassNo alerts
Snyk PassLOW ·Risk: LOW · No issues

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Amazon EC2 Compute

Best experience with the AWS MCP server; also works with the AWS CLI alone — no hard dependency on either.

Critical Warnings

Launch configurations are deprecated and do not support current EC2 instance types; new accounts cannot create them. Use launch templates for every new Auto Scaling group. See auto-scaling.md.

ASGs ignore ELB health checks by default: An Auto Scaling group only uses EC2 status checks unless you set --health-check-type ELB. Without it, instances failing the load balancer's health check stay in service forever. See auto-scaling.md.

IMDSv2 hop limit breaks containers: the default HttpPutResponseHopLimit of 1 makes the IMDSv2 token PUT response fail to reach a containerized process (the extra hop exceeds the response TTL), so the token request times out. Set HttpPutResponseHopLimit=2 for bridge/awsvpc container workloads. (If IMDSv2 is required, a subsequent tokenless GET returns 401; if optional, it silently falls back to IMDSv1.) See provisioning.md.

T3/T3a/T4g default to unlimited mode: Unlike T2 (standard), these burst without throttling but bill surplus CPU credits when 24h-average CPU exceeds baseline — a silent cost leak. See instance-selection.md.

Instance store is ephemeral: Data on instance store volumes is lost on stop, hibernate, terminate, instance-type change, and host failure — it survives only a reboot. Put anything durable on EBS/EFS/S3. See instance-selection.md.

Which do you need?

If you're deciding...Guidance
Instance family / size / Graviton / GPU / burstableinstance-selection.md — start with the workload→family table
How to define instances once and reuse (launch template)provisioning.md
How to run many instances that scale automaticallyauto-scaling.md
How to access/patch/manage instances without SSH keyssystems-manager.md

Quick Navigation

You want to...Go to
Pick an instance type, Graviton vs x86, burstable credits, GPU, instance store vs EBSinstance-selection.md
Create a launch template, user data, key pairs, IMDSv2, placement groups, Elastic IPsprovisioning.md
Set up or fix an Auto Scaling group, scaling policies, instance refresh, Spot, lifecycle hooksauto-scaling.md
Get SSH-less access, patch a fleet, or fix an instance not showing as a managed nodesystems-manager.md
Create, share, or retire (deprecate/disable/deregister) an AMIami-management.md
Fix something broken (can't connect, status-check fail, capacity error, stuck instances)troubleshooting.md

Common Workflows

"Stand up an autoscaling web fleet" → Create a launch template (AMI, type, IMDSv2), then an ASG referencing it with --health-check-type ELB and a target-tracking policy, see auto-scaling.md. For the public entry point, secure the load balancer (TLS/ACM, WAF, security response headers) per the Security Considerations below and the load-balancer notes in auto-scaling.md — the load-balancer build itself belongs to aws-networking.

"Roll out a new AMI to my fleet" → New launch template version → instance refresh; pin a numeric launch-template version so rollback works, see auto-scaling.md.

"Connect to a private instance without a bastion" → Give the instance SSM permissions (an instance profile with AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore, or account-level DHMC) plus a network path, then use Session Manager, see systems-manager.md.

"Cut EC2 cost" → Right-size (burstable vs fixed-performance), Graviton where the app supports Arm64, Spot with price-capacity-optimized for fault-tolerant fleets, release idle Elastic IPs, see instance-selection.md.

Troubleshooting

SymptomLikely causeQuick fix
SSH "Connection timed out"Network path (SG/NACL/route/no public IP)Open TCP 22 from your IP; check route to IGW; verify public IP — see troubleshooting.md
SSH "Connection refused"Host: sshd down or still bootingWait for boot; check sshd/port via Session Manager or serial console
InsufficientInstanceCapacityAWS lacks capacity of that type in the AZ (NOT a quota)Try another AZ / instance type / retry; don't request a quota increase
InstanceLimitExceededvCPU quota reached (this IS a quota)Request a Service Quotas increase for the instance family
ASG never replaces LB-unhealthy instancesHealth check type still EC2Set --health-check-type ELB
Instances stuck in Pending:Wait, terminated after ~1hLifecycle hook never completed (heartbeat 3600s, default ABANDON)Call complete-lifecycle-action CONTINUE, or set DefaultResult CONTINUE
System status check failedAWS host/hardwareStop/start to migrate to new hardware (reboot won't)
Instance status check failedInstance OS/network configReboot or fix the OS/network config

Full tables and more errors in troubleshooting.md.

Security Considerations

  • Enforce IMDSv2 (HttpTokens=required) on launch templates to block SSRF-based credential theft; set the account-level default per Region (applies to new launches only).
  • Prefer Session Manager over inbound SSH — no open port 22, no key management, and a CloudTrail record of session API calls; enable Session Manager session logging to CloudWatch Logs/S3 (off by default) to capture the in-session commands themselves — see systems-manager.md.
  • Use instance profiles, never embedded credentials; scope the role to least privilege.
  • Encrypt EBS/AMIs; to share an encrypted AMI cross-account, re-encrypt under a customer-managed KMS key (the default aws/ebs key can't be shared).
  • Enable CloudTrail in all Regions to audit EC2/ASG/SSM API activity, and alarm on sensitive actions (security-group changes, RunInstances/TerminateInstances from unexpected principals) so unauthorized changes surface.
  • For public-facing web fleets, encrypt traffic in transit with an ACM certificate on the load balancer's HTTPS listener and add AWS WAF for defense in depth against common web exploits — the load-balancer/WAF setup itself lives in aws-networking.
  • For hardening beyond this guidance, see AWS EC2 security best practices and CIS Benchmarks for the guest OS.

Not Covered By This Skill

  • Launching a single hardened instance with best-practice defaults → use the launching-ec2-instance-with-best-practices skill
  • Creating IAM roles / instance profiles for EC2 → use the setting-up-ec2-instance-profiles skill
  • Building AMIs with an Image Builder pipeline → use the amazon-ec2-image-builder skill
  • Lambda / serverless → aws-serverless; ECS/Fargate → aws-containers; EKS/Kubernetes → kubernetes
  • VPC, subnets, ALB/NLB, endpoints → aws-networking or built-in knowledge
  • IAM policy logic and CloudWatch dashboards/agent setup → aws-iam, aws-observability

FAQ

What does the aws-compute skill do?

Provisions, scales, and operates Amazon EC2 virtual-machine workloads: instance-type selection (Graviton/Arm64, burstable T credits, GPU, instance store vs EBS), launch templates, Auto Scaling groups (scaling policies, instance refresh, mixed instances, Spot, warm pools, lifecycle hooks), IMDSv2, placement groups, Elastic IPs, AMI lifecycle, and Systems Manager fleet operations (Session Manager, Run Command, Patch Manager). Applies to EC2 instance and fleet questions, InsufficientInstanceCapacity, CPU-credit/surplus charges, IMDSv2 401s, instances stuck in Pending:Wait, ASG not replacing unhealthy instances, status-check failures, SSH refused/timed out, or instances missing as SSM managed nodes. For a single secure instance launch, the launching-ec2-instance-with-best-practices skill is more appropriate; for instance profiles, see setting-up-ec2-instance-profiles; for Image Builder, see amazon-ec2-image-builder. Does NOT cover Lambda, ECS/Fargate, EKS, VPC/ALB/NLB design, or IAM policy

How do I install aws-compute?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill aws-compute in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/aws-compute/ (personal) or .claude/skills/aws-compute/ (project).

Which AI agents can use aws-compute?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is aws-compute safe to install?

Security partners have reviewed it: Gen Agent Trust Hub passed; Socket passed; Snyk passed. As with any skill, read the SKILL.md and bundled scripts before installing.

Who maintains aws-compute?

It is published by aws in aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws. It has 5,590 recorded installs.

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