S3 Tools Skill

S3-compatible storage operations using AWS CLI or compatible tools.

When to Use

• Upload files to S3
• Download files from S3
• List buckets and objects
• Manage S3 permissions
• Sync directories

Setup

Configure AWS CLI

# Configure with credentials
aws configure

# Or with specific profile
aws configure --profile myprofile

# Set environment variables
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-key"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret"
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-east-1"

MinIO (Self-Hosted S3)

# Configure for MinIO
aws configure set aws_access_key_id minioadmin
aws configure set aws_secret_access_key minioadmin
aws configure set default.region us-east-1

# Use custom endpoint
aws --endpoint-url http://localhost:9000 s3 ls

Common Operations

List Buckets

# List all buckets
aws s3 ls

# List with creation date
aws s3 ls --recursive

List Objects

# List bucket contents
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket/

# List recursively
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket/ --recursive

# Filter by prefix
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket/folder/

Upload Files

# Upload single file
aws s3 cp file.txt s3://my-bucket/

# Upload with metadata
aws s3 cp file.txt s3://my-bucket/ --content-type "text/plain"

# Upload folder
aws s3 cp ./folder s3://my-bucket/folder/ --recursive

# Set cache control
aws s3 cp file.html s3://my-bucket/ --cache-control "max-age=3600"

Download Files

# Download single file
aws s3 cp s3://my-bucket/file.txt ./

# Download folder
aws s3 cp s3://my-bucket/folder/ ./folder --recursive

# Download with specific version
aws s3 cp s3://my-bucket/file.txt ./ --version-id version-id

Delete Objects

# Delete single file
aws s3 rm s3://my-bucket/file.txt

# Delete folder
aws s3 rm s3://my-bucket/folder/ --recursive

# Delete with prefix
aws s3 rm s3://my-bucket/ --exclude "*" --include "*.log"

Sync

# Sync local to S3
aws s3 sync ./folder s3://my-bucket/folder/

# Sync S3 to local
aws s3 sync s3://my-bucket/folder/ ./folder

# Sync with deletion (remove files not in source)
aws s3 sync s3://my-bucket/folder/ ./folder --delete

# Sync with excludes
aws s3 sync ./folder s3://my-bucket/folder/ --exclude "*.tmp" --exclude ".git/*"

Presigned URLs

Generate Presigned URL

# Generate URL (default 1 hour)
aws s3 presign s3://my-bucket/file.txt

# With custom expiration
aws s3 presign s3://my-bucket/file.txt --expires-in 86400

# Upload presigned URL
aws s3 presign s3://my-bucket/file.txt --put

Bucket Operations

Create Bucket

# Create bucket
aws s3 mb s3://my-new-bucket

# Create in specific region
aws s3 mb s3://my-new-bucket --region us-west-2

Delete Bucket

# Delete empty bucket
aws s3 rb s3://my-bucket

# Force delete (remove all objects first)
aws s3 rb s3://my-bucket --force

Examples

Backup to S3

#!/bin/bash
# Daily backup script

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
BUCKET="my-backups"
SOURCE="/data"

aws s3 sync "$SOURCE" "s3://$BUCKET/backup-$DATE/" \
  --storage-class STANDARD_IA \
  --exclude "*.tmp"

Clean Old Backups

# Delete backups older than 30 days
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket/backups/ | while read -r date time size file; do
  filedate=$(echo "$date" | tr -d '-')
  if [ "$filedate" -lt "$(date -d '30 days ago' +%Y%m%d)" ]; then
    aws s3 rm "s3://my-bucket/backups/$file" --recursive
  fi
done

Set Public Access

# Make object publicly readable
aws s3 cp file.txt s3://my-bucket/ --acl public-read

# Make entire bucket public (use carefully!)
aws s3api put-bucket-acl --bucket my-bucket --grant-read 'uri="http://acs.amazonaws.com/groups/global/AllUsers"'

Useful Flags

Flag	Description
--recursive	Process all files/dirs
--dryrun	Show what would happen
--quiet	Suppress output
--storage-class	Set storage tier
--content-type	Set MIME type
--cache-control	Set caching headers
--acl	Set access control

Notes

• Use aws s3api for advanced operations
• Consider using lifecycle policies for cost savings
• Enable versioning for important buckets
• Use IAM roles instead of access keys when possible