Amazon EC2 Compute
OfficialFreeManage and scale your EC2 workloads effectively.
Free · Opens the source repo
What Amazon EC2 Compute does
The Amazon EC2 Compute skill is designed for developers and system administrators who need to provision, scale, and operate Amazon EC2 virtual-machine workloads. This skill provides comprehensive guidance on selecting the right instance types, including options for Graviton/Arm64, burstable T credits, and GPU instances. Users can efficiently create launch templates and configure Auto Scaling groups, which include scaling policies, instance refresh capabilities, and lifecycle hooks. This skill is particularly useful for those managing fleets of EC2 instances and needing to troubleshoot common issues such as instances stuck in pending states or health check failures.
With this skill, you can navigate through the complexities of EC2 management, including the use of IMDSv2 for enhanced security, managing Elastic IPs, and understanding the lifecycle of Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). The skill also covers Systems Manager fleet operations, enabling users to manage instances without needing SSH access, which is a significant advantage for maintaining security and operational efficiency.
Whether you are launching a single instance or managing a large fleet, this skill provides the necessary tools and references to ensure optimal performance and cost-effectiveness. It addresses common pitfalls and best practices in EC2 management, making it an essential resource for anyone involved in AWS infrastructure management.
This skill is best utilized when you require detailed support for EC2 instance management and scaling, particularly in environments where automated scaling and efficient resource allocation are critical.
When to use it
Use this skill when provisioning, scaling, or troubleshooting Amazon EC2 instances and fleets.
When not to use it
Avoid this skill if you are working with AWS services outside of EC2, such as Lambda or container orchestration with EKS.
What you can build with it
Provisioning EC2 Instances
Use the skill to select the appropriate instance type and create launch templates for your EC2 workloads.
Setting Up Auto Scaling
Implement Auto Scaling groups to automatically adjust the number of EC2 instances based on demand.
Troubleshooting EC2 Issues
Utilize the troubleshooting resources to resolve common EC2 problems such as instances stuck in pending states.
How to install Amazon EC2 Compute
View source1. Install with the skills CLI
npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws/aws-compute --agent claude-code2. Or install it manually
Download the skill folder and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or .claude/skills/ to scope it to one repo. Restart Claude Code so it picks up the new skill.
Anthropic's agentic coding CLI, and the reference implementation of Agent Skills. Drop a skill folder into ~/.claude/skills and Claude Code loads it automatically whenever a task matches the skill's description. Claude Code docs
Inside SKILL.md
Written by awsAmazon 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 / burstable | instance-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 automatically | auto-scaling.md |
| How to access/patch/manage instances without SSH keys | systems-manager.md |
Quick Navigation
| You want to... | Go to |
|---|---|
| Pick an instance type, Graviton vs x86, burstable credits, GPU, instance store vs EBS | instance-selection.md |
| Create a launch template, user data, key pairs, IMDSv2, placement groups, Elastic IPs | provisioning.md |
| Set up or fix an Auto Scaling group, scaling policies, instance refresh, Spot, lifecycle hooks | auto-scaling.md |
| Get SSH-less access, patch a fleet, or fix an instance not showing as a managed node | systems-manager.md |
| Create, share, or retire (deprecate/disable/deregister) an AMI | ami-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
| Symptom | Likely cause | Quick 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 booting | Wait for boot; check sshd/port via Session Manager or serial console |
InsufficientInstanceCapacity | AWS lacks capacity of that type in the AZ (NOT a quota) | Try another AZ / instance type / retry; don't request a quota increase |
InstanceLimitExceeded | vCPU quota reached (this IS a quota) | Request a Service Quotas increase for the instance family |
| ASG never replaces LB-unhealthy instances | Health check type still EC2 | Set --health-check-type ELB |
Instances stuck in Pending:Wait, terminated after ~1h | Lifecycle hook never completed (heartbeat 3600s, default ABANDON) | Call complete-lifecycle-action CONTINUE, or set DefaultResult CONTINUE |
| System status check failed | AWS host/hardware | Stop/start to migrate to new hardware (reboot won't) |
| Instance status check failed | Instance OS/network config | Reboot 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/ebskey 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/TerminateInstancesfrom 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-practicesskill - Creating IAM roles / instance profiles for EC2 → use the
setting-up-ec2-instance-profilesskill - Building AMIs with an Image Builder pipeline → use the
creating-ec2-image-builder-pipelineskill - Lambda / serverless →
aws-serverless; ECS/Fargate →aws-containers; EKS/Kubernetes →kubernetes - VPC, subnets, ALB/NLB, endpoints →
aws-networkingor built-in knowledge - IAM policy logic and CloudWatch dashboards/agent setup →
aws-iam,aws-observability
Frequently asked questions about Amazon EC2 Compute
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