Usage Guide

Learn how to control AWS Doctor using subcommands, flags, and configuration profiles.

Subcommands

These are the primary workflows of the tool.

Subcommand	Description
`cost`	Run comparative cost analytics (Current month vs. Last month).
`waste`	Run the waste detection engine.
`trend`	Generate a 6-month cost trend report (optionally filtered by service).
`update`	Self-update the tool to the latest version.
`version`	Display version and build information.
`help`	Display help for any subcommand.

Global Flags

These flags can be used with any subcommand (including the default cost analysis).

Flag	Default	Description
`--region`	`~/.aws/config`	Override the target AWS region.
`--profile`	`default`	Specify which AWS profile to use.
`--output`	`table`	Output format: `table`, `json`, or `csv`.

Target Selection

Region Selection

If the --region flag is not provided, the tool attempts to find a region in this order:

AWS_REGION environment variable.
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION environment variable.
The region field in your active profile inside ~/.aws/config.

Profile Configuration

To run audits against a specific account or role defined in your AWS config:

aws-doctor cost --profile prod-account

MFA Support

AWS Doctor has first-class support for Multi-Factor Authentication. If your profile uses assume_role with an mfa_serial, the tool will detect it and prompt you for your token code securely in the terminal.

Enter MFA code for arn:aws:iam::123456789012:mfa/user: ******

The assumed role session is managed by the tool. You don’t need to manually run aws sts get-session-token.

Automatic Updates

Keep your diagnostic engine up to date with a single command:

aws-doctor update

This will check GitHub for the latest release, download the binary for your platform, and replace the existing one.

Getting Started Cost Analytics