Commands on BMC

profsel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc profsel interactively selects an AWS profile and exports it as AWS_PROFILE in your current shell.

Usage #

bmc profsel # Interactive profile selection
bmc profsel -p myprofile # Pre-select a profile by name
bmc profsel -l # List all profiles in tabular format
bmc profsel --json # Output selected profile as JSON

Shell integration required #

bmc profsel must be invoked through the shell wrapper for AWS_PROFILE to be set in your current shell. Install it once with:

console

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc console opens the AWS Management Console in your browser for the current or selected AWS profile.

Usage #

bmc console # Open console for current profile (AWS_PROFILE)
bmc console -p myprofile # Open console for a specific profile
bmc console -p # Force interactive profile selection
bmc console -s ec2 # Open console at a specific service URL

Browser options #

Firefox containers with Granted (recommended) #

The Granted Firefox extension enables container tabs — each AWS profile opens in its own isolated container with separate cookies and sessions.

ec2

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc ec2 is the unified entry point for EC2 operations. Pick an instance once and choose an action from a menu — no need to repeat instance selection across separate commands.

Usage #

bmc ec2 # Interactive instance picker → action menu
bmc ec2 nginx # Filter instances by name/ID/IP first
bmc ec2 i-0abc123 # Single match skips the picker

The optional search argument filters instances by a case-insensitive substring match on instance name, ID, private IP, or public IP.

ec2ls

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc ec2ls lists all EC2 instances in the current AWS profile.

Usage #

bmc ec2ls # Display as interactive table
bmc ec2ls --json # Output as JSON array

Table output #

The table columns are configurable via ec2.columns in ~/.config/bmc/config.json. See Configuration.

JSON output #

--json outputs all instances as a JSON array with AWS PascalCase keys, ignoring the columns config:

ec2connect

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc ec2connect connects to a running EC2 instance via SSH or AWS SSM Session Manager.

Usage #

bmc ec2connect # Interactive instance picker
bmc ec2connect nginx # Filter instances by name/ID/IP first
bmc ec2connect -i i-0abc123 # Connect to a specific instance ID
bmc ec2connect -u ubuntu # SSH as a specific user (skips method picker)

Connection methods #

SSH #

Requires ssh on your PATH. BMC prompts for the SSH user (root, ubuntu, ec2-user, or custom) unless -u is specified.

ec2find

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc ec2find searches for EC2 instances across all AWS profiles in an account group simultaneously.

Usage #

bmc ec2find nginx # Search across profiles (select group interactively)
bmc ec2find nginx --json # Same search, output as JSON array

How it works #

You select an AWS account group from an interactive picker
BMC queries all profiles in that group in parallel
Results matching your search string are shown

The search is a case-insensitive substring match on: instance ID, name, private IP, public IP, and profile name.

ec2stopstart

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc ec2stopstart stops or starts an EC2 instance interactively.

Usage #

bmc ec2stopstart # Pick instance → stop or start

BMC shows the current state of the selected instance and offers the appropriate action (Stop or Start). For hibernate-enabled instances, Stop also offers a hibernate option.

Stopping with hibernate #

If an instance has hibernation configured (Hibernate: yes in ec2ls), BMC will ask whether to hibernate instead of a cold stop. Hibernation saves RAM to disk and resumes faster.

ec2scheduler

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc ec2scheduler enables or disables the AWS Instance Scheduler tag on an EC2 instance.

Usage #

bmc ec2scheduler # Pick instance → enable or disable scheduler

What it does #

The command adds or removes the InstanceScheduler tag on the selected instance. AWS Instance Scheduler uses this tag to automatically start and stop instances on a configured schedule — useful for saving costs on non-production environments.

ecsconnect

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

bmc ecsconnect opens an interactive shell into a running ECS container.

Usage #

bmc ecsconnect # Interactive: pick cluster → service → task → container

The command walks you through selecting:

ECS cluster
Service
Task
Container

Then launches an interactive shell via AWS SSM.

Prerequisites #

aws CLI v2
session-manager-plugin

Check with: