AWS Training and Certification Blog
From theory to practice using Amazon Q Developer CLI to generate tailored AWS projects
Do you have deep AWS theoretical knowledge, perhaps through preparation for AWS Certification exams, but find it challenging to translate that knowledge into practical projects while learning? You’re not alone. Many cloud practitioners face the common challenge of making the leap from theoretical understanding and hands-on implementation ideas. What if you had an AI-powered advisor that not only suggests relevant projects tailored to your skillset and interests but also provides step-by-step implementation guidance, bridging the gaps between your existing knowledge and practical experience?
In this post, we show you how to generate and implement real Amazon Web Services (AWS) projects using Amazon Q Developer command line interface (CLI) by combining the power of AI and the command line interface to create a personalized project generator that understands your skill level and helps you build practical AWS solutions to add to your personal portfolio.
We’ve designed this guide for AWS Certified individuals or those with basic AWS knowledge looking to gain hands-on experience through building their project portfolio. This includes AWS Certified individuals or others who want to strengthen their hands-on skills. Through strategic prompting and guided implementation, you’ll discover how Amazon Q Developer CLI can serve as both an AWS project advisor and an implementation assistant.
Understanding Amazon Q Developer CLI project generation capabilities
Unlike traditional documentation searches or template repositories, Amazon Q Developer CLI understands context and can generate customized project suggestions based on your skill level and goals. This capability extends beyond brief command suggestions and helps you build a practical learning path that grows with your expertise.
When interacting with Amazon Q Developer CLI, you’re engaging with a tool that understands AWS best practices, security considerations, and common implementation patterns. The real power lies in its ability to provide contextual guidance, explaining not only what to do but why certain approaches are recommended.
Prerequisites
Before diving in, you need to have the following prerequisites:
- An AWS account with appropriate permissions in AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), including
AmazonS3FullAccess, IAM role permissions, and Amazon Q Developer CLI permissions (bedrock:InvokeModelandbedrock:InvokeModelWithResponseStream). - Your local environment should have both the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) and Amazon Q Developer CLI installed and configured to authenticate with your AWS account. For information on installing them, visit Installing or updating to the latest version of the AWS CLI and Installing Amazon Q for command line. For exposure to these tools, follow the AWS CLI Getting Started and the Amazon Q Developer CLI guides in AWS Skill Builder. Amazon Q Developer usage follows a pay-as-you-go model, so monitor your usage through the AWS Management Console to manage costs effectively. Also refer to the Amazon Q Developer pricing documentation for specific cost details.
After successful setup, you’ll be greeted by the Amazon Q Developer CLI chat interface.
Crafting effective project prompts
The quality of project suggestions depends significantly on how you communicate with Amazon Q Developer CLI. Through careful prompt crafting, you can extract specific, relevant project ideas that match your current abilities and learning objectives. Consider that you’re an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Amazon Q Developer CLI can suggest projects that build upon this certification’s concepts while introducing hands-on implementation experience.
Here’s a practical example prompt for the Amazon Q Developer CLI chat interface:
When you prompted Amazon Q Developer CLI, the response provides thoughtfully structured suggestions that align with both your certification knowledge and practical learning needs. From these suggestions, we’ll focus on the project suggestion of implementing a static website hosting project, a perfect starting point that combines fundamental AWS concepts with tangible results.
After prompting Amazon Q Developer CLI with the example prompt, it will provide thoughtfully structured suggestions that align with both your certification knowledge and practical learning needs. From these suggestions, we’ll focus on the project idea of implementing a static website with Amazon CloudFront distribution. This beginner-friendly project combines three key AWS services, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for hosting, Amazon CloudFront for global content delivery, and optionally Amazon Route 53 for domain management. With an estimated completion time of 2–3 hours, it’s a perfect starting point that combines fundamental AWS concepts with tangible results.
From project idea to implementation steps
Moving from concept to creation requires clear infrastructure definitions. Amazon Q Developer CLI excels at generating precise commands for implementation while remaining accessible to beginners. Ask Amazon Q Developer CLI for implementation steps with the following prompt:
The generated response, with steps and CLI commands, represents how Amazon Q Developer CLI can become a learning tool that demonstrates proper S3 bucket configuration, website hosting settings, and necessary permissions. It walks you through each command, explaining how different components work together to create a secure and functional static website hosting solution.
Hands-on implementation and deployment
Although Amazon Q Developer CLI can automate the execution of commands and handle the deployment process, the real learning comes from executing the steps yourself. Let’s implement the first step from the generated response by creating an S3 bucket using the AWS CLI, as shown in the preceding image.
To create your S3 bucket, open another window in your terminal. Enter the following command from the step generated by Amazon Q Developer CLI to create an S3 bucket, replacing my-name in the bucket name to match your name to make it unique:
aws s3 mb s3://my-portfilio-site-2025-my-name --region us-east-1
After creating your S3 bucket, continue progressing through each implementation step yourself, from enabling static website hosting to the last step of retrieving your static website endpoint URL. Make sure you understand each command’s purpose. When challenges arise, Amazon Q Developer CLI is there to help, so if you encounter any issues or need clarification, ask Amazon Q Developer CLI to assist you.Amazon Q Developer CLI will provide troubleshooting guidance, explaining potential causes and solutions. This process of encountering and resolving issues will be a critical part of your learning journey. After you’ve completed all remaining steps to implement your static website and retrieved your website endpoint URL, copy and paste it in your browser to see your live website. If everything went well, then congratulations on deploying your first AWS project with Amazon Q Developer CLI!
Infrastructure as code with Amazon Q Developer CLI
Now that you’ve manually implemented your static website, you can explore other powerful features of Amazon Q Developer CLI such as generating infrastructure as code (IaC).
Ask Amazon Q Developer CLI to create an AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) stack that represents your implementation and provide an explanation of its components:
Amazon Q Developer CLI will generate a complete CDK implementation and provide a detailed explanation, transforming your manual steps into infrastructure code with added context. You can use this approach for version control of your infrastructure for consistent deployments across environments and deepen your understanding of AWS services and IaC principles.
Building on your success
After successfully deploying your static website on Amazon S3, you might wonder about improving its performance and security. One natural enhancement is to add Amazon CloudFront, a content delivery network (CDN) to help deliver your website content faster to users worldwide while adding an extra layer of security. To learn how to get started with CloudFront, visit Amazon CloudFront Getting Started in AWS Skill Builder.
Amazon Q Developer CLI can guide you through this enhancement process. Use natural language to ask it to explain how to add CloudFront to your existing Amazon S3 static website, and it will provide the necessary steps and commands. This improvement will enhance your website’s performance and introduce you to important concepts such as CDNs, edge locations, and cache behaviors.
Cleaning up your resources
After completing your static website project, it’s important to remove resources you no longer need. This practice helps you avoid unnecessary costs and reinforces the Well-Architected Framework principle of cost optimization.
To remove the resources created during this tutorial, you can ask Amazon Q Developer CLI to guide you through the cleanup process with the following prompt:
Amazon Q Developer CLI will provide you with the appropriate AWS CLI commands to delete your resources safely. Typically, this involves first removing all objects from your S3 bucket, then deleting the bucket itself. If you enhanced your project with CloudFront, you’ll also need to disable and delete the distribution.This habit will serve you well as you progress to more complex projects with multiple AWS services and higher potential costs.
Integrating with AWS Training Resources
While Amazon Q Developer CLI powerful project guidance, it works best when combined with the comprehensive learning resources that AWS offers. The hands-on experience you gain through this project complements our training available through AWS Skill Builder. For example, the Introduction to Amazon S3 course provides deeper context about static website hosting capabilities, while “AWS Command Line Interface Basics” helps you understand the CLI commands more thoroughly.
Consider establishing a learning rhythm that combines Amazon Q Developer CLI project work with structured AWS training. Start today with the fundamental concepts in AWS Skill Builder, implement them using Amazon Q Developer CLI guidance, then reflect on what you’ve built. This approach helps reinforce learning while creating practical portfolio pieces.
Conclusion
The journey from AWS Certification knowledge to practical implementation doesn’t have to be challenging. By using Amazon Q Developer CLI as your project advisor and an implementation guide, you’ve discovered a straightforward approach to building project-based AWS solutions. This method will help you create portfolio-worthy projects and deepen your understanding of AWS services through hands-on experience.Remember, every AWS expert started with straightforward projects like the static website you built with the help of this post. As your confidence increases, use Amazon Q Developer CLI to explore more complex architectures and implementations. The practical experience you gain through these projects, combined with AWS training resources, will create a solid foundation for your learning journey.
Additional resources
To continue your learning journey, explore these valuable AWS resources:
- AWS Command Line Interface Basics
- Amazon Q Developer CLI User Guide
- Amazon S3 Getting Started
- Amazon CloudFront Getting Started
We encourage you to start with the static website project demonstrated in this post. Once you’re comfortable, enhance it with CloudFront to learn about CDNs. Share your implementations, ask questions in the AWS community forums, and keep building. Your next AWS project is only a prompt away.
About the Authors
Ifeanyi Otuonye
Ifeanyi Otuonye is a Technical Account Manager and 10x AWS Certified professional. As a strategic advisor, he helps customers achieve their business goals with AWS Cloud services. As a passionate educator and advocate, he develops resonating content and resources that make cloud learning accessible, empowering professionals to grow their expertise, impact, and influence. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.
Favour Ezeugwa
Favour Ezeugwa is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where she helps customers design scalable, secure, and cost-optimized cloud architectures. With a background in computer information systems and a passion for generative AI and cloud security, Favour has led impactful projects including the development of AI-powered assistants and serverless applications. She’s an advocate for hands-on learning, mentorship, and using technology to drive meaningful change.