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AWS Community Builders profile image Gabriel Koo
Gabriel Koo for AWS Community Builders

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Regain access to Amazon Q CLI in CloudShell with This Simple Trick

#aws #cloud #amazonqcli

If you’ve tried to use the Amazon Q CLI a.k.a. q chat command in AWS CloudShell recently, you might have seen the frustrating message 🤯:

Q CLI integration is temporarily disabled. For continued access to Q Chat, please use the integrated version in your AWS Console.

This is annoying especially for me as a true lover of Amazon Q CLI which is so far the best GenAI CLI agent for AWS daily users.

The good news is here’s a guide on how to force reinstall Amazon Q CLI and log in with your own account. Plus, some perspective on why this happens, and why Amazon Q CLI is still a must-have for me 🛠️ — especially if you’re experimenting with GenAI in cloud environments.

What’s Happening?

As of time of writing (2025-08-02), AWS has temporarily disabled Amazon Q chat CLI features in CloudShell due to an internal issue (officially documented by AWS here). Q-based inline suggestions and the actual chat functionality are both disabled in CloudShell. ⛔️

Why Is This an Issue (My Own Speculation)?

I saw an user reporting the issue ⚠️ as early as 2025-05-23: https://github.com/aws/amazon-q-developer-cli/issues/1944.

Here’s why I think it’s happening 🧠:

CloudShell authenticates you for AWS credentials natively using AWS IAM users, roles, or Identity Center Access Role sessions — so that you can do API calls like aws sts get-caller-identity within CloudShell without the hassle of configuring the credentials.

In contrast, Amazon Q CLI expects authentication via AWS Builder ID or AWS IAM Identity Center for Pro plan.

These authentication models may not be exactly compatible, especially for chat-based workflows requiring licensing or entitlements outside basic AWS IAM integration.

One last possibility is that it is actually quite hard to apply limits or attribute usage rates of Amazon Q CLI. Imagine if one’s Amazon Q CLI usage with a particular IAM user in CloudShell session exceeds a fair pre-defined limit, one can just create another IAM user and have rate limits reset as a separate user. One could even programmatically set this up for literally unlimited Amazon Q CLI usage quota (if there is not any AWS Account wide limit applied). 💸

Until AWS aligns these behind the scenes, expect more time from the Amazon Q CLI team to work on a fix.

But Amazon Q CLI is Still Cool!

Even with this hiccup, Amazon Q CLI remains hugely valuable ⚡️:

  • AI-driven CLI suggestions right where you work
  • Natural language command generation
  • Instant code explanations and diagnostics
  • Makes security and automation work faster and less error-prone

If you use it outside CloudShell, it truly supercharges your workflow.

Force Reinstall & Login Steps

Here’s comes to the main topic - how you can force a clean install and log in outside CloudShell.

Easy. Since AWS CloudShell computing environment is just x64 Amazon Linux under the hood, just force uninstall it and then install it according to the official documentation.

# This removes the existing installation sudo rm `which q` # Download the latest ZIP-based installer curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf "https://desktop-release.q.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/q-x86_64-linux-musl.zip" -o "q.zip" unzip q.zip ./q/install.sh
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When prompted:

Do you want q to modify your shell config (you will have to manually do this otherwise)?
Answer: Yes

This helps set up the Amazon Q CLI and autocompletion back.

Next, authenticate with your preferred credentials:

q login
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You’ll be guided through a browser-based process (powered by Builder ID, Identity Center, etc.), enter the code, and your CLI session will be authenticated. Once authorized, you get full access (outside limitations of CloudShell).

Now, let’s test it out. Try:

q help q inline enable
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With proper authentication, you’ll see Amazon Q CLI in all its glory (in supported environments) 🚀.

Important Points to Note:

  • With my method, your Amazon Q CLI usages in CloudShell are bind to your own AWS Builder ID account / your Identity Center user. Be aware of usage rate limits. 🧾
  • AWS CloudShell environments would be automatically deleted after 120 days of inactivity. You might need to re-do this hack if you haven’t used a particular CloudShell environment for more than 120 days. 🗑️

Key Takeaways

  • Don’t stress if q chat is broken in CloudShell—it’s a temporary AWS-side limitation.
  • Use my way to force reinstall and login outside AWS CloudShell for a working setup.
  • Integration hurdles are likely caused by the difference in authentication flows: IAM / Identity Center built into CloudShell vs. Builder ID or Pro Plan requirements for Amazon Q CLI.
  • Amazon Q CLI is a great tool—just leverage it where AWS supports full features, and watch for future CloudShell improvements.

Happy hacking — enjoy more intelligent, secure, and productive time in your CloudShell terminal! ☁️

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