CloudShell

Simfra includes an in-browser terminal - CloudShell - with the AWS CLI pre-configured. Open it and start running commands immediately. No environment variables, profiles, or endpoint URLs to set up.

Accessing CloudShell

Click the terminal icon in the web console navigation bar, or navigate to /cloudshell in the Simfra UI.

CloudShell opens as a floating panel at the bottom of the page. The panel is draggable and resizable.

Pre-Configured Environment

The following are set automatically inside the shell session:

Variable	Value
AWS_ENDPOINT_URL	Simfra's HTTP endpoint
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	Root access key for the selected account
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	Root secret key for the selected account
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION	Currently selected region in the UI

Run any AWS CLI command without additional configuration:

aws s3 ls
aws ec2 describe-instances
aws lambda list-functions
aws dynamodb scan --table-name my-table

Execution Modes

Docker Mode

When SIMFRA_DOCKER=true, CloudShell runs inside a per-account Docker container. This provides:

• Simfra DNS resolution - Service DNS names (ALB endpoints, RDS hostnames) resolve correctly.
• Network access - The container can reach private resources inside VPC Docker networks.
• Isolation - Each account gets its own container.

Containers are created on first use and recycled after an idle timeout (default 20 minutes, configurable via SIMFRA_CLOUDSHELL_IDLE_TIMEOUT).

PTY Mode

When Docker is not available, CloudShell falls back to PTY mode. It runs a shell process directly on the host machine. DNS resolution and network access to private containers are not available in this mode.

WebSocket Connection

The terminal communicates over a WebSocket at /_simfra/cloudshell/connect. Query parameters:

Parameter	Description
accountId	Account to connect as (defaults to the default account)
region	AWS region (defaults to the server's default region)
token	Admin token for authentication (when SIMFRA_ADMIN_TOKEN is set)