og-aws

The Open Guide to AWS is a community-maintained reference guide for Amazon Web Services. Rather than being a code library or tool you install, it is a large, structured knowledge document written in Markdown — a practical handbook that captures real-world wisdom about using AWS services in production.

The problem it solves is that official AWS documentation tells you what each service does, but not the practical traps you will fall into, the cost surprises waiting for you, or the configuration tips that experienced engineers have learned the hard way. Blog posts exist but they scatter over thousands of sites, go stale, and often omit the "gotchas" section entirely. This guide brings that scattered knowledge into one comprehensive, community-maintained place.

The structure is organized around individual AWS services — EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, DynamoDB, CloudFront, IAM, and dozens more. For each service there are three sections: Basics (what the service does and how to get started), Tips (practical advice that saves time and money), and Gotchas and Limitations (the specific things that will bite you if you don't know them in advance). There are also cross-cutting sections on billing and cost management, high availability, managing servers, and a market-landscape overview comparing AWS services to third-party alternatives.

You would reach for this guide when you are about to use an AWS service you haven't used before and want to understand the practical reality beyond the official docs. It is especially valuable for engineers new to AWS, startups trying to avoid unexpected bills, or experienced engineers moving to an unfamiliar service.

The repository itself is primarily Shell scripts for tooling, but the main artifact is the Markdown guide. It is community-maintained under an open license and lives on GitHub so anyone can submit corrections or additions.