AWS CLI Command Reference

[ aws . cloudformation ]

describe-events

Description

Returns CloudFormation events based on flexible query criteria. Groups events by operation ID, enabling you to focus on individual stack operations during deployment.

An operation is any action performed on a stack, including stack lifecycle actions (Create, Update, Delete, Rollback), change set creation, nested stack creation, and automatic rollbacks triggered by failures. Each operation has a unique identifier (Operation ID) and represents a discrete change attempt on the stack.

Returns different types of events including:

  • Progress events - Status updates during stack operation execution.
  • Validation errors - Failures from CloudFormation Early Validations.
  • Provisioning errors - Resource creation and update failures.
  • Hook invocation errors - Failures from CloudFormation Hook during stack operations.

Note

One of ChangeSetName , OperationId or StackName must be specified as input.

See also: AWS API Documentation

describe-events is a paginated operation. Multiple API calls may be issued in order to retrieve the entire data set of results. You can disable pagination by providing the --no-paginate argument. When using --output text and the --query argument on a paginated response, the --query argument must extract data from the results of the following query expressions: OperationEvents

Synopsis

  describe-events
[--stack-name <value>]
[--change-set-name <value>]
[--operation-id <value>]
[--filters <value>]
[--cli-input-json | --cli-input-yaml]
[--starting-token <value>]
[--max-items <value>]
[--generate-cli-skeleton <value>]
[--debug]
[--endpoint-url <value>]
[--no-verify-ssl]
[--no-paginate]
[--output <value>]
[--query <value>]
[--profile <value>]
[--region <value>]
[--version <value>]
[--color <value>]
[--no-sign-request]
[--ca-bundle <value>]
[--cli-read-timeout <value>]
[--cli-connect-timeout <value>]
[--cli-binary-format <value>]
[--no-cli-pager]
[--cli-auto-prompt]
[--no-cli-auto-prompt]

Options

--stack-name (string)

The name or unique stack ID for which you want to retrieve events.

Constraints:

  • min: 1
  • pattern: ([a-zA-Z][-a-zA-Z0-9]*)|(arn:\b(aws|aws-us-gov|aws-cn)\b:[-a-zA-Z0-9:/._+]*)

--change-set-name (string)

The name or Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the change set for which you want to retrieve events.

Constraints:

  • min: 1
  • max: 1600
  • pattern: [a-zA-Z][-a-zA-Z0-9]*|arn:[-a-zA-Z0-9:/]*

--operation-id (string)

The unique identifier of the operation for which you want to retrieve events.

--filters (structure)

Filters to apply when retrieving events.

FailedEvents -> (boolean)

When set to true, only returns failed events within the operation. This helps quickly identify root causes for a failed operation.

Shorthand Syntax:

FailedEvents=boolean

JSON Syntax:

{
  "FailedEvents": true|false
}

--cli-input-json | --cli-input-yaml (string) Reads arguments from the JSON string provided. The JSON string follows the format provided by --generate-cli-skeleton. If other arguments are provided on the command line, those values will override the JSON-provided values. It is not possible to pass arbitrary binary values using a JSON-provided value as the string will be taken literally. This may not be specified along with --cli-input-yaml.

--starting-token (string)

A token to specify where to start paginating. This is the NextToken from a previously truncated response.

For usage examples, see Pagination in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide .

--max-items (integer)

The total number of items to return in the command’s output. If the total number of items available is more than the value specified, a NextToken is provided in the command’s output. To resume pagination, provide the NextToken value in the starting-token argument of a subsequent command. Do not use the NextToken response element directly outside of the AWS CLI.

For usage examples, see Pagination in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide .

--generate-cli-skeleton (string) Prints a JSON skeleton to standard output without sending an API request. If provided with no value or the value input, prints a sample input JSON that can be used as an argument for --cli-input-json. Similarly, if provided yaml-input it will print a sample input YAML that can be used with --cli-input-yaml. If provided with the value output, it validates the command inputs and returns a sample output JSON for that command. The generated JSON skeleton is not stable between versions of the AWS CLI and there are no backwards compatibility guarantees in the JSON skeleton generated.

Global Options

--debug (boolean)

Turn on debug logging.

--endpoint-url (string)

Override command’s default URL with the given URL.

--no-verify-ssl (boolean)

By default, the AWS CLI uses SSL when communicating with AWS services. For each SSL connection, the AWS CLI will verify SSL certificates. This option overrides the default behavior of verifying SSL certificates.

--no-paginate (boolean)

Disable automatic pagination. If automatic pagination is disabled, the AWS CLI will only make one call, for the first page of results.

--output (string)

The formatting style for command output.

  • json
  • text
  • table
  • yaml
  • yaml-stream

--query (string)

A JMESPath query to use in filtering the response data.

--profile (string)

Use a specific profile from your credential file.

--region (string)

The region to use. Overrides config/env settings.

--version (string)

Display the version of this tool.

--color (string)

Turn on/off color output.

  • on
  • off
  • auto

--no-sign-request (boolean)

Do not sign requests. Credentials will not be loaded if this argument is provided.

--ca-bundle (string)

The CA certificate bundle to use when verifying SSL certificates. Overrides config/env settings.

--cli-read-timeout (int)

The maximum socket read time in seconds. If the value is set to 0, the socket read will be blocking and not timeout. The default value is 60 seconds.

--cli-connect-timeout (int)

The maximum socket connect time in seconds. If the value is set to 0, the socket connect will be blocking and not timeout. The default value is 60 seconds.

--cli-binary-format (string)

The formatting style to be used for binary blobs. The default format is base64. The base64 format expects binary blobs to be provided as a base64 encoded string. The raw-in-base64-out format preserves compatibility with AWS CLI V1 behavior and binary values must be passed literally. When providing contents from a file that map to a binary blob fileb:// will always be treated as binary and use the file contents directly regardless of the cli-binary-format setting. When using file:// the file contents will need to properly formatted for the configured cli-binary-format.

  • base64
  • raw-in-base64-out

--no-cli-pager (boolean)

Disable cli pager for output.

--cli-auto-prompt (boolean)

Automatically prompt for CLI input parameters.

--no-cli-auto-prompt (boolean)

Disable automatically prompt for CLI input parameters.

Output

OperationEvents -> (list)

A list of operation events that match the specified criteria.

(structure)

Contains detailed information about an event that occurred during a CloudFormation operation.

EventId -> (string)

A unique identifier for this event.

StackId -> (string)

The unique ID name of the instance of the stack.

OperationId -> (string)

The unique identifier of the operation this event belongs to.

OperationType -> (string)

The type of operation.

Possible values:

  • CREATE_STACK
  • UPDATE_STACK
  • DELETE_STACK
  • CONTINUE_ROLLBACK
  • ROLLBACK
  • CREATE_CHANGESET

OperationStatus -> (string)

The current status of the operation.

Possible values:

  • IN_PROGRESS
  • SUCCEEDED
  • FAILED

EventType -> (string)

The type of event.

Possible values:

  • STACK_EVENT
  • PROGRESS_EVENT
  • VALIDATION_ERROR
  • PROVISIONING_ERROR
  • HOOK_INVOCATION_ERROR

LogicalResourceId -> (string)

The logical name of the resource as specified in the template.

PhysicalResourceId -> (string)

The name or unique identifier that corresponds to a physical instance ID of a resource.

ResourceType -> (string)

Type of resource.

Constraints:

  • min: 1
  • max: 256

Timestamp -> (timestamp)

Time the status was updated.

StartTime -> (timestamp)

The time when the event started.

EndTime -> (timestamp)

The time when the event ended.

ResourceStatus -> (string)

Current status of the resource.

Possible values:

  • CREATE_IN_PROGRESS
  • CREATE_FAILED
  • CREATE_COMPLETE
  • DELETE_IN_PROGRESS
  • DELETE_FAILED
  • DELETE_COMPLETE
  • DELETE_SKIPPED
  • UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS
  • UPDATE_FAILED
  • UPDATE_COMPLETE
  • IMPORT_FAILED
  • IMPORT_COMPLETE
  • IMPORT_IN_PROGRESS
  • IMPORT_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS
  • IMPORT_ROLLBACK_FAILED
  • IMPORT_ROLLBACK_COMPLETE
  • EXPORT_FAILED
  • EXPORT_COMPLETE
  • EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS
  • EXPORT_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS
  • EXPORT_ROLLBACK_FAILED
  • EXPORT_ROLLBACK_COMPLETE
  • UPDATE_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS
  • UPDATE_ROLLBACK_COMPLETE
  • UPDATE_ROLLBACK_FAILED
  • ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS
  • ROLLBACK_COMPLETE
  • ROLLBACK_FAILED

ResourceStatusReason -> (string)

Success or failure message associated with the resource.

ResourceProperties -> (string)

The properties used to create the resource.

ClientRequestToken -> (string)

A unique identifier for the request that initiated this operation.

Constraints:

  • min: 1
  • max: 128
  • pattern: [a-zA-Z0-9][-a-zA-Z0-9]*

HookType -> (string)

The type name of the Hook that was invoked.

Constraints:

  • min: 1
  • max: 255

HookStatus -> (string)

The status of the Hook invocation.

Possible values:

  • HOOK_IN_PROGRESS
  • HOOK_COMPLETE_SUCCEEDED
  • HOOK_COMPLETE_FAILED
  • HOOK_FAILED

HookStatusReason -> (string)

Additional information about the Hook status.

Constraints:

  • min: 1
  • max: 1024

HookInvocationPoint -> (string)

The point in the operation lifecycle when the Hook was invoked.

Possible values:

  • PRE_PROVISION

HookFailureMode -> (string)

Specifies how Hook failures are handled.

Possible values:

  • FAIL
  • WARN

DetailedStatus -> (string)

Additional status information about the operation.

Possible values:

  • CONFIGURATION_COMPLETE
  • VALIDATION_FAILED

ValidationFailureMode -> (string)

Specifies how validation failures are handled.

Possible values:

  • FAIL
  • WARN

ValidationName -> (string)

The name of the validation that was performed.

ValidationStatus -> (string)

The status of the validation.

Possible values:

  • FAILED
  • SKIPPED

ValidationStatusReason -> (string)

Additional information about the validation status.

ValidationPath -> (string)

The path within the resource where the validation was applied.

NextToken -> (string)

If the request doesn’t return all the remaining results, NextToken is set to a token. To retrieve the next set of results, call DescribeEvents again and assign that token to the request object’s NextToken parameter. If the request returns all results, NextToken is set to null .

Constraints:

  • min: 1
  • max: 1024
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