Getting started with Resource Explorer

Resource Explorer is automatically enabled when you access the service through any of the following methods, with your experience determined by your IAM permissions:

You can interact with Resource Explorer in the following ways:

Resource Explorer console

Resource Explorer provides a web-based user interface, the Resource Explorer console. Simply navigating to or accessing the Resource Explorer console automatically triggers the setup process based on your permissions. You can access the Resource Explorer console by signing into the AWS Management Console and searching for it by name or choosing View all services and selecting Resource Explorer from the list.

You can also navigate in your browser directly to the Resource Explorer home page, or to the Resource search page. If you aren't already signed in, then you're asked to do so before the console appears.

Note

The Resource Explorer console is a global console, meaning that you don't have to select an AWS Region to work in. However, when you use Resource Explorer to create an index or a view, you need to specify which Region the index or view is stored in. When you use Resource Explorer to search, you can choose any view you have access to. The results automatically come from the Region associated with the selected view. If the view is from the Region that contains the aggregator index, the results include resources from all Regions where you created Resource Explorer indexes.

AWS Management Console Unified Search

At the top of every page in the AWS Management Console, there is a search bar. Resource Explorer returns resource search results in Unified Search when you have the appropriate permissions. You can use Resource Explorer search query syntax in the Unified Search text box, and see matching resources in those search results. You can search for resources from the console of any AWS service without having to first switch to the Resource Explorer console.

Important

Unified Search uses the default view in the aggregator Region if configured, or the default view in the current Region for regional results.

Resource Explorer commands in the AWS CLI and Tools for Windows PowerShell

The AWS CLI and Tools for PowerShell provide direct access to the Resource Explorer public API operations and automatically trigger setup based on your permissions when you invoke search operations. These tools work on Windows, macOS, and Linux. For more information about getting started, see the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide, or the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide. For more information about the commands for Resource Explorer, see the AWS CLI Command Reference or the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell Cmdlet Reference.

Resource Explorer operations in the AWS SDKs

AWS provides API commands for a broad set of programming languages that automatically enable Resource Explorer functionality when you have appropriate permissions. For more information about getting started, see Using AWS Resource Explorer with an AWS SDK.

Query API

If you don't use one of the supported programming languages, the Resource Explorer HTTPS Query API gives you programmatic access to Resource Explorer. With the Resource Explorer API, you can issue HTTPS requests directly to the service. When you use the Resource Explorer API, you must include code that can digitally sign your requests using your AWS credentials. For more information, see the AWS Resource Explorer API Reference.