Getting started with Resource Explorer

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. If you signed up for an AWS account, you can access the Resource Explorer console by signing into the AWS Management Console and choosing Resource Explorer from the console home page.

You can also navigate in your browser directly to the Resource Explorer dashboard 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. You can configure Resource Explorer to participate in unified search. Then, your users can use Resource Explorer search query syntax in the unified search text box, and see matching resources in those search results. By turning this feature on, users can search for resources from the console of any AWS service without having to first switch to the Resource Explorer console.

Important

Unified search always searches using the default view in the AWS Region that contains the aggregator index.

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. 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. 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.