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AWS EB CLI

What is the AWS EB CLI?​

The AWS Elastic Beanstalk CLI (eb) is Amazon's command-line tool for initializing, configuring, and deploying applications to Elastic Beanstalk. Laradock packages it in its own container (built on python:slim with awsebcli installed via pip), so you get a working eb command without installing Python or the CLI on your host.

Unlike most Laradock services, this isn't a long-running server, it's a CLI tool container you shell into on demand, similar to the workspace tools.

Start the container​

docker compose up -d aws

The container depends on workspace and shares its APP_CODE_PATH_HOST mount, so your project files are available inside it at the same path as in workspace.

Enter it and use eb​

docker compose exec aws bash
eb init

Follow the EB CLI configuration docs from there (eb create, eb deploy, eb status, etc.) exactly as you would with a host-installed EB CLI.

Stop the container​

docker compose stop aws

Since this container doesn't do anything on its own between commands, it's fine to leave it stopped and only start it when you need to run eb commands.

SSH keys​

Elastic Beanstalk environments are typically accessed over SSH, so before building the image, add the keys you want available inside the container to the aws-eb-cli/ssh_keys folder. The Dockerfile copies everything in that folder into /root/.ssh/ at build time and sets correct permissions (600 for private keys, 644 for .pub files).

docker compose build aws

Configuration​

There's no aws-eb-cli/defaults.env, this service has no Laradock-level environment variables to configure. All configuration happens through eb init/eb config (which write to .elasticbeanstalk/config.yml in your project) or through AWS credentials you provide inside the container.

Common issues​

  • SSH key changes don't show up in the container. SSH keys are copied in at build time, not mounted, rebuild after adding or changing keys: docker compose build aws.
  • eb can't find your project. Run eb init from inside APP_CODE_PATH_CONTAINER (your project root as mounted in the container), the same path workspace uses.
  • AWS credentials aren't picked up. The container doesn't inject AWS credentials automatically; configure them the same way you would for the EB CLI anywhere else, via eb init's prompts or standard AWS credential files/env vars.

Need a general dev shell instead? See the Workspace guide. New to Laradock? Start at Getting Started.