Generated banner for Querying AWS S3
Generated logo for Querying AWS S3

Querying AWS S3

AWSOfficialPublished by AWS

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • Apache-2.0
  • No issues found

From the author

Queries S3 object metadata, tracks bucket activity, audits object changes, searches annotations, and analyzes storage metrics using S3 Metadata system tables (journal, inventory, annotation) and S3 Storage Lens tables via Athena SQL. Applies when counting objects, finding recent uploads or deletions, identifying who wrote to a prefix, breaking down storage classes, finding objects by tag, searching annotation content, analyzing storage lens metrics, or enabling S3 Metadata tracking. Prefers system tables over raw S3 APIs (list-objects-v2, head-object) at scale. Trigger phrases: bucket activity, object count, who uploaded, track deletions, storage class breakdown, find by tag, search annotations, storage lens metrics, audit bucket changes.
— the description by AWS

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill enables users to interact with Amazon S3 Metadata and S3 Storage Lens tables. By leveraging Apache Iceberg tables, it allows for SQL-based querying of object metadata, bucket activity logs, annotations, and storage metrics. It provides a structured approach to auditing bucket changes, tracking object lifecycle events, and performing complex filtering that is otherwise inefficient with standard S3 APIs.

What it does

  • Queries S3 inventory, journal, and annotation tables using Athena SQL
  • Analyzes S3 Storage Lens metrics for bucket activity and storage distribution
  • Audits object-level changes including uploads and deletions
  • Filters objects by tags or user-defined metadata
  • Configures and verifies S3 Metadata and Storage Lens table settings
  • Integrates S3 Tables with AWS Glue for analytics access

When to use it

  • When you need to count objects or analyze storage classes across large buckets
  • When auditing who uploaded or deleted specific objects
  • When searching through object annotations or custom metadata
  • When analyzing bucket-level storage trends and request activity
  • When standard S3 list operations are insufficient for your data requirements

Advantages

  • Enables SQL-based analysis of S3 metadata and activity logs
  • Provides visibility into requester and source IP for audit purposes
  • Allows filtering by object tags without individual API calls
  • Supports complex searches across annotation payloads
  • Facilitates bucket-level storage metric reporting

Usage examples

“How many objects are currently in my bucket?”
The agent generates a SQL query against the inventory table to return an accurate object count.
“Who deleted objects in my bucket in the last 24 hours?”
The agent queries the journal table to identify the requester and source IP for recent delete events.
“Find all objects with the tag environment set to staging.”
The agent executes a SQL query on the inventory table to filter objects by the specified tag map.
“Show me the storage class breakdown for my bucket.”
The agent queries the inventory table to group and count objects by their storage class.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/aws/querying-aws-s3/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip querying-aws-s3.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by AWS

Query AWS S3 System Tables

Overview

Works best with the AWS MCP server for sandboxed execution and audit logging. All commands below use the AWS CLI and work in any environment with configured AWS credentials. Use IAM roles or temporary credentials; avoid long-lived access keys.

Amazon S3 Metadata provides continuously-updated Apache Iceberg tables that capture object-level metadata for general-purpose buckets. S3 Storage Lens exports aggregated storage and activity metrics as Iceberg tables. Both are read-only, stored in the AWS-managed aws-s3 table bucket, and queryable via Amazon Athena.

System tables are preferred over raw S3 APIs (list-objects-v2, head-object) because:

  • list-objects-v2 paginates at 1000 objects/page — inefficient for large buckets (millions or billions of objects). The inventory table answers SELECT COUNT(*) in seconds at any scale.

  • list-objects-v2 cannot identify who uploaded an object, from which IP, or when something was deleted. Only the journal table has requester, source_ip_address, and delete event tracking.

  • Filtering by tag requires get-object-tagging per object. The inventory table has object_tags as a queryable map column.

Decision Tree

User intentUse this skill?TableAlternative
How many objects in my bucketYesinventory—
What was recently uploaded/deletedYesjournal—
Who wrote/deleted objects (audit)Yesjournal (requester, source_ip)—
Storage class breakdownYesinventory—
Find objects by tag or user metadataYesinventory—
Search annotation contentYesannotationSingle object → direct API get-object-annotation
Write/update an annotationNo—Direct API: put-object-annotation (tables are read-only)
Query data inside objectsNo—querying-data-lake
Bucket-level storage metrics/trendsYesStorage Lens tables—
Enable metadata trackingYessee Enable section—

Common Tasks

1. Check If Configured

Before querying, confirm S3 Metadata is enabled on the target bucket.

aws s3api get-bucket-metadata-configuration --bucket <BUCKET> --region <REGION>

Interpret the response:

  • MetadataConfigurationNotFound error → not enabled. See Enable section below.

  • TableStatus: ACTIVE → ready to query.

  • TableStatus: BACKFILLING → queryable but inventory may be incomplete.

  • TableStatus: FAILED → check error field (usually IAM).

For Storage Lens:

aws s3control get-storage-lens-configuration --account-id <ACCOUNT> --config-id <CONFIG_ID> --region <REGION>

Look for DataExport.StorageLensTableDestination.IsEnabled: true.

2. Enable (if not configured)

Enable S3 Metadata on a bucket:

aws s3api create-bucket-metadata-configuration \
  --bucket <BUCKET> \
  --region <REGION> \
  --metadata-configuration '{
    "JournalTableConfiguration": {"RecordExpiration": {"Expiration": "DISABLED"}},
    "InventoryTableConfiguration": {"ConfigurationState": "ENABLED"}
  }'

To also enable annotations (requires a service role):

aws s3api create-bucket-metadata-configuration \
  --bucket <BUCKET> \
  --region <REGION> \
  --metadata-configuration '{
    "JournalTableConfiguration": {"RecordExpiration": {"Expiration": "ENABLED", "Days": 90}},
    "InventoryTableConfiguration": {"ConfigurationState": "ENABLED"},
    "AnnotationTableConfiguration": {"ConfigurationState": "ENABLED", "Role": "<ROLE_ARN>"}
  }'

Enable Storage Lens S3 Tables export:

aws s3control put-storage-lens-configuration \
  --account-id <ACCOUNT> \
  --config-id <CONFIG_ID> \
  --region <REGION> \
  --storage-lens-configuration '{
    "Id": "<CONFIG_ID>",
    "IsEnabled": true,
    "AccountLevel": {"BucketLevel": {}},
    "DataExport": {
      "StorageLensTableDestination": {"IsEnabled": true}
    }
  }'

Register S3 Tables federated catalog in Glue (required for Athena access):

aws glue create-catalog --region <REGION> --cli-input-json '{
  "Name": "s3tablescatalog",
  "CatalogInput": {
    "FederatedCatalog": {
      "Identifier": "arn:aws:s3tables:<REGION>:<ACCOUNT>:bucket/*",
      "ConnectionName": "aws:s3tables"
    }
  }
}'

For setup permissions and IAM role requirements, see Security Considerations below.

3. Verify Permissions

Querying requires:

  • Athena execution permissions

  • S3 Tables read permissions (see least-privilege policy in Security Considerations)

  • The S3 Tables federated catalog registered in Glue (s3tablescatalog)

  • Athena workgroup with SSE-KMS encryption configured on the output location

If CATALOG_NOT_FOUND errors occur, the Glue integration may not be enabled. See: Integrating S3 Tables with AWS analytics services

4. Identify the Target Table

S3 Metadata tables — namespace is b_<bucket-name>:

TableWhat it captures
journalEvent log — every CREATE, DELETE, UPDATE_METADATA, and annotation events. Near real-time.
inventoryCurrent state — one row per object (latest version). Updates within 1 hour.
annotationAnnotation payloads — text_value column holds the full content. Near real-time.

Storage Lens tables — namespace is lens_<config-id>_exp:

TableWhat it captures
default_storage_metricsPer-bucket/prefix: object count, size, storage class breakdown. Daily.
default_activity_metricsPer-bucket/prefix: GET/PUT/DELETE request counts. Daily.
bucket_property_metricsBucket config: versioning, encryption, lifecycle settings. Daily.
5. Query

Query syntax:

"s3tablescatalog/aws-s3"."<namespace>"."<table>"

Constraints:

  • You MUST confirm workgroup and output location before executing

  • You MUST ensure the Athena workgroup enforces SSE-KMS encryption on query results

  • You MUST warn user that tables are read-only — no INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE

  • You SHOULD use the key columns documented in this skill to build queries. If you need the full schema (e.g., AWS has added new columns), run get-tables once on any single namespace — schemas are identical across all instances of the same table type:

    aws glue get-tables --catalog-id "<ACCOUNT>:s3tablescatalog/aws-s3" --database-name "<namespace>" --region <REGION>

Journal — audit who changed what:

SELECT key, record_type, record_timestamp, requester, source_ip_address
FROM "s3tablescatalog/aws-s3"."b_<bucket>"."journal"
WHERE record_type = 'DELETE'
  AND record_timestamp > current_timestamp - interval '24' hour
ORDER BY record_timestamp DESC;

Journal — track annotation events:

SELECT key, record_type, annotation.name, record_timestamp
FROM "s3tablescatalog/aws-s3"."b_<bucket>"."journal"
WHERE record_type IN ('CREATE_ANNOTATION', 'DELETE_ANNOTATION', 'UPDATE_ANNOTATION_METADATA')
ORDER BY record_timestamp DESC LIMIT 20;

Inventory — find objects by storage class:

SELECT key, size, storage_class, last_modified_date
FROM "s3tablescatalog/aws-s3"."b_<bucket>"."inventory"
WHERE storage_class = 'GLACIER'
ORDER BY size DESC LIMIT 50;

Inventory — find objects by tag:

SELECT key, size, object_tags
FROM "s3tablescatalog/aws-s3"."b_<bucket>"."inventory"
WHERE object_tags['environment'] = 'staging';

Annotation — search across payloads:

SELECT object_key, name, text_value
FROM "s3tablescatalog/aws-s3"."b_<bucket>"."annotation"
WHERE text_value LIKE '%error%';

Annotation — extract JSON fields:

SELECT object_key, json_extract_scalar(text_value, '$.status') as status
FROM "s3tablescatalog/aws-s3"."b_<bucket>"."annotation"
WHERE name = 'pipeline_status'
  AND json_extract_scalar(text_value, '$.status') = 'FAILED';

Storage Lens — storage distribution:

SELECT *
FROM "s3tablescatalog/aws-s3"."lens_<config-id>_exp"."default_storage_metrics"
LIMIT 20;
Routing: Athena vs Direct API
ScenarioUse
Single known object + annotation nameDirect API: get-object-annotation
Aggregate/count across many objectsAthena on annotation or inventory table
Full-text search across annotation payloadsAthena with LIKE or json_extract_scalar
Write/update an annotationDirect API: put-object-annotation (table is read-only)
Feature not configured on bucketDirect API loop (list-objects-v2 + head-object); suggest enabling S3 Metadata

Troubleshooting

ErrorCauseFix
CATALOG_NOT_FOUNDS3 Tables not registered in GlueEnable integration: S3 console > Table buckets > Enable integration
Empty results from journalFeature just enabled; no events recorded yetUpload/delete an object and wait ~1 minute
Empty results from inventoryTable still BACKFILLINGCheck status; wait for ACTIVE (minutes to hours depending on object count)
AccessDenied querying tableMissing s3tables:GetTable or GetTableMetadataLocationSee Security Considerations below
Wrong namespaceBucket name has periodsPeriods are converted to underscores in namespace: my.bucket → b_my_bucket
No Storage Lens dataFirst delivery takes up to 48 hoursWait; no historical backfill

Security Considerations

Least-Privilege IAM Policy

Scope permissions to specific table bucket ARNs rather than using wildcards:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3tables:GetTable",
        "s3tables:GetTableMetadataLocation",
        "s3tables:GetTableData",
        "s3tables:GetNamespace",
        "s3tables:ListTables",
        "s3tables:ListNamespaces",
        "s3tables:GetTableBucket"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3tables:<REGION>:<ACCOUNT>:bucket/aws-s3",
        "arn:aws:s3tables:<REGION>:<ACCOUNT>:bucket/aws-s3/*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}
Data Sensitivity

Journal query results may contain sensitive fields:

  • requester — AWS account ID or service principal that made the request

  • source_ip_address — IP address of the requester

Query results containing these fields should be stored in encrypted, access-controlled locations. Avoid logging or sharing raw query output that contains IP addresses or principal identifiers.

Encryption for Query Results

Configure the Athena workgroup with EncryptionConfiguration to encrypt query results at rest:

{
  "ResultConfiguration": {
    "EncryptionConfiguration": {
      "EncryptionOption": "SSE_KMS",
      "KmsKey": "arn:aws:kms:<REGION>:<ACCOUNT>:key/<KEY_ID>"
    }
  }
}
Audit Trail

Enable CloudTrail logging for Athena (StartQueryExecution, GetQueryResults) and S3 Tables (s3tables:GetTableData) API calls to maintain an audit trail of who queried what metadata. Ensure CloudTrail logs are encrypted with SSE-KMS and stored in a bucket with access logging enabled.

Additional Resources

Files

LICENSE


                                 Apache License
                           Version 2.0, January 2004
                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/

   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

   1. Definitions.

      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
      the copyright owner that is granting the License.

      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
      exercising permissions granted by this License.

      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
      source, and configuration files.

      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
      and conversions to other media types.

      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
      Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
      copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
      (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

      "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
      the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
      to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
      submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
      or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
      the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
      means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
      to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
      communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
      and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
      Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
      excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
      designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
      on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
      subsequently incorporated within the Work.

   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
      cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
      or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
      or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
      granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
      as of the date such litigation is filed.

   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
      meet the following conditions:

      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
          Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
          stating that You changed the files; and

      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
          the Derivative Works; and

      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
          distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
          include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
          within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
          pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
          as modifying the License.

      You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
      may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
      for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
      for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
      reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
      the conditions stated in this License.

   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
      appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
      incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
      other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
      has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

Requirements and compatibility

Written for: Claude Code

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Claude Code frontmatter, Needs an MCP server, Needs a command-line tool

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Published by
AWS
Publisher
AWS (Official)
Source
aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws · skills/specialized-skills/system-table-skills/querying-aws-s3 · commit 0a218f8
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • NOTICE (added by AutoGineer from NOTICE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by AWS or AWS.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download querying-aws-s3.zip