# Getting started with the Amazon CLI
<a name="cli-chap-getting-started"></a>

This chapter provides steps to get started with version 2 of the Amazon Command Line Interface (Amazon CLI) and provides links to the relevant instructions. 

1. **[Complete all prerequisites](getting-started-prereqs.md)** - To access Amazon services with the Amazon CLI, you need at minimum an Amazon Web Services account and IAM credentials. To increase the security of your Amazon account, we recommend that you do not use your root account credentials. You should create a user with least privilege to provide access credentials to the tasks you'll be running in Amazon. 

1. Install or gain access to the Amazon CLI using one of the following methods:
   + **(Recommended)** [Installing or updating to the latest version of the Amazon CLI](getting-started-install.md).
   + [Building and installing the Amazon CLI from source](getting-started-source-install.md). Building the Amazon CLI from GitHub source is a more in-depth method that is primarily used by customers who work on platforms that we do not directly support with our pre-built installers.
   + [Running the official Amazon ECR Public or Docker images for the Amazon CLI](getting-started-docker.md).
   + Access the Amazon CLI version 2 in the Amazon console from your browser using Amazon CloudShell. For more information, see the [Amazon CloudShell User Guide](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/cloudshell/latest/userguide/).

1. [After you have access to the Amazon CLI, configure your Amazon CLI with your IAM credentials for first time use](getting-started-quickstart.md).

**Troubleshooting installer or configure errors**  
If you have issues after installing, uninstalling, or configuring the Amazon CLI, see [Troubleshooting errors for the Amazon CLI](cli-chap-troubleshooting.md) for troubleshooting steps.

**Topics**
+ [Prerequisites to use the Amazon CLI version 2](getting-started-prereqs.md)
+ [Installing or updating to the latest version of the Amazon CLI](getting-started-install.md)
+ [Installing past releases of the Amazon CLI version 2](getting-started-version.md)
+ [Building and installing the Amazon CLI from source](getting-started-source-install.md)
+ [Running the official Amazon ECR Public or Docker images for the Amazon CLI](getting-started-docker.md)
+ [Setting up the Amazon CLI](getting-started-quickstart.md)