List IAM users in an AWS account

Part 82 of AWS from Zero. This lesson changes or inspects one IAM concept so the permission model stays understandable.

What we are learning

list-users inventories IAM users in the current account. It does not include IAM Identity Center users or assumed role sessions.

Before you run it

aws sts get-caller-identity
ACCOUNT_ID=$(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Account --output text)
USER_NAME="aws-zero-learner"
GROUP_NAME="aws-zero-readers"
ROLE_NAME="aws-zero-demo-role"

IAM is global rather than regional. Use a sandbox account and a delegated administrator identity, never root access keys.

The command

aws iam list-users

IAM writes can take a short time to propagate. Inspect the resource after every change.

Inspect the result

aws iam list-users \
  --query "Users[].{Name:UserName,Path:Path,Created:CreateDate,Arn:Arn}" \
  --output table

Read the returned ARN, path, IDs, and attachment state instead of checking only the command exit code.

One tiny variation

aws iam list-users \
  --path-prefix "/applications/" \
  --query "Users[].UserName" \
  --output text

Paths can organize IAM resources, though tags and modern identity systems often carry more operational meaning.

Common mistake

An empty IAM user list does not mean the account has no human access. Check IAM Identity Center, roles, federation, and root-account protections separately.

Cleanup

# This lesson is read-only or reuses a named demo identity.
aws sts get-caller-identity

Keep shared demo identities only while following the IAM sequence. Part 125 removes them in dependency order.

Next, we will learn Inspect one IAM user.

Official AWS CLI reference