aws-cloudwatch-url-builder

AWS CloudWatch URL Builder

Mindset

CloudWatch URLs use the URL fragment (#) for all navigation state. The fragment is never sent to the server — it is interpreted entirely by the browser-side CloudWatch SPA. Standard %XX encoding does not apply inside fragment values; CloudWatch uses *XX (asterisk + uppercase hex) instead.

Build order:

1. Identify the target page type: Logs Insights, Alarm detail, or Metrics graph.
2. Gather parameters: region, log group name, time range, query or metric name.
3. Apply *XX encoding to value portions only — structural characters (~, (, ), ') stay literal.
4. Compose the URL using the template in references/encoding-reference.md.
5. Verify: epoch timestamps are 10-digit seconds, region appears in both subdomain and query string.

Rule of thumb for alarms: Navigate to the alarm detail page first — it shows the exact metric that triggered the alarm, which may be a Logs metric filter rather than a native AWS/Lambda metric.

When to Use This Skill

• Constructing a reproducible deep-link to a CloudWatch Logs Insights query
• Linking to an alarm detail page (state history + metric graph)
• Linking to a Metrics graph for a specific namespace/metric/dimension
• Generating URLs for Playwright screenshot capture of CloudWatch pages
• Documenting an incident with reproducible console evidence

When NOT to Use This Skill

• The target page is outside CloudWatch (e.g. S3 console, EC2 dashboard) — encoding rules differ per service
• You only need the AWS Console root URL or a service listing — no fragment encoding is required

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Anti-Patterns

Each entry shows the BAD practice and the GOOD replacement.

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❌ NEVER use %XX percent-encoding inside CloudWatch fragment values

WHY: CloudWatch fragment values use *XX (asterisk + uppercase hex). Using %XX produces a broken URL the CloudWatch SPA silently ignores or misparsees, loading the wrong query or a blank Logs Insights view.