cli53

Amazon Route 53 DNS management tool

TLDR

List all hosted zones

$ cli53 list

Export DNS records for a domain in BIND format

$ cli53 export [example.com]

Import DNS records from a BIND zone file

$ cli53 import --file [zone.txt] [example.com]

Create a new DNS record

$ cli53 rrcreate [example.com] '[www 300 A 192.0.2.1]'

Delete a DNS record

$ cli53 rrdelete [example.com] [www] [A]

Create a new hosted zone

$ cli53 create [example.com]

Purge all records from a zone (keeping NS and SOA)

$ cli53 rrpurge --confirm [example.com]

SYNOPSIS

cli53 command [options] [arguments]

cli53 is a command-line tool for managing Amazon Web Services Route 53 DNS service. It provides a straightforward interface for creating, modifying, exporting, and importing DNS records using familiar BIND zone file format.
The tool supports the full range of Route 53 record types including A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, and alias records. It can export entire zones to BIND format for backup or migration, and import records from zone files for bulk updates.
cli53 uses standard AWS credential handling, supporting environment variables, credential files, and IAM roles. It's particularly useful for infrastructure automation, disaster recovery preparation, and migrating DNS records between providers.

PARAMETERS

list

List all hosted zones in the account.

export ZONE

Export zone records in BIND format.

import ZONE

Import records from a BIND zone file.

rrcreate ZONE RECORD

Create a resource record.

rrdelete ZONE NAME TYPE

Delete a resource record.

create ZONE

Create a new hosted zone.

delete ZONE

Delete a hosted zone.

rrpurge ZONE

Delete all records in a zone except NS and SOA.

--file FILE

File containing zone records for import.

--replace

Replace existing records during import.

--wait

Wait for changes to propagate before returning.

--confirm

Confirm destructive operations without prompting.

CAVEATS

Requires AWS credentials with Route 53 permissions configured via environment variables or AWS credential files. The rrpurge command is destructive and cannot be undone. Zone IDs can be used instead of domain names for disambiguation when multiple zones exist for the same domain.

HISTORY

cli53 was created as an open-source tool to simplify Route 53 management from the command line. Named after Route 53's port association (DNS uses port 53), it provides a more user-friendly alternative to AWS CLI's Route 53 commands, particularly for bulk operations using BIND zone file format.