# /aws/instances

`POST /api/aws/instances`

Price: 20 credits

Look up one EC2 instance type in one region and return its on-demand rate together with the full hardware specification AWS publishes for it: vCPU count, memory, instance storage, network performance, physical processor, ECU rating, workload category and whether the type is a current or a previous generation. The rate is quoted for the guest operating system, tenancy, bundled software and licensing arrangement given in the request.

## How to use it

`instance_type` is the full name including the size — `m5.xlarge`, not `m5`; a family on its own is rejected. The four rate dimensions have no defaults because each changes the price: for a plain Linux machine send `Linux`, `Shared`, `NA` and `No License required`. Previous-generation types resolve here exactly like current ones. Only the on-demand rate is returned; for reserved rates call aws/prices/search with the same instance type.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `instance_type` (string, required) — EC2 instance type, family and size separated by a dot (examples: "m5.xlarge", "g5.2xlarge", "c7g.large"; minLength: 1)
- `region` (string, required) — AWS region, given either as the region code or as the display name aws/regions returns (examples: "us-east-1", "eu-west-1", "US East (Ohio)"; minLength: 1)
- `operating_system` (string, required) — Guest operating system the on-demand rate is quoted for (one of: "Linux", "RHEL", "Red Hat Enterprise Linux with HA", "SUSE", "Ubuntu Pro", "Windows")
- `tenancy` (string, required) — Tenancy the on-demand rate is quoted for (one of: "Dedicated", "Shared")
- `pre_installed_software` (string, required) — Software bundled with the instance in the quoted rate (one of: "NA", "SQL Ent", "SQL Std", "SQL Web")
- `license_model` (string, required) — Licensing arrangement the on-demand rate is quoted for (one of: "Bring your own license", "License Included - Infrastructure", "No License required")

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "AwsPrice")
- `id` (string, required)
- `instance_type` (string, required)
- `instance_category` (string, nullable)
- `location` (string, nullable)
- `region_code` (string, nullable)
- `term_type` (string, nullable)
- `tenancy` (string, nullable)
- `operating_system` (string, nullable)
- `pre_installed_software` (string, nullable)
- `license_model` (string, nullable)
- `lease_contract_length` (string, nullable)
- `purchase_option` (string, nullable)
- `offering_class` (string, nullable)
- `is_current_generation` (boolean, nullable)
- `price` (number, nullable)
- `currency` (string, nullable)
- `unit` (string, nullable)
- `vcpu` (integer, nullable)
- `ecu` (string, nullable)
- `memory` (string, nullable)
- `memory_gib` (number, nullable)
- `storage` (string, nullable)
- `network_performance` (string, nullable)
- `physical_processor` (string, nullable)
- `published_at` (string, nullable)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

The request body did not validate

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

The region is not in the AWS location catalogue, or that instance type carries no rate there under the requested operating system, tenancy, bundled software and licensing arrangement.

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

Something broke on our side

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.