How do you show input variables on publicly shared cloudwatch dashboard

Unfortunately, it is not possible to show input variables on publicly shared CloudWatch dashboards. When you share a CloudWatch dashboard publicly, the people who access the shared dashboard cannot change or interact with dashboard variables. This limitation applies to all types of dashboard variables, including text input variables.

The reason for this is that publicly shared dashboards are designed to be view-only. They allow you to share dashboard information with others who don't have AWS credentials, but they don't provide interactive features like changing variable values.

If you need to allow users to interact with dashboard variables, you would need to consider alternative sharing methods. For example, you could share the dashboard with specific users who have AWS credentials, rather than sharing it publicly. This would allow those users to interact with the dashboard variables, but it would require them to have appropriate AWS permissions.

It's important to note that this limitation is not due to a missing permission in the role policy. It's a fundamental aspect of how public dashboard sharing works in CloudWatch. The feature is designed for displaying information, not for interactive use.

If your use case requires interactivity, you might need to explore other options, such as creating a custom application that interacts with CloudWatch APIs to provide a similar functionality while allowing user input.
Sources
Sharing CloudWatch dashboards - Amazon CloudWatch
Sharing a CloudWatch dashboard publicly - Amazon CloudWatch
Creating flexible CloudWatch dashboards with dashboard variables - Amazon CloudWatch