Create an access key for an IAM user

This topic describes how to use AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) commands to create a set of access keys for an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) user. For more information on the IAM service, see the AWS Identity and Access Management User Guide.

Before you run any commands, set your default credentials. For more information, see Configure the AWS CLI.

You can use the create-access-key command to create an access key for a user. An access key is a set of security credentials that consists of an access key ID and a secret key.

A user can create only two access keys at one time. If you try to create a third set, the command returns a LimitExceeded error.

$ aws iam create-access-key --user-name MyUser
{
    "AccessKey": {
        "UserName": "MyUser",
        "AccessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "Status": "Active",
        "SecretAccessKey": "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY",
        "CreateDate": "2018-12-14T17:34:16Z"
    }
}

Use the delete-access-key command to delete an access key for a user. Specify which access key to delete by using the access key ID.

$ aws iam delete-access-key --user-name MyUser --access-key-id AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE