Tagging IAM users - AWS Identity and Access Management
Permissions required for tagging IAM usersManaging tags on IAM users (console)Managing tags on IAM users (AWS CLI or AWS API)

Tagging IAM users

You can use IAM tag key-value pairs to add custom attributes to an IAM user. For example, to add location information to a user, you can add the tag key location and the tag value us_wa_seattle. Or you could use three separate location tag key-value pairs: loc-country = us, loc-state = wa, and loc-city = seattle. You can use tags to control a user's access to resources or to control what tags can be attached to a user. To learn more about using tags to control access, see Controlling access to and for IAM users and roles using tags.

You can also use tags in AWS STS to add custom attributes when you assume a role or federate a user. For more information, see Passing session tags in AWS STS.

Permissions required for tagging IAM users

You must configure permissions to allow an IAM user to tag other users. You can specify one or all of the following IAM tag actions in an IAM policy:

  • iam:ListUserTags

  • iam:TagUser

  • iam:UntagUser

To allow an IAM user to add, list, or remove a tag for a specific user

Add the following statement to the permissions policy for the IAM user that needs to manage tags. Use your account number and replace <username> with the name of the user whose tags need to be managed. To learn how to create a policy using this example JSON policy document, see Creating policies using the JSON editor.

{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": [
        "iam:ListUserTags",
        "iam:TagUser",
        "iam:UntagUser"
    ],
    "Resource": "arn:aws:iam::<account-number>:user/<username>"
}
To allow an IAM user to self-manage tags

Add the following statement to the permissions policy for users to allow users to manage their own tags. To learn how to create a policy using this example JSON policy document, see Creating policies using the JSON editor.

{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": [
        "iam:ListUserTags",
        "iam:TagUser",
        "iam:UntagUser"
    ],
    "Resource": "arn:aws:iam::user/${aws:username}"
}
To allow an IAM user to add a tag to a specific user

Add the following statement to the permissions policy for the IAM user that needs to add, but not remove, tags for a specific user.

Note

The iam:TagUser action requires that you also include the iam:ListUserTags action.

To use this policy, replace <username> with the name of the user whose tags need to be managed. To learn how to create a policy using this example JSON policy document, see Creating policies using the JSON editor.

{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": [
        "iam:ListUserTags",
        "iam:TagUser"
    ],
    "Resource": "arn:aws:iam::<account-number>:user/<username>"
}

Alternatively, you can use an AWS managed policy such as IAMFullAccess to provide full access to IAM.

Managing tags on IAM users (console)

You can manage tags for IAM users from the AWS Management Console.

To manage tags on users (console)

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.

  2. In the navigation pane of the console, choose Users and then choose the name of the user that you want to edit.

  3. Choose the Tags tab and then complete one of the following actions:

    • Choose Add new tag if the user does not yet have tags.

    • Choose Manage tags to manage the existing set of tags.

  4. Add or remove tags to complete the set of tags. Then choose Save changes.

Managing tags on IAM users (AWS CLI or AWS API)

You can list, attach, or remove tags for IAM users. You can use the AWS CLI or the AWS API to manage tags for IAM users.

To list the tags currently attached to an IAM user (AWS CLI or AWS API)
To attach tags to an IAM user (AWS CLI or AWS API)
To remove tags from an IAM user (AWS CLI or AWS API)

For information about attaching tags to resources for other AWS services, see the documentation for those services.

For information about using tags to set more granular permissions with IAM permissions policies, see IAM policy elements: Variables and tags.