Configuring environment variables for the AWS CLI - AWS Command Line Interface
How to set environment variablesAWS CLI supported environment variables

Configuring environment variables for the AWS CLI

Environment variables provide another way to specify configuration options and credentials, and can be useful for scripting.

Precedence of options

  • If you specify an option by using one of the environment variables described in this topic, it overrides any value loaded from a profile in the configuration file.

  • If you specify an option by using a parameter on the AWS CLI command line, it overrides any value from either the corresponding environment variable or a profile in the configuration file.

For more information about precedence and how the AWS CLI determines which credentials to use, see Configuring settings for the AWS CLI.

How to set environment variables

The following examples show how you can configure environment variables for the default user.

Linux or macOS
$ export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
$ export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
$ export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-west-2

Setting the environment variable changes the value used until the end of your shell session, or until you set the variable to a different value. You can make the variables persistent across future sessions by setting them in your shell's startup script.

Windows Command Prompt

To set for all sessions

C:\> setx AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
C:\> setx AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
C:\> setx AWS_DEFAULT_REGION us-west-2

Using setx to set an environment variable changes the value used in both the current command prompt session and all command prompt sessions that you create after running the command. It does not affect other command shells that are already running at the time you run the command. You may need to restart you terminal for settings to load.

To set for current session only

Using set to set an environment variable changes the value used until the end of the current command prompt session, or until you set the variable to a different value. 

C:\> set AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
C:\> set AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
C:\> set AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-west-2
PowerShell
PS C:\> $Env:AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"
PS C:\> $Env:AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY"
PS C:\> $Env:AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-west-2"

If you set an environment variable at the PowerShell prompt as shown in the previous examples, it saves the value for only the duration of the current session. To make the environment variable setting persistent across all PowerShell and Command Prompt sessions, store it by using the System application in Control Panel. Alternatively, you can set the variable for all future PowerShell sessions by adding it to your PowerShell profile. See the PowerShell documentation for more information about storing environment variables or persisting them across sessions.

AWS CLI supported environment variables

The AWS CLI supports the following environment variables.

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID

Specifies an AWS access key associated with an IAM account.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting aws_access_key_id. You can't specify the access key ID by using a command line option.

AWS_ACCOUNT_ID

Specifies the AWS account-based endpoint ID to use for calls to supported AWS services. For more information on account-based endpoints, see Account-based endpoints.

This setting overrides the aws_account_id setting. The AWS_ACCOUNT_ID_ENDPOINT_MODE environment variable or account_id_endpoint_mode setting must be set to preferred or required to use this setting.

Endpoint precedence

Endpoint configuration settings are located in multiple places, such as the system or user environment variables, local AWS configuration files, or explicitly declared on the command line as a parameter. The AWS CLI checks these endpoint settings in a particular order, and uses the endpoint setting with the highest precedence. For the endpoint precedence list, see Endpoint configuration and settings precedence.

AWS_ACCOUNT_ID_ENDPOINT_MODE

Specifies whether to use AWS account-based endpoint IDs for calls to supported AWS services. For more information on account-based endpoints, see Account-based endpoints.

This setting can be set to the following:

  • (default) preferred – The endpoint should include account ID if available.

  • disabled – A resolved endpoint doesn't include account ID.

  • required – The endpoint must include account ID. If the account ID isn't available, the SDK throws an error.

This setting overrides the account_id_endpoint_mode setting. To use account-based endpoints, the ID must be set in the AWS_ACCOUNT_ID environment variable or aws_account_id setting.

Endpoint precedence

Endpoint configuration settings are located in multiple places, such as the system or user environment variables, local AWS configuration files, or explicitly declared on the command line as a parameter. The AWS CLI checks these endpoint settings in a particular order, and uses the endpoint setting with the highest precedence. For the endpoint precedence list, see Endpoint configuration and settings precedence.

AWS_CA_BUNDLE

Specifies the path to a certificate bundle to use for HTTPS certificate validation.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting ca_bundle. You can override this environment variable by using the --ca-bundle command line parameter.

AWS_CLI_AUTO_PROMPT

Enables the auto-prompt for the AWS CLI version 2. There are two settings that can be used:

  • on uses the full auto-prompt mode each time you attempt to run an aws command. This includes pressing ENTER after both a complete command or incomplete command.

  • on-partial uses partial auto-prompt mode. If a command is incomplete or cannot be run due to client-side validation errors, auto-prompt is used. This mode is useful if you have pre-existing scripts, runbooks, or you only want to be auto-prompted for commands you are unfamiliar with rather than prompted on every command.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the cli_auto_prompt profile setting. You can override this environment variable by using the --cli-auto-prompt and --no-cli-auto-prompt command line parameters.

For information on the AWS CLI version 2 auto-prompt feature, see Enabling and using command prompts in the AWS CLI.

AWS_CLI_FILE_ENCODING

Specifies the encoding used for text files. By default encoding matches your locale. To set encoding different from the locale, use the aws_cli_file_encoding environment variable. For example, if you use Windows with default encoding CP1252, setting aws_cli_file_encoding=UTF-8 sets the CLI to open text files using UTF-8.

AWS_CLI_S3_MV_VALIDATE_SAME_S3_PATHS

If the source and destination buckets are the same when using the s3 mv command, the source file or object can be moved onto itself, which can result in accidental deletion of your source file or object. The AWS_CLI_S3_MV_VALIDATE_SAME_S3_PATHS environment variable and --validate-same-s3-paths option specifies whether to validate your access point ARNs or access point aliases in your Amazon S3 source or destination URIs.

Note

Path validation for s3 mv requires additional API calls.

AWS_CONFIG_FILE

Specifies the location of the file that the AWS CLI uses to store configuration profiles. The default path is ~/.aws/config.

You can't specify this value in a named profile setting or by using a command line parameter.

AWS_DATA_PATH

A list of additional directories to check outside of the built-in search path of ~/.aws/models when loading AWS CLI data. Setting this environment variable indicates additional directories to check first before falling back to the built-in search path. Multiple entries should be separated with the os.pathsep character, which is : on Linux or macOS and ; on Windows.

AWS_DEFAULT_OUTPUT

Specifies the output format to use.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting output. You can override this environment variable by using the --output command line parameter.

AWS_DEFAULT_REGION

The Default region name identifies the AWS Region whose servers you want to send your requests to by default. This is typically the Region closest to you, but it can be any Region. For example, you can type us-west-2 to use US West (Oregon). This is the Region that all later requests are sent to, unless you specify otherwise in an individual command.

Note

You must specify an AWS Region when using the AWS CLI, either explicitly or by setting a default Region. For a list of the available Regions, see Regions and Endpoints. The Region designators used by the AWS CLI are the same names that you see in AWS Management Console URLs and service endpoints.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting region. You can override this environment variable by using the --region command line parameter and the AWS SDK compatible AWS_REGION environment variable.

AWS_EC2_METADATA_DISABLED

Disables the use of the Amazon EC2 instance metadata service (IMDS).

If set to true, user credentials or configuration (like the Region) are not requested from IMDS.

AWS_ENDPOINT_URL

Specifies the endpoint that is used for all service requests. For more information, see Set global endpoint for all AWS services.

Endpoint precedence

Endpoint configuration settings are located in multiple places, such as the system or user environment variables, local AWS configuration files, or explicitly declared on the command line as a parameter. The AWS CLI checks these endpoint settings in a particular order, and uses the endpoint setting with the highest precedence. For the endpoint precedence list, see Endpoint configuration and settings precedence.

AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_<SERVICE>

Specifies a custom endpoint that is used for a specific service, where <SERVICE> is replaced with the AWS service identifier. For example, Amazon DynamoDB has a serviceId of DynamoDB. For this service, the endpoint URL environment variable is AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_DYNAMODB.

For a list of all service-specific environment variables, see List of service-specific identifiers.

Endpoint precedence

Endpoint configuration settings are located in multiple places, such as the system or user environment variables, local AWS configuration files, or explicitly declared on the command line as a parameter. The AWS CLI checks these endpoint settings in a particular order, and uses the endpoint setting with the highest precedence. For the endpoint precedence list, see Endpoint configuration and settings precedence.

AWS_IGNORE_CONFIGURED_ENDPOINT_URLS

If enabled, the AWS CLI ignores all custom endpoint configurations. Valid values are true and false. For more information, see Set global endpoint for all AWS services.

Endpoint configuration settings are located in multiple places, such as the system or user environment variables, local AWS configuration files, or explicitly declared on the command line as a parameter. For endpoint precedence, see Endpoint configuration and settings precedence.

Endpoint precedence

Endpoint configuration settings are located in multiple places, such as the system or user environment variables, local AWS configuration files, or explicitly declared on the command line as a parameter. The AWS CLI checks these endpoint settings in a particular order, and uses the endpoint setting with the highest precedence. For the endpoint precedence list, see Endpoint configuration and settings precedence.

AWS_MAX_ATTEMPTS

Specifies a value of maximum retry attempts the AWS CLI retry handler uses, where the initial call counts toward the value that you provide. For more information on retries, see AWS CLI retries in the AWS CLI.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profiles setting max_attempts.

AWS_METADATA_SERVICE_NUM_ATTEMPTS

When attempting to retrieve credentials on an Amazon EC2 instance that has been configured with an IAM role, the AWS CLI attempts to retrieve credentials once from the instance metadata service before stopping. If you know your commands will run on an Amazon EC2 instance, you can increase this value to make AWS CLI retry multiple times before giving up.

AWS_METADATA_SERVICE_TIMEOUT

The number of seconds before a connection to the instance metadata service should time out. When attempting to retrieve credentials on an Amazon EC2 instance that is configured with an IAM role, a connection to the instance metadata service times out after 1 second by default. If you know you're running on an Amazon EC2 instance with an IAM role configured, you can increase this value if needed.

AWS_PAGER

Specifies the pager program used for output. By default, AWS CLI version 2 returns all output through your operating system’s default pager program.

To disable all use of an external paging program, set the variable to an empty string.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting cli_pager.

AWS_PROFILE

Specifies the name of the AWS CLI profile with the credentials and options to use. This can be the name of a profile stored in a credentials or config file, or the value default to use the default profile.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the behavior of using the profile named [default] in the configuration file. You can override this environment variable by using the --profile command line parameter.

AWS_REGION

The AWS SDK compatible environment variable that specifies the AWS Region to send the request to.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the values in the environment variable AWS_DEFAULT_REGION and the profile setting region. You can override this environment variable by using the --region command line parameter.

AWS_REQUEST_CHECKSUM_CALCULATION

Specifies when a checksum is calculated for request payloads, and has the following options:

  • when_supported – (Default) The request payload checksum is calculated when an operation either specifies a checksum algorithm in its service model or requires request checksums.

  • when_required – The request payload checksum is calculated when an operation requires request checksums or when a user provides a requestAlgorithmMember that is modeled by the AWS service.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profiles setting request_checksum_calculation.

AWS_RESPONSE_CHECKSUM_VALIDATION

Specifies when checksum validation is performed for response payloads, and has the following options:

  • when_supported – (Default) The response payload checksum validation is performed when an operation specifies a response algorithm in its service model that the AWS CLI supports.

  • when_required – The response payload checksum validation is performed when an operation specifies a response algorithm in its service model that the AWS CLI supports, and you set the modeled requestValidationModeMember to ENABLED in the operation input.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profiles setting response_checksum_validation.

AWS_RETRY_MODE

Specifies which retry mode AWS CLI uses. There are three retry modes available: legacy (default), standard, and adaptive. For more information on retries, see AWS CLI retries in the AWS CLI.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profiles setting retry_mode.

AWS_ROLE_ARN

Specifies the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of an IAM role with a web identity provider that you want to use to run the AWS CLI commands.

Used with the AWS_WEB_IDENTITY_TOKEN_FILE and AWS_ROLE_SESSION_NAME environment variables.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting role_arn. You can't specify a role session name as a command line parameter.

Note

This environment variable only applies to an assumed role with web identity provider it does not apply to the general assume role provider configuration.

For more information on using web identities, see Assume role with web identity.

AWS_ROLE_SESSION_NAME

Specifies the name to attach to the role session. This value is provided to the RoleSessionName parameter when the AWS CLI calls the AssumeRole operation, and becomes part of the assumed role user ARN: arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/role_name/role_session_name. This is an optional parameter. If you do not provide this value, a session name is generated automatically. This name appears in AWS CloudTrail logs for entries associated with this session.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting role_session_name.

Used with the AWS_ROLE_ARN and AWS_WEB_IDENTITY_TOKEN_FILE environment variables.

For more information on using web identities, see Assume role with web identity.

Note

This environment variable only applies to an assumed role with web identity provider it does not apply to the general assume role provider configuration.

AWS_SDK_UA_APP_ID

A single AWS account can be used by multiple customer applications to make calls to AWS services. Application ID identifies which source application made a set of calls using an AWS service. AWS SDKs and services don't use or interpret this value other than to surface it back in customer communications. For example, this value can be included in operational emails to uniquely identify which of your applications is associated with the notification.

By default, there is no value.

The Application ID is a string with maximum length of 50 characters. Letters, numbers and the following special characters are allowed: 

! $ % & * + - . , ^ _ ` | ~

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting sdk_ua_app_id. You can't specify Application ID as a command line option.

AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Specifies the secret key associated with the access key. This is essentially the "password" for the access key.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting aws_secret_access_key. You can't specify the secret access key ID as a command line option.

AWS_SESSION_TOKEN

Specifies the session token value that is required if you are using temporary security credentials that you retrieved directly from AWS STS operations. For more information, see the Output section of the assume-role command in the AWS CLI Command Reference.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting aws_session_token.

AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE

Specifies the location of the file that the AWS CLI uses to store access keys. The default path is ~/.aws/credentials.

You can't specify this value in a named profile setting or by using a command line parameter.

AWS_SIGV4A_SIGNING_REGION_SET

Specifies the regions to use when signing with SigV4a using a comma-delimited list. If this variable is not set, the AWS CLI uses the default used by the AWS service. If the AWS service has no default, the request signature becomes valid in all regions using a value of *.

For more information on SigV4a, see AWS Signature Version 4 for API requests in the IAM User Guide

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting sigv4a_signing_region_set.

AWS_USE_DUALSTACK_ENDPOINT

Enables the use of dual-stack endpoints to send AWS requests. To learn more about dual-stack endpoints, which support both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic, see Using Amazon S3 dual-stack endpoints in the Amazon Simple Storage Service User Guide. Dual-stack endpoints are available for some services in some regions. If a dual-stack endpoint does not exist for the service or AWS Region, the request fails. This is disabled by default. For more information, see Set to use dual-stack endpoints for all AWS services.

Endpoint precedence

Endpoint configuration settings are located in multiple places, such as the system or user environment variables, local AWS configuration files, or explicitly declared on the command line as a parameter. The AWS CLI checks these endpoint settings in a particular order, and uses the endpoint setting with the highest precedence. For the endpoint precedence list, see Endpoint configuration and settings precedence.

AWS_USE_FIPS_ENDPOINT

Some AWS services offer endpoints that support Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 in some AWS Regions. When the AWS service supports FIPS, this setting specifies what FIPS endpoint the AWS CLI should use . Unlike standard AWS endpoints, FIPS endpoints use a TLS software library that complies with FIPS 140-2. These endpoints might be required by enterprises that interact with the United States government. For more information see, Set to use FIPs endpoints for all AWS services.

If this setting is enabled, but a FIPS endpoint does not exist for the service in your AWS Region, the AWS command may fail. In this case, manually specify the endpoint to use in the command using the --endpoint-url option or use service-specific endpoints.

Endpoint precedence

Endpoint configuration settings are located in multiple places, such as the system or user environment variables, local AWS configuration files, or explicitly declared on the command line as a parameter. The AWS CLI checks these endpoint settings in a particular order, and uses the endpoint setting with the highest precedence. For the endpoint precedence list, see Endpoint configuration and settings precedence.

AWS_WEB_IDENTITY_TOKEN_FILE

Specifies the path to a file that contains an OAuth 2.0 access token or OpenID Connect ID token that is provided by an identity provider. The AWS CLI loads the contents of this file and passes it as the WebIdentityToken argument to the AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity operation.

Used with the AWS_ROLE_ARN and AWS_ROLE_SESSION_NAME environment variables.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting web_identity_token_file.

For more information on using web identities, see Assume role with web identity.

Note

This environment variable only applies to an assumed role with web identity provider it does not apply to the general assume role provider configuration.