Environment variables to configure the AWS CLI - AWS Command Line Interface
How to set environment variablesAWS CLI supported environment variables

Environment variables to configure the AWS CLI

Environment variables provide another way to specify configuration options and credentials, and can be useful for scripting or temporarily setting a named profile as the default.

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 Configuration settings and precedence.

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 user or role.

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_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.

    AWS_CLI_AUTO_PROMPT=on

  • 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 particular 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.

    AWS_CLI_AUTO_PROMPT=on-partial

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 Having the AWS CLI prompt you for commands.

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_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

Specifies the AWS Region to send the request to.

If defined, this environment variable overrides the value for the profile setting region and . 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_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.

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_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.

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_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_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.