The AWS SDK for JavaScript v2 has reached end-of-support. We recommend that you migrate to AWS SDK for JavaScript v3. For additional details and information on how to migrate, please refer to this announcement.

Setting the AWS Region

A Region is a named set of AWS resources in the same geographical area. An example of a Region is us-east-1, which is the US East (N. Virginia) Region. You specify a Region when configuring the SDK for JavaScript so that the SDK accesses the resources in that Region. Some services are available only in specific Regions.

The SDK for JavaScript doesn't select a Region by default. However, you can set the Region using an environment variable, a shared config file, or the global configuration object.

In a Client Class Constructor

When you instantiate a service object, you can specify the Region for that resource as part of the client class constructor, as shown here.

var s3 = new AWS.S3({apiVersion: '2006-03-01', region: 'us-east-1'});

Using the Global Configuration Object

To set the Region in your JavaScript code, update the AWS.Config global configuration object as shown here.

AWS.config.update({region: 'us-east-1'});

For more information about current Regions and available services in each Region, see AWS Regions and Endpoints in the AWS General Reference.

Using an Environment Variable

You can set the Region using the AWS_REGION environment variable. If you define this variable, the SDK for JavaScript reads it and uses it.

Using a Shared Config File

Much like the shared credentials file lets you store credentials for use by the SDK, you can keep your Region and other configuration settings in a shared file named config that is used by SDKs. If the AWS_SDK_LOAD_CONFIG environment variable has been set to any value, the SDK for JavaScript automatically searches for a config file when it loads. Where you save the config file depends on your operating system:

If you don't already have a shared config file, you can create one in the designated directory. In the following example, the config file sets both the Region and the output format.

[default]
   region=us-east-1
   output=json

For more information about using shared config and credentials files, see Loading Credentials in Node.js from the Shared Credentials File or Configuration and Credential Files in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

Order of Precedence for Setting the Region

The order of precedence for Region setting is as follows: