Environment variables support - AWS SDKs and Tools
How to set environment variables

Environment variables support

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 a setting by using its environment variable, it overrides any value loaded from a profile in the shared AWS config and credentials files.

  • If you specify a setting 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.

How to set environment variables

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

Linux, macOS, or Unix
$ 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
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 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. 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.

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.