Authentication and access

You don't need to authenticate with AWS to start working with the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio. However, most AWS resources are managed through an AWS account. To access all of the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio services and features, you'll need at least 2 types of account authentication:

1. Either AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) or AWS IAM Identity Center (successor to AWS Single Sign-On) authentication for your AWS accounts. Most AWS services and resources are manged through IAM and IAM Identity Center.

2. An AWS Builder ID is either optional for certain other AWS services.

The following topics contain additional details and set up instructions for each credential type and authentication method.

Topics

• AWS IAM Identity Center credentials in AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio
• AWS IAM credentials
• AWS Builder ID
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) in Toolkit for Visual Studio
• Setting up external credentials