AWS CLI Credentials & Config chain

If you use the AWS CLI tool for your operations and application implementation, it's important to note that the CLI searches for credentials and configuration data in a specific hierarchical order.

Command Line Options

For example: using options like "--profile", "--region", "--output" etc...

If the necessary data is not found through command line options, the CLI will check for environmental variables.

Environmental Variables

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID

AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

AWS_SESSION_TOKEN

AWS_DEFAULT_REGION

... and so on. If the data is still not found, the CLI will look for it in the CLI credentials file, which can be found at the following locations:

1. For Linux: ~/.aws/credentials

2. For Windows: C:\Users\<user-name>\.aws\credentials

Finally, if the data is still not found, the CLI will search for it in the CLI configuration file, which can be found at the following locations:

1. For Linux: ~/.aws/config

2. For Windows: C:\Users<user-name>.aws\config