Using shared AWS config/credentials files locally in NodeJS ExpressJS app

user_2428258 0
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Im asking this question because I spent a long time trawling google trying to find an answer to it and finally stumbled upon a single line in an AWS doc that pointed me to the correct answer, but it is not obvious, so hope this helps someone save some time.

Problem: I am trying to call AWS services via the AWS SDK in my NodeJS Express app, but the SDK is not loading the profile and key details I have in my ~/.aws/credentials and ~/.aws/config files. When I try and log the credentials object it is empty. I am trying to use a profile which I have set using the AWS_PROFILE environment variable, set in a .env file. Looking at the AWS docs the SDK should look in these files under ~/.aws, but it doesnt seem to be doing this.

aws-sdk express node.js amazon-web-services environment
1 Answers

So the answer lies in a single line in one of the AWS docs: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-javascript/v2/developer-guide/getting-started-nodejs.html

Similarly, if you have set your region correctly in your config file, you can display that value by setting the AWS_SDK_LOAD_CONFIG environment variable to a truthy value

Adding AWS_SDK_LOAD_CONFIG=true to my .env file caused the SDK to start using the credentials stored in the ~/.aws/config and ~/.aws/credentials files.

I dont know why the docs dont make it more explicit that you need to do this (that page suggests you only need to set this to get the region to pass), everything I read suggested that these files would be checked by the SDK regardless.

Hopefully this helps save someone else a lot of frustration and Googling!

user_24282580
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