@aws-sdk/credential-provider-env

What is @aws-sdk/credential-provider-env?

The @aws-sdk/credential-provider-env package is designed to provide AWS credentials from environment variables to applications. It is part of the AWS SDK for JavaScript (v3), which is a modular collection of software for interfacing with AWS services. This package specifically helps in retrieving AWS credentials set in the environment variables, making it easier to manage credentials in a secure and scalable way, especially in containerized or serverless environments where direct file access might be limited.

What are @aws-sdk/credential-provider-env's main functionalities?

Retrieving AWS credentials from environment variables

This feature allows the application to automatically load AWS credentials (such as AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, and optionally AWS_SESSION_TOKEN) from the environment variables. It is particularly useful in automated environments like CI/CD pipelines or when deploying to AWS services like AWS Lambda or ECS, where you can set environment variables securely.

const { fromEnv } = require('@aws-sdk/credential-provider-env');

const credentials = fromEnv();
// Use the credentials with an AWS SDK client

Other packages similar to @aws-sdk/credential-provider-env

aws-sdk

The 'aws-sdk' package is the older version of the AWS SDK for JavaScript. It also supports loading credentials from environment variables, but it does so as part of a larger, monolithic package. Compared to @aws-sdk/credential-provider-env, 'aws-sdk' is less modular and might introduce more dependencies than necessary if you only need to load credentials.

@aws-sdk/credential-provider-ini

Similar to @aws-sdk/credential-provider-env, this package is part of the AWS SDK for JavaScript (v3) and provides functionality to load AWS credentials. However, instead of loading from environment variables, it loads credentials from a shared credentials file (typically located at ~/.aws/credentials). This approach is useful for local development or in scenarios where setting environment variables is not preferred.

@aws-sdk/credential-provider-cognito-identity

This package is another credential provider within the AWS SDK for JavaScript (v3) ecosystem. It differs from @aws-sdk/credential-provider-env by providing a way to obtain AWS credentials based on Cognito Identity. This is particularly useful for mobile or web applications that authenticate users and then provide access to AWS resources directly from the client-side.

README

AWS Credential Provider for Node.JS - Environment Variables

This module provides a CredentialProvider function, fromEnv, that reads from the following environment variables:

• AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID - The access key for your AWS account.
• AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY - The secret key for your AWS account.
• AWS_SESSION_TOKEN - The session key for your AWS account. This is only needed when you are using temporary credentials.
• AWS_CREDENTIAL_EXPIRATION - The expiration time of the credentials contained in the environment variables described above. This value must be in a format compatible with the ISO-8601 standard and is only needed when you are using temporary credentials.

If either the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID or AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variable is not set or contains a falsy value, the promise returned by the fromEnv function will be rejected.