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AWS Profile Command

Manage AWS profiles for MCP server configurations across VS Code (GitHub Copilot) and Claude Code.

Reference: references/aws-mcp-profiles.md

Interactive Wizard (fires when no mode is provided)​

When invoked with no arguments, ask before proceeding:

Q1 — Mode?

What do you need?
  1. discover  — list all AWS profiles with type, account ID, env tag, and credential TTL
  2. status    — show which profile each MCP server is using and whether credentials are fresh
  3. switch    — update MCP config files to use a different profile
  4. login     — authenticate and refresh credentials for a specific profile
  5. org-scan  — list all AWS Organization accounts and cross-reference with configured profiles

Enter 1–5 or mode name:

Q2 — Mode-specific follow-up (one question, after mode is selected):

  • discover: Any filters? (e.g. --expired to show only expired, --type sso, --env prod) — or press enter to list all:
  • switch: Read ~/.aws/config and list available profiles, then ask: Which profile should MCP servers switch to?
  • login: Read ~/.aws/config and list available profiles, then ask: Which profile needs authentication?
  • status: no follow-up — proceed directly
  • org-scan: Which management account profile has organizations:ListAccounts permission? (default: current profile):

Then proceed into the relevant mode below.

Mode: discover​

Parse ~/.aws/config and output a classified profile table with credential TTL.

aws-profile discover [--type sso|assume-role|granted|static] [--env prod|staging|dev] [--account <id>] [--chain] [--expired]

Output:

Profile               Type         Account ID    Env Tag    Permission Set    Expires      TTL
prod-platform-eu      sso          123456789     prod       PowerUser         14:32 UTC    47m ✓
staging-assume        assume-role  456789123     staging    -                 13:58 UTC    13m ⚠
dev-sandbox           granted      987654321     dev        Developer         09:00 UTC    EXPIRED ✗
security              static       890123456     -          -                 never        ⚠ rotate

Steps:

  1. Parse ~/.aws/config — classify each [profile name] block by type:

    • SSO: sso_start_url present
    • Assumed role: role_arn + source_profile
    • Granted: granted_sso_* keys or assume binary in PATH
    • Static: aws_access_key_id directly in profile block → warn to rotate

  2. Parse credential cache files for expiration timestamps. Field names differ by type:

    • SSO (~/.aws/sso/cache/*.json): top-level expiresAt
    • Assumed role (~/.aws/cli/cache/*.json): Credentials.Expiration
    • Granted: no separate cache — SSO-backed profiles use ~/.aws/sso/cache/*.json (expiresAt); role-chained profiles use ~/.aws/cli/cache/*.json (Credentials.Expiration) Apply traffic-light TTL:
    • ✓ Green: >30 min
    • ⚠ Amber: 10–30 min
    • ✗ Red: <10 min or expired

  3. Read ~/.aws-profile-tags.yaml for env tags. If the file does not exist, generate a starter file:

    # ~/.aws-profile-tags.yaml — edit to correct heuristic guesses
    prod-platform-eu: prod    # detected: name contains 'prod'
    staging-assume: staging   # detected: name contains 'stag'
    dev-sandbox: dev          # detected: name contains 'dev'
    security: shared-services # detected: name contains 'security'

    Print: Generated ~/.aws-profile-tags.yaml — review and correct environment tags.

  4. Apply filters if flags provided.

With --chain — show full role assumption chain for assumed-role profiles:

staging-assume role chain:
  dev-sso (identity: 111111111)
    └── assume → security-role (222222222)
        └── assume → staging-platform (456789123)  ← this profile

Parse the chain by following source_profile → role_arn links recursively in ~/.aws/config.

Reference: references/aws-mcp-profiles.md → Profile Type Detection, Credential Lifecycle

Mode: status​

Show which profile each configured MCP server uses, the credential TTL, and whether the credential method will auto-refresh.

Note: status reads config files and ~/.aws/sso/cache/ — it does not read the AWS_PROFILE shell environment variable, which is per-session and invisible to this command.

aws-profile status [--watch] [--all-hosts]

Output:

Profile in MCP configs: prod-platform-eu
  Type: SSO | Account: 123456789 | Permission: PowerUser
  Token expires: 14:32 UTC (47 minutes) ✓

MCP Servers:
  eks-prod-eu      ~/.vscode/mcp.json          credential_process ✓   47m
  cloudwatch       ~/.claude/settings.json      AWS_PROFILE ⚠         47m (will not auto-refresh on expiry)
  eks-prod-us      .vscode/mcp.json            credential_process ✓   47m

⚠ 'cloudwatch' uses raw AWS_PROFILE without credential_process.
  When the token expires, this server will fail silently.
  Fix: add credential_process to the 'prod-platform-eu' profile in ~/.aws/config.
  See: references/aws-mcp-profiles.md → credential_process Pattern

Steps:

  1. Scan ~/.vscode/mcp.json, ~/.claude/settings.json, and .vscode/mcp.json (if present in cwd). Extract AWS_PROFILE from each server's env block.
  2. For each unique profile found, parse TTL from ~/.aws/sso/cache/ or ~/.aws/cli/cache/.
  3. Check whether the profile in ~/.aws/config has credential_process configured. Flag servers without it as ⚠.
  4. If --watch: re-run every 60 seconds. Print a warning when any TTL drops below 30 minutes, and a loud alert when any TTL drops below 10 minutes.

Mode: switch​

Patch AWS_PROFILE (and AWS_REGION if --region provided) in MCP server config files. Requires --confirm for any profile tagged prod or whose name contains prod or production.

aws-profile switch <profile> [--scope global|workspace] [--server <name>] [--env <tag>] [--region <region>] [--confirm]

Examples:

aws-profile switch prod-platform-eu --scope workspace --confirm
aws-profile switch dev-sandbox --scope global
aws-profile switch staging-assume --server eks-staging
aws-profile switch --env prod --confirm

Pre-condition: If ~/.aws-profile-tags.yaml does not exist, run aws-profile discover first to generate it.

Steps:

  1. Resolve target profile:

    • If --env <tag>: look up the profile in ~/.aws-profile-tags.yaml that matches the tag — this selects which profile to switch to, not which servers to patch. Error if multiple profiles share the tag — require explicit profile name.
    • Otherwise: use the profile name directly.

  2. Safety check — if profile name contains prod or production or is tagged prod in ~/.aws-profile-tags.yaml:

    ⚠ WARNING: Switching to prod-platform-eu (tagged: prod, Account: 123456789).
      MCP operations will run against production.
      Pass --confirm to proceed.

    Halt without --confirm.

  3. Determine target files by --scope:

    • global (default): ~/.vscode/mcp.json + ~/.claude/settings.json
    • workspace: .vscode/mcp.json in current directory only
    • --server <name>: patch only that named entry, searching all scope files regardless of --scope (overrides scope)

  4. For each matched server entry, update env.AWS_PROFILE to the new profile. If --region provided, also update env.AWS_REGION and any --region arg in the args array.

  5. Show a diff of what was patched:

    Patched 3 server entries:
      eks-prod-eu     ~/.vscode/mcp.json          AWS_PROFILE: old-profile → prod-platform-eu
      cloudwatch      ~/.claude/settings.json     AWS_PROFILE: old-profile → prod-platform-eu
      eks-staging     .vscode/mcp.json            AWS_PROFILE: old-profile → prod-platform-eu

  6. Always emit restart instructions:

    ⚠ Restart required — config changes do not affect running server processes:
      VS Code / Copilot: Cmd+Shift+P → "MCP: Restart Server"  (or: Developer: Reload Window)
      Claude Code: exit this session and start a new one

Reference: references/aws-mcp-profiles.md → Config File Locations, Prod Safety

Mode: login​

Detect the profile type and emit the correct authentication command. After successful login, run status automatically.

aws-profile login <profile>

Steps:

  1. Read ~/.aws/config for [profile <name>]. Classify type.

  2. Emit and explain the auth command:

    SSO:

    aws sso login --profile prod-platform-eu

    This opens a browser for SSO authentication. After approval, your token
    is cached in ~/.aws/sso/cache/ (TTL: 8–12h, org-configured).

    Granted:

    assume prod-platform-eu

    Granted will authenticate via SSO and cache credentials.
    If prompted for duration, 4h is a reasonable default for a workday session.

    Assumed role:

    The source profile 'dev-sso' must be authenticated first:
      aws sso login --profile dev-sso

    Then validate the role assumption:
      aws sts get-caller-identity --profile staging-assume

    Static:

    ⚠ Static credentials do not have a login flow — they are long-lived and do not expire cleanly.
      Recommendation: Rotate this profile to AWS SSO (IAM Identity Center).
      See: references/aws-mcp-profiles.md → Auth Flows

  3. After emitting the command, run status to confirm that the TTL for <profile> now shows green (>30 min). Other expired profiles in the output are unrelated to this login.

Reference: references/aws-mcp-profiles.md → Auth Flows

Mode: org-scan​

List all accounts in the AWS Organization and cross-reference with configured profiles. Requires organizations:ListAccounts permission — available only from the management account or a delegated admin account.

aws-profile org-scan [--profile <mgmt-profile>] [--generate-profiles]

Output:

AWS Organization accounts (via profile: org-management):

Account ID    Account Name          Env Tag    Profiles configured
123456789     prod-platform         prod       ✓ prod-platform-eu, prod-platform-us
456789123     staging               staging    ✓ staging-assume
789012345     dev-sandbox-1         dev        ✓ dev-sandbox
890123456     security-tooling      -          ✗ NO PROFILE — add to ~/.aws/config
901234567     shared-services       -          ✗ NO PROFILE — add to ~/.aws/config

2 accounts have no profile configured.
Run with --generate-profiles to emit ~/.aws/config stanzas for them.

With --generate-profiles — emit SSO-based stanzas for unconfigured accounts:

# Add to ~/.aws/config — replace ROLE_NAME with your SSO permission set

[profile security-tooling]
sso_start_url = https://myorg.awsapps.com/start
sso_region = eu-west-1
sso_account_id = 890123456
sso_role_name = ROLE_NAME
region = eu-west-1
credential_process = granted credential-process --profile security-tooling

[profile shared-services]
sso_start_url = https://myorg.awsapps.com/start
sso_region = eu-west-1
sso_account_id = 901234567
sso_role_name = ROLE_NAME
region = eu-west-1
credential_process = granted credential-process --profile shared-services

Steps:

  1. Run: aws organizations list-accounts --profile <mgmt-profile> --output json If --profile is omitted, use the default profile from ~/.aws/config (or AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE if set).
  2. For each account, check if any profile in ~/.aws/config references that account ID via sso_account_id or call aws sts get-caller-identity --profile <p> to resolve.
  3. Cross-reference ~/.aws-profile-tags.yaml for env tags.
  4. If --generate-profiles: generate SSO stanzas using the sso_start_url and sso_region from an existing SSO profile as the template.

Note: organizations:ListAccounts requires management account access. Most platform engineers work from member accounts and will not have this permission. This mode is intended for platform leads and account vending workflows.

Reference: references/aws-mcp-profiles.md → Profile Type Detection, credential_process Pattern