---
title: "AWS CLI Credentials & Config Chain"
slug: "how-does-aws-cli-credentials-config-chain-work"
updated: 2026-05-28T15:48:11Z
published: 2026-05-28T15:48:11Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wasabi.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# AWS CLI Credentials & Config Chain

If you are using [AWS CLI](https://docs.wasabi.com/docs/how-do-i-use-aws-cli-with-wasabi) tool for your operations and design implementation/application, note that the CLI will look for Credentials & Config data in the following hierarchical order.

**1. Command Line Options**

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

**2. Environmental Variables**

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID

AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

AWS_SESSION_TOKEN

AWS_DEFAULT_REGION and so on...

**3. CLI Credentials File**

For Linux: ~/.aws/credentials

For Windows: C:\Users\\.aws\credentials

**4. CLI Configuration File**

For Linux: ~/.aws/config

For Windows: C:\Users\\.aws\config