Amazon Web Services

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At a glance

• Availability: Experimental (how to enable).
• Authentication: API key.
• Connection: Credentials come from the variables below.

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Credentials

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Setup

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Step 1: Create an IAM User

1. Log in to the AWS Console
2. Navigate to IAM (Identity and Access Management)
3. Click on Users in the left sidebar
4. Click Add users
5. Enter a username (e.g., veryfront-integration)
6. Select Access key - Programmatic access
7. Click Next: Permissions

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Step 2: Attach Permissions

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Option A: Create a Custom Policy (Recommended)

1. Click Attach existing policies directly
2. Click Create policy
3. Choose the JSON tab
4. Paste the following policy:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:ListAllMyBuckets",
        "s3:ListBucket",
        "s3:GetObject",
        "ec2:DescribeInstances",
        "lambda:ListFunctions"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

5. Click Review policy
6. Name it VeryfrontAWSIntegration
7. Click Create policy
8. Go back to the user creation tab and refresh the policy list
9. Search for and select VeryfrontAWSIntegration

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Option B: Use AWS Managed Policies

• AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess
• AmazonEC2ReadOnlyAccess
• AWSLambdaReadOnlyAccess

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Step 3: Complete User Creation

1. Click Next: Tags (optional)
2. Click Next: Review
3. Click Create user
4. Important: Save your credentials:
   • Access Key ID
   • Secret Access Key
   This is the only time you’ll be able to see the Secret Access Key!

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Step 4: Configure Environment Variables

1. Copy the .env.example file to .env.local
2. Add your AWS credentials:

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_access_key_id_here
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_secret_access_key_here
AWS_REGION=us-east-1

3. Replace your_access_key_id_here and your_secret_access_key_here with your actual credentials
4. Update AWS_REGION to your preferred region (e.g., us-west-2, eu-west-1)

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Step 5: Install Dependencies

npm install @aws-sdk/client-s3 @aws-sdk/client-ec2 @aws-sdk/client-lambda @aws-sdk/credential-providers

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Step 6: Test Your Integration

• list-s3-buckets - List all your S3 buckets
• list-s3-objects - List objects in a specific bucket
• get-s3-object - Retrieve an object from S3
• list-ec2-instances - List your EC2 instances
• list-lambda-functions - List your Lambda functions

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Security Best Practices

1. Never commit your .env.local file - It’s already in .gitignore
2. Use the principle of least privilege - Only grant permissions needed
3. Rotate credentials regularly - Update your access keys periodically
4. Use different credentials for different environments - Dev, staging, and production
5. Consider using AWS IAM Roles - For production environments, use IAM roles with EC2/ECS/Lambda

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Troubleshooting

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”Access Denied” Errors

• Verify your IAM user has the correct permissions
• Check that the region in your .env.local matches where your resources are located

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”Invalid Access Key” Errors

• Double-check your AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
• Ensure there are no extra spaces or newlines in your credentials
• Verify the IAM user is active and the access key hasn’t been deleted

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Region Issues

• Some resources are region-specific (EC2, Lambda)
• S3 bucket listing is global, but object access respects bucket regions
• Update AWS_REGION to match where your resources are located

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Additional Resources

• AWS IAM User Guide
• AWS SDK for JavaScript v3
• AWS Security Best Practices

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Tools