Using the AWS_PROFILE Environment Variable to Choose a Profile

In an upcoming release of the AWS SDK for .NET, the FallbackCredentialsFactory class and the FallbackRegionFactory class will allow the use of the AWS_PROFILE environment variable.

The SDK currently looks for a profile named “default” when retrieving credentials and region settings. After this change is released, users will be able to set the AWS_PROFILE environment variable to the name of a profile for the FallbackCredentialsFactory and FallbackRegionFactory classes to search for. We’re making this change to bring the AWS SDK for .NET into alignment with the way that the AWS CLI already works.

This is a significant change for users who already have the AWS_PROFILE set to something other than “default”. Currently, if you have set AWS_PROFILE, the SDK ignores it. After this change, the SDK will no longer ignore the AWS_PROFILE environment variable. This means that if the profile named by AWS_PROFILE is different from the “default” profile, your application will start using different credentials or a different region.