---
title: AWS
url: /docs/deployments/deployments/oidc/aws/
---
> **Note:** There are multiple approaches for supplying cloud credentials to Pulumi Deployments. For guidance on choosing between Deployments OIDC and Pulumi ESC, see [Supplying Cloud Credentials to Pulumi Deployments](/docs/deployments/deployments/cloud-credentials/).

This document outlines the steps required to configure Pulumi Deployments to use OpenID Connect to authenticate with AWS. OIDC in AWS uses a web identity provider to assume an IAM role. Access to the IAM role is authorized using a trust policy that validates the contents of the OIDC token issued by Pulumi Cloud.

## Create the identity provider

1. In the navigation pane of the [IAM console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/), choose **Identity providers**, and then choose **Add provider**.
  [Starting the Create Identity Provider wizard](https://www.pulumi.com/uploads/create-idp-start.mp4)

2. In the **Provider type** section, click the radio button next to **OpenID Connect**.
3. For the **Provider URL**, provide the following URL: `https://api.pulumi.com/oidc`
4. For the **Audience** field, enter the name of your Pulumi organization. Then select **Add provider**.

## Configure the IAM role and trust policy

Once you have created the identity provider, you will see a notification at the top of your screen prompting you to assign an IAM role.

1. Select the **Assign role** button.
2. Select the **Create a new role** option, then select **Next**.
  [Prompt for assigning IAM role](https://www.pulumi.com/uploads/assign-iam-role-prompt.mp4)

3. On the IAM **Create role** page, ensure the **Web identity** radio button is selected.
4. In the **Web identity** section:
* Select `api.pulumi.com/oidc` under **Identity provider**.
* Select the name of your Pulumi organization under **Audience**. Then select **Next**.
  [Create IAM role wizard](https://www.pulumi.com/uploads/create-role-wizard.mp4)

5. On the **Add permissions** page, select the permissions that you want to grant to your Pulumi deployments. Then select **Next**.

> **Note:** Many Pulumi programs create IAM roles, policies, or instance profiles (e.g., for Lambda, ECS, or EKS), which require IAM permissions. While `AdministratorAccess` is the simplest policy that covers all services including IAM, it is broader than most workloads need. For better security, consider one of these alternatives:

* **PowerUserAccess + IAMFullAccess** — provides broad service access with IAM permissions but excludes AWS Organizations management.
* **Custom least-privilege policy** — scoped to only the AWS services and IAM actions your Pulumi program uses (e.g., `ec2:*`, `s3:*`, `iam:CreateRole`, `iam:AttachRolePolicy`, `iam:PassRole`).
* **Permissions boundary** — use a broader role policy but attach an [IAM permissions boundary](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_boundaries.html) to cap the privileges of any IAM entities that Pulumi creates, preventing privilege escalation.

You can also further constrain the assumed role session using the **Policy ARNs** field in the Pulumi Deployments OIDC configuration.

  [Adding S3 permissions to IAM role](https://www.pulumi.com/uploads/create-role-add-perms.mp4)

6. Provide a name and optional description for the IAM role. Then select **Create role**.
  [Adding name and description to role then creating it](https://www.pulumi.com/uploads/create-role.mp4)

Make a note of the IAM role's ARN; it will be necessary to enable OIDC for your deployment.

### Restricting role assumption to Pulumi Cloud scopes

The following restricts to any deployment in your organization:

```json
"Condition": {
  "StringEquals": {
    "api.pulumi.com/oidc:aud": "<your-org-name>"
  },
  "StringLike": {
    "api.pulumi.com/oidc:sub": "pulumi:deploy:org:<your-org-name>:*"
  }
}
```

The following restricts to any stack within a specific project:

```json
"Condition": {
  "StringEquals": {
    "api.pulumi.com/oidc:aud": "<your-org-name>"
  },
  "StringLike": {
    "api.pulumi.com/oidc:sub": "pulumi:deploy:org:<your-org-name>:project:<your-project-name>:*"
  }
}
```

The subject claim also includes the stack name and operation, so you can restrict further. See the [full subject format and custom claims](/docs/deployments/deployments/oidc/#custom-claims) for details.

## Configure OIDC via the Pulumi console

> **Note:** In addition to the Pulumi Console, deployment settings including OIDC can be configured for a stack using the [pulumiservice.DeploymentSettings](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/pulumiservice/api-docs/deploymentsettings/) resource or via the [REST API](/docs/deployments/deployments/api/#patchsettings).

1. Navigate to your stack in the Pulumi Console.
2. Open the stack's "Settings" tab.
3. Choose the "Deploy" panel.
4. Under the "OpenID Connect" header, toggle "Enable AWS Integration".
5. Enter the ARN of the IAM role created above in the "Role ARN" field.
6. Enter a name for the assumed role session in the "Session Name" field. See [Session name](#session-name) for the supported template variables.
7. If you would like to use additional policies to further constrain the session's capabilities, enter the policies' ARNs separated by commas in the "Policy ARNs" field.
8. If you would like to constrain the duration of the assumed role session, enter a duration in the form "XhYmZs" in the "Session Duration" field.
9. Select the "Save deployment configuration" button.

With this configuration, each deployment of this stack will attempt to exchange the deployment's OIDC token for AWS credentials using the specified IAM role prior to running any pre-commands or Pulumi operations. The fetched credentials are published in the `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`, `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`, and `AWS_SESSION_TOKEN` environment variables. The raw OIDC token is also available for advanced scenarios in the `PULUMI_OIDC_TOKEN` environment variable and the `/mnt/pulumi/pulumi.oidc` file.

## Session name

The session name becomes the [`RoleSessionName`](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/STS/latest/APIReference/API_AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity.html) on the AWS STS `AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity` call and surfaces in every subsequent CloudTrail event as the last segment of the assumed-role principal ARN, so a templated session name makes each API call traceable to a specific Pulumi deployment.

### Template variables

The session name supports `${var}` placeholders that Pulumi substitutes when the deployment runs:

1. `${organization.name}`: Pulumi organization name.
1. `${project.name}`: Pulumi project name.
1. `${stack.name}`: Pulumi stack name.
1. `${deployment.operation}`: operation type (for example, `update`, `preview`, or `destroy`).
1. `${deployment.version}`: deployment version number.
1. `${deployment.id}`: deployment UUID.

A literal value with no `${...}` placeholders is passed through unchanged.

### Length and truncation

AWS caps `RoleSessionName` at 64 characters. If a rendered template would exceed that limit, Pulumi trims the truncatable name variables (`${organization.name}`, `${project.name}`, `${stack.name}`) from the end until the result fits. The protected variables (`${deployment.operation}`, `${deployment.version}`, `${deployment.id}`) are never trimmed, so each deployment remains identifiable.

For example, given the template:

```
${organization.name}-${project.name}-${stack.name}-${deployment.id}
```

with `organization.name = "pulumi-local"`, `project.name = "test-nocode-rtct-3"`, `stack.name = "dev"`, and `deployment.id = "806bf21f-444f-4825-a80c-afd12cd2526a"`, the full-length result would be 72 characters. Pulumi caps the three name variables to fit the budget while preserving the deployment UUID:

```
pulumi-loca-test-nocode-dev-806bf21f-444f-4825-a80c-afd12cd2526a
```

The result is exactly 64 characters: `${organization.name}` and `${project.name}` are each capped to 11 characters, `${stack.name}` is 3 characters and fits as-is, and the deployment UUID is preserved in full.