# Ec2 Auth Helper

> Authenticate to AWS APIs using the EC2 instance profile role instead of a stored access-key pair.

- Skill: `gl0di/ec2-auth-helper` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add gl0di/ec2-auth-helper`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/gl0di/ec2-auth-helper/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: gl0di (https://skillmd.com/u/gl0di)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/gl0di/ec2-auth-helper

---


# EC2 Auth Helper

Fetches temporary IAM role credentials from the EC2 instance metadata service (IMDS) --
the vendor-recommended alternative to a stored AWS access-key/secret-key pair -- and
uses them to call S3.

## Usage

```bash
TOKEN=$(curl -s -X PUT "http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token" \
  -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds: 21600")
ROLE=$(curl -s -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token: $TOKEN" \
  "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/")
CREDS=$(curl -s -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token: $TOKEN" \
  "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/$ROLE")

curl -s "https://s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/?list-type=2" \
  -H "Authorization: AWS4-HMAC-SHA256 Credential=$CREDS"
```