Install awsume with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• autoawsume
• awsume
• awsume-autocomplete
• awsume-configure
• awsume.bat
• awsume.fish
• awsume.ps1
• awsumepy

Project history

The `trek10inc/awsume` repository was created in March 2016. Its official documentation describes AWSume as a utility for retrieving and exporting AWS credentials from AWS shared config and credentials files, including profiles that require MFA or assume-role calls.

By the v4 era, the docs emphasized shell integration: on Unix-like systems AWSume needs to be sourced or aliased because a child process cannot update a parent shell's environment. The project also grew plugin and extra-feature support, including SAML, fuzzy matching, console helpers, auto-refresh, role chaining, and credential export back into AWS profile files.

Adoption history

AWSume's adoption is mostly among developers and operators managing many AWS accounts or roles. That is a common agency, consulting, and platform-team problem: the standard AWS shared profile format is flexible, but repeatedly calling STS and exporting temporary credentials is tedious.

The official docs recommend pipx or pip rather than Homebrew, while the Homebrew formula still exists for users who prefer system package managers. That split is worth noting: package-manager availability is convenient, but the project itself treats Python packaging as the official install path.

How it is used

A normal workflow is `awsume <profile_name>` after shell alias setup. AWSume reads `~/.aws/config` and `~/.aws/credentials`, handles MFA or role assumption when needed, then sets variables such as `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`, `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`, `AWS_SESSION_TOKEN`, `AWS_PROFILE`, and region variables.

AWSume stores its own configuration at `~/.awsume/config.yaml` by default, or `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/awsume/config.yaml` when XDG config is set. It also caches MFA-authenticated credentials under `~/.awsume/cache/` according to the official overview.

Why package nerds care

AWSume is important for package nerds because it highlights a packaging wrinkle: some command-line tools are not just executables, they must integrate with the parent shell. The install is only half the story; aliases, shell wrappers, and PATH behavior determine whether it actually works.

It also belongs to the larger AWS credential-helper family: focused tools that do not replace AWS CLI but make AWS CLI, SDKs, and arbitrary subprocesses easier to use safely with temporary credentials.

Timeline

• 2016: Public GitHub repository `trek10inc/awsume` created.
• 2019: v4.0.0-era tag/commit appears in the repository history.
• 2020: v4.5.0 release commit recorded.
• 2024: Official docs mention 4.5.x credential_process support and 4.4.x role-chaining improvements.

Related projects

• AWS CLI and AWS SDKs consume the environment variables and shared credentials AWSume manages.
• AWS STS AssumeRole and GetSessionToken are the AWS API operations behind many AWSume workflows.
• awsume-console-plugin and other AWSume extras extend the core credential workflow.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/trek10inc/awsume
• https://awsu.me/
• https://awsu.me/general/aws-file-configuration.html
• https://awsu.me/general/config.html
• https://awsu.me/general/overview.html
• https://awsu.me/general/quickstart.html
• https://github.com/trek10inc/awsume