Test AWS credentials using AWS CLI

Testing for AWS credentials is a straightforward operation.

Using get-caller-identity

There is a single API call that will always work regardless of permissions: GetCallerIdentity

1aws sts get-caller-identity

Output:

1{
2    "UserId": "AIDA...",
3    "Account": "123456789012",
4    "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/thomas"
5}

The Arn value depends on the type of credentials, but mostly includes the human-friendly name.

In addition, checking the status is reliable: 0 for success, 255 for failure.