awswap

awswap is a fast AWS profile switcher with a searchable picker. It shows each profile's region, sign-in method, and account metadata; checks credentials when you switch; opens AWS sign-in when needed; and signs Docker and Helm in to ECR. Built-in status and diagnostic views help find setup and credential issues.

Install

Installer (macOS and Linux)

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf \
  https://github.com/drew-simmons/awswap/releases/latest/download/awswap-installer.sh \
  | sh

[!NOTE] The installer downloads a prebuilt release and checks its SHA-256 checksum. You can also download archives and checksums from GitHub Releases.

Build from source

Building from source requires Rust 1.88 or newer:

git clone https://github.com/drew-simmons/awswap.git
cd awswap
cargo install --path . --locked

Supported release targets

Requirements

• AWS CLI v2
• Docker and/or Helm when ECR authentication is needed
• Bash, Zsh, or Fish for updating the active shell

Configure profiles with the AWS CLI first, for example:

aws configure sso

Profiles using an AWS CLI login_session are also supported.

Shell setup

[!IMPORTANT] Install the shell hook so awswap can update AWS_PROFILE in the current shell. Without it, awswap can check and sign in a profile, but the profile will not stay active after the command exits.

Zsh (~/.zshrc):

eval "$(awswap init zsh)"

Bash (~/.bashrc):

eval "$(awswap init bash)"

Fish (~/.config/fish/conf.d/awswap.fish):

awswap init fish | source

Restart the shell or reload its configuration after you add the hook.

Optional generated completions use configured profile names as candidates:

# Zsh or Bash
source <(awswap completions zsh) # replace zsh with bash as needed

# Fish
awswap completions fish | source

[!TIP] These commands load completions for the current shell only. Add the matching command to your shell configuration to load them in each new shell.

Usage

awswap [options]                  Search and select a profile
awswap [options] <profile>        Switch directly to a profile
awswap [options] -                Switch back to the previous profile
awswap current                    Print the active profile
awswap list                       List configured profiles
awswap status [profile]           Show identity and integration status
awswap doctor [profile]           Diagnose configuration and credentials
awswap login [options] [profile]  Refresh AWS and ECR authentication
awswap completions <shell>        Generate Bash, Zsh, or Fish completions
awswap help                       Show all commands and options

Common options:

--no-ecr                  Skip Docker and Helm ECR authentication
-r, --registry <value>    Use a registry hostname or AWS account ID; repeatable
-q, --quiet               Suppress progress and success output
--json                    Emit JSON from list, current, status, doctor, and login
-v, --verbose             Show commands and detailed AWS failures

Examples:

awswap dev
aws sts get-caller-identity
awswap status
awswap doctor

awswap --no-ecr staging
awswap --registry 123456789012 dev
awswap status --json

docker pull 123456789012.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/app:latest
helm pull oci://123456789012.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/charts/app

awswap -

Authentication and ECR

On each switch, awswap shows progress for network tasks and prints an identity receipt with the profile, account, region, and role or user. The picker shows local region, sign-in, and account metadata. It sorts the current, previous, and recent profiles first.

It then:

1. Checks the profile with aws sts get-caller-identity.
2. If credentials are invalid, runs aws sso login for SSO profiles or aws login for profiles with login_session, opening the AWS sign-in flow.
3. Authenticates registry clients: Helm receives an ECR login token; Docker receives one unless its effective credential helper is ecr-login, in which case awswap validates that helper under the selected profile instead.

The ECR credential helper gets short-lived Docker credentials as needed. It does not support Docker's credential store operation, so awswap skips docker login when that helper is set. The shell hook keeps AWS_PROFILE available to the helper for later pulls.

The shell hook exports AWS_PROFILE and AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE. It also removes stale static AWS credential variables that would override the profile.

[!NOTE] awswap stores only the current, previous, and eight most recent profile names under $XDG_STATE_HOME/awswap (or ~/.local/state/awswap). AWS, Docker, Helm, and any credential helpers manage their own credentials.

Flags are preferred for one-off behavior. Equivalent environment controls are available for persistent configuration:

AWSWAP_NO_ECR=1 awswap dev
AWSWAP_ECR_REGISTRIES=123456789012,registry.example.com awswap dev
AWSWAP_HOME=/custom/state/directory awswap dev

AWSWAP_ECR_REGISTRIES accepts comma-separated AWS account IDs or registry hostnames. Without it, awswap uses the selected profile's account ID and region. Account IDs are expanded with the correct ECR DNS suffix for the aws, aws-cn, aws-us-gov, aws-iso, aws-iso-b, aws-iso-e, aws-iso-f, and aws-eusc partitions.

Upgrade and uninstall

Rerun the installer command from Install to upgrade.

Uninstall the shell-installed binary with:

rm "${CARGO_HOME:-$HOME/.cargo}/bin/awswap"

Also remove the shell hook from your shell configuration if it is no longer needed. State contains only profile names and can be deleted from ${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/awswap.

Troubleshooting

Run awswap doctor first. It checks the AWS CLI, profile list, active identity, region, shell hook, state path, Docker and Helm, the Docker credential helper, and static environment variables that may override profiles.

• If the profile does not persist, install the shell hook and start a new shell. Without the hook, awswap reports a profile as selected, not active.
• Authentication errors distinguish expired or unavailable credentials, access denial, network failures, missing regions, and missing profiles, with a specific recovery command when possible. Add --verbose for the original AWS CLI detail.
• If ECR is not needed or Docker/Helm is unavailable, use --no-ecr.
• Use NO_COLOR=1 to disable colored output.

Development

The project uses Rust 1.88.0. Before submitting a change, run:

cargo fmt --all --check
cargo clippy --locked --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo test --locked --all-targets
cargo package --locked --allow-dirty

See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution guidance, SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting, and RELEASING.md for maintainer release steps.

License

MIT