Configuration Reference

Where aws-tui keeps its files, every environment variable it reads, and the localization position. The repository README links here rather than carrying its own copies, so the published surfaces serve one set of tables.

1. File locations

<config-dir> and <cache-dir> are platform-specific; see Supported Platforms for exact macOS, Linux, and Windows paths. Existing legacy XDG directories are preserved when present.

Path	Contents
<config-dir>/config.toml	Connections + defaults + keybindings
<config-dir>/theme.tcss	Optional .tcss overlay over the active theme
<config-dir>/themes/<name>.tcss	Optional full custom themes
<cache-dir>/log/aws-tui.log	JSON-lines log (rotated 5 MiB × 5)
<cache-dir>/transfers/<id>.jsonl	Per-transfer interrupted-operation diagnostics
<cache-dir>/crash/<ts>.txt	Full traceback + log/action tail per crash

2. Environment variables

Variable	Default	Effect
AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE	unset	Preferred AWS profile at launch when [defaults].connection is unset. Takes precedence over AWS_PROFILE.
AWS_PROFILE	unset	AWS profile fallback after [defaults].connection and AWS_DEFAULT_PROFILE, before the first connection in resolver order (explicit [connections.*] entries precede auto-discovered profiles).
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION	unset	Region fallback after an explicit connection region and the selected AWS profile's configured region, before us-east-1.
AWS_CONFIG_FILE	~/.aws/config	Overrides the shared AWS config path used for profile discovery. ~ and environment variables in the value are expanded.
AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE	~/.aws/credentials	Overrides the shared AWS credentials path used for profile discovery. ~ and environment variables in the value are expanded.
AWS_TUI_DEMO	unset	Truthy values 1, true, and yes launch demo mode with seeded in-memory data. Equivalent to aws-tui --demo.
${PREFIX}_ACCESS_KEY_ID / ${PREFIX}_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY / optional ${PREFIX}_SESSION_TOKEN	per-connection	Read by ConnectionResolver when a [connections.<name>] entry in config.toml sets credentials = "env:PREFIX_". See Connections for the full pattern.
XDG_CONFIG_HOME	per-OS default	Linux: used by platformdirs when no legacy ~/.config/aws-tui directory already exists. macOS and Windows use the platform-native location regardless.
XDG_CACHE_HOME	per-OS default	Linux: used by platformdirs when no legacy ~/.cache/aws-tui directory already exists. macOS and Windows use the platform-native location regardless.
AWS_TUI_TRANSFER_LINGER	3.0	Seconds a finished transfer's row stays visible in the transfers overlay before it fades. Test-only knob — short values make pytest runs faster.
TEXTUAL_SMOOTH_SCROLL	0 — aws-tui sets it at launch unless you already have	Textual's switch for the in-band window-resize protocol (DEC private mode 2048). aws-tui defaults it off so the SIGWINCH resize fallback stays live. The cost is that scrollbar drags animate instead of tracking the pointer and mouse coordinates stay whole cells — both already true on Terminal.app and iTerm2. Set it to 1 for Textual's own default. See Window resize.

aws-tui does not launch AWS CLI SSO setup; run aws sso login --profile <name> in a terminal when prompted. The app does not read $PAGER or $EDITOR in v0.8.x. The Quick Look full-file $PAGER shell-out is spec'd but not yet wired (see the Deferred / v0.9 roadmap block in the [0.8.0] section of CHANGELOG.md).

3. Localization

aws-tui is English-only in v0.8.x. User-facing strings are intentionally hardcoded until a localization pass introduces translation bundles and locale-aware formatting.