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Getting started

Connect your AWS account to Korve in 2 minutes

A step-by-step guide to connecting AWS to Korve using an IAM user access key — securely, without pasting your root credentials anywhere.

Updated 2026-07-18

What you'll need

To connect AWS to Korve you need one thing: an IAM user access key — an Access Key ID and a Secret Access Key. That's the standard, credential-scoped way AWS gives programs access to your account. You never share your root login, and you never hand over a password.

This takes about two minutes.

Step 1 — Create an IAM user

In the AWS console, open IAM → Users → Create user. Give it a name like cloudify. On the permissions step, attach a policy that covers what you plan to build — start with something scoped, not AdministratorAccess. If you just want to try Korve on a throwaway account, ReadOnlyAccess plus AmazonS3FullAccess and AmazonEC2FullAccess is a reasonable, revocable starting point.

Prefer least privilege? Korve publishes an exact policy that grants only the actions it uses. See the least-privilege IAM policy guide.

Step 2 — Create an access key

Open the new user, go to Security credentials → Create access key, and choose Application running outside AWS. AWS shows you the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key exactly once. Copy both.

Step 3 — Connect in Korve

In Korve, choose AWS and open the Connect to AWS page. Paste the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key, pick your default region, and hit Connect. Korve validates the key against AWS and, if it works, drops you straight onto the canvas.

Where your credentials actually go

This is the part most tools are vague about, so here is exactly what happens:

• Your keys are sent once, over HTTPS, to Korve's backend.
• The backend validates them, then stores them encrypted at rest and hands your browser back only an opaque session token.
• Every later action carries that token — never the raw keys. They never sit in your browser's local storage, never appear in a network response, and never reach the frontend again.
• Log out and the session is invalidated.

The backend is the only thing that ever talks to AWS. That's the whole security model in three sentences.

Rotating or revoking

Because it's just an IAM access key, you're always in control. Delete the key in the IAM console and Korve's access is gone instantly — no support ticket, no OAuth app to hunt down. Rotate it whenever you like.

Next steps

Now that you're connected, the fastest way to feel what Korve does is to create an S3 bucket visually and watch it appear in your real account.