Agentcore Credentials And Security

• Credential Provider Patterns
• OAuth Three-Layer Architecture
• Cross-Account Access
• Security Best Practices
• Agent Persistence Patterns

Credential Provider Patterns

Three authentication types for AgentCore services. Getting the wrong type causes hard-to-debug 401/403 errors.

API Key Authentication

Security consideration: API keys are long-lived credentials. Prefer IAM authentication (ephemeral, auto-rotated) or OAuth when the target supports it. Use API keys only when the external target requires them (e.g., third-party APIs that only accept API key auth).

Constraints:

• You MUST NOT pass the API key as a literal value on the command line — shell history exposes it
• You MUST ask the user to set the key as an environment variable: export API_KEY=<their-key>
• You MUST create the credential provider: aws bedrock-agentcore-control create-api-key-credential-provider --name <name> --api-key "$API_KEY"
• The service stores the key in Secrets Manager internally (response includes apiKeySecretArn)
• For rotation: update the API key through the service’s control plane: aws bedrock-agentcore-control update-api-key-credential-provider --name <name> --api-key "$NEW_API_KEY" — the service re-encrypts and stores the new key internally. Do not call secretsmanager rotate-secret directly on the service-managed secret.
• You MUST NOT hardcode API keys in agent code or configuration
• You MUST NOT log or display the API key value in agent output
• You SHOULD enable CloudTrail logging to audit all credential provider API calls — these are control plane management events (CreateApiKeyCredentialProvider, UpdateApiKeyCredentialProvider, DeleteApiKeyCredentialProvider) logged under eventSource: bedrock-agentcore.amazonaws.com
• Refer to AWS security best practices for AgentCore (opens in a new tab)

OAuth Authentication

Constraints:

• The client secret is passed via the create-oauth2-credential-provider API call (the service encrypts and stores it in Secrets Manager automatically — response includes clientSecretArn)
• You MUST NOT hardcode client secrets in agent code or configuration
• You MUST NOT log or display client secret values in agent output
• Configure: token endpoint URL, client ID, scopes, grant type
• Create the OAuth2 credential provider: aws bedrock-agentcore-control create-oauth2-credential-provider --name <name> --credential-provider-vendor <vendor> --oauth2-provider-config-input '...'
• Refer to the latest AWS documentation on AgentCore OAuth configuration for current supported grant types and vendor options

IAM Authentication

For Lambda targets and cross-service communication:

• Service roles for AgentCore services
• Cross-service permissions: Runtime → Gateway → external API
• Resource-based policies for cross-account access
• No credential provider needed — IAM handles authentication

OAuth Three-Layer Architecture

AgentCore has three distinct OAuth layers — agents confuse these:

Each layer is configured independently. Getting the wrong layer causes auth failures that look identical (401/403) but have different root causes.

Supported IdPs for inbound JWT: Cognito, Okta, Auth0, Azure AD, custom OIDC.

Refer to the latest AWS documentation on AgentCore OAuth architecture for current configuration steps and CDK examples.

Cross-Account Access

Cross-account Bedrock access requires IAM trust policies on both sides.

Pattern:

1. Calling account: IAM role with bedrock:InvokeModel permission and sts:AssumeRole to the target account’s role
2. Target account: IAM role with trust policy allowing the calling account’s principal, plus bedrock:InvokeModel permission

Trust policy pattern (target account role):

Include sts:ExternalId for confused deputy protection. For service-to-service access, use aws:SourceArn and aws:SourceAccount conditions instead.

Common failure: AccessDeniedException when calling Bedrock from a different account — verify:

• Trust policy includes the calling account’s principal ARN (not just account ID)
• The assumed role has bedrock:InvokeModel permission in the target account
• Model access is enabled in the target account’s region

Refer to the latest AWS documentation on Bedrock cross-account access for current IAM policy patterns and any service-specific conditions.

Security Best Practices

Agent Persistence Patterns

Deploying framework-specific agents on AgentCore Runtime:

Refer to the latest AWS documentation on AgentCore deployment for the relevant framework.

Constraints:

• All frameworks MUST meet the container contract: ARM64, health check, correct port
• See container build procedure for the build workflow
• State persistence SHOULD use the Memory service rather than local filesystem (containers are ephemeral)