---
title: "List S3 Buckets"
description: "Automate AWS S3 interactions. This Python snippet uses Boto3 to easily list all S3 buckets in your account."
author: "Mohammad Abu Mattar"
canonical: https://mkabumattar.com/codesnippets/post/python-list-s3-buckets
---

# List S3 Buckets

## Overview

### Multi-profile S3 management

Ever juggled multiple AWS accounts and needed a quick S3 bucket inventory across all of them? This Python script handles it.

### Use case

Perfect for organizations managing multiple AWS accounts or developers working with different IAM roles and profiles.

## The Problem

### Multi-profile complexity

When you're working with multiple AWS accounts or IAM roles through different profiles, getting a consolidated view of your S3 buckets can be a hassle. Switching contexts or running commands repeatedly for each profile is slow and easy to get wrong. A full inventory or audit turns into a chore.

### Manual process inefficiencies

Traditional approaches require manual switching between profiles and running separate commands for each account.

## The Solution

### Automated profile discovery

This Python script uses Boto3 to discover all your configured AWS CLI profiles. It then iterates through each profile, attempting to list its S3 buckets. It prints a profile-by-profile breakdown and handles errors like missing credentials or access denied on a single profile, so the run finishes even in complex setups.

### Detailed error handling

Gracefully handles various error conditions including missing credentials, access denied, and network issues.

## Features

### Key capabilities

**TL;DR**

- Lists S3 buckets across all configured AWS CLI profiles in one go.
- Automatically discovers available AWS profiles.
- Prints a per-profile listing of S3 buckets.
- Handles errors for individual profiles (e.g., credential issues, access denied).

### Output format

Organized display showing buckets grouped by AWS profile with clear visual separation.

## Code implementation

### Dependencies and setup

```python title="list_s3_buckets.py" showLineNumbers

from botocore.exceptions import NoCredentialsError, ClientError
```

### Profile discovery function

```python
def get_aws_profiles():
    """Get all configured AWS profiles from the AWS CLI configuration."""
    try:
        session = boto3.Session()
        return session.available_profiles
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error getting AWS profiles: {str(e)}")
        return []
```

### Bucket listing function

```python
def list_s3_buckets_for_profile(profile_name):
    """
    Lists all S3 buckets for a specific AWS profile.
    Returns a list of bucket names or an empty list if an error occurs.
    """
    buckets = []
    try:
        session = boto3.Session(profile_name=profile_name)
        s3_client = session.client('s3')
        response = s3_client.list_buckets()
        if response['Buckets']:
            for bucket in response['Buckets']:
                buckets.append(bucket['Name'])
    except NoCredentialsError:
        print(f"  Warning: No credentials found for profile '{profile_name}'. Skipping.")
    except ClientError as e:
        error_code = e.response.get("Error", {}).get("Code")
        error_message = e.response.get("Error", {}).get("Message")
        print(f"  Warning: AWS Client Error for profile '{profile_name}' ({error_code}): {error_message}. Skipping.")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"  Warning: An unexpected error occurred for profile '{profile_name}': {e}. Skipping.")
    return buckets
```

### Main display function

```python
def display_all_s3_buckets_by_profile():
    """
    Fetches and displays S3 buckets for all configured AWS profiles.
    """
    profiles = get_aws_profiles()

    if not profiles:
        print("No AWS profiles found. Please configure your AWS CLI.")
        return

    print(f"\nChecking S3 Buckets across {len(profiles)} AWS Profiles:")
    print("-" * 40)

    for profile in sorted(profiles):
        print(f"\nProfile: {profile}")
        print("  S3 Buckets:")
        buckets = list_s3_buckets_for_profile(profile)
        if buckets:
            for bucket_name in buckets:
                print(f"    - {bucket_name}")
        else:
            print("    No buckets or inaccessible for this profile.")
        print("-" * 40)

    if not any(list_s3_buckets_for_profile(p) for p in profiles):
        print("\nNo S3 buckets found across any configured profiles or all were inaccessible.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    display_all_s3_buckets_by_profile()
```

## Benefits and usage

### Operational advantages

**Why This Helps**

This script saves time for anyone managing multiple AWS environments. It covers S3 bucket auditing, inventory tasks, and compliance checks across your whole AWS footprint in a single run. You get one view without switching profiles by hand.

### Use cases

Ideal for inventory management, compliance auditing, and multi-account AWS operations.

## Community Discussion

### Your S3 management approaches

**Your Turn**

How do you manage S3 bucket information in your Python projects? Any favorite Boto3 tricks for S3 you'd like to share?

### Alternative tools

Share your preferred methods for managing S3 resources across multiple AWS accounts.