| Feature | HTTP callback (http://localhost) | File callback (file://) |
|---------|--------------------------------------|----------------------------|
| Port required | Yes | No |
| Browser redirect works | Yes | No (needs OS handler) |
| Supports multiple profiles | Via query params | Via file section parsing |
| Security | Localhost bound | Filesystem permissions |
| Ease of debugging | Network logs | File write logs |
Air-gapped or restricted systems
Non-browser tools
Single sign-on (SSO) integration
After user approves login, the authorization server would normally redirect to http://localhost:PORT/callback.
Instead, it redirects to:
file:///home/<user>/.aws/credentials callback-url-file-3A-2F-2F-2Fhome-2F-2A-2F.aws-2Fcredentials