aws-iam SKILL.md skillA
aws-iam from d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook/aws-iam@git:20260224.b517efbPins git:20260224.b517efb in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook
- Path
skills/aws-iam/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 3
- Latest version
- git:20260224.b517efb, committed Feb 24, 2026
- First version recorded
- Feb 7, 2026
- Size
- 1,688 bytes
- Repository stars
- 20
- License
- MIT
AWS IAM deep-dive skill - principal types, policy evaluation, STS assume role, SCP guardrails, KMS key policies/grants, and AccessDenied debugging. Use when designing AWS authz/authn, cross-account access, or troubleshooting IAM/KMS/SCP AccessDenied errors.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# AWS IAM ## When to use Use this skill when you are working on: - IAM principals (users, roles, assumed-role sessions, service principals) - Trust policies (`sts:AssumeRole*`) and cross-account access - Identity-based vs resource-based policies - Permission boundaries, session policies, and Organizations SCPs - KMS key policies, grants, and `kms:Decrypt` / `kms:GenerateDataKey` failures - Debugging `AccessDenied` in AWS (including cross-account and KMS) ## What to do (workflow) 1. Identify the **runtime principal** (often an STS assumed-role ARN) 2. Identify the **action** + **resource ARN(s)** from the error or design requirement 3. Determine which **policy layers** are in play: - identity-based policy - resource-based policy - permission boundary - session policy - SCP (Organizations) 4. Look for **explicit deny** first (it wins) 5. For cross-account flows: - validate the trust policy (who can assume) - validate the permission policy (what the role can do) - validate any resource policy (who can access the target resource) 6. For KMS: - validate key policy + IAM policy + any grant constraints ## References …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook/aws-iam@sha256:b02ce2dedf3b13eaThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260224.b517efb, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_bxzgpj7btjf4juql)
5 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 3 versions of this file, between Feb 7, 2026 and Feb 24, 2026, about one every 8 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260224.b517efb latest | 2026-02-24 | b517efb | 1,688 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260210.2b17bc4 | 2026-02-10 | 2b17bc4 | 1,640 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260207.e399925 | 2026-02-07 | e399925 | 1,588 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (1688 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook · 20 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-30 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_bxzgpj7btjf4juql GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=d-padmanabhan/agent-engineering-handbook/aws-iam GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/b02ce2dedf3b13ea824a7e733a0ab9175ad84d4798ceb2e111b221e1213a7764
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.