AWS re:Invent 2025: IAM Policy Autopilot Helps Builders Generate IAM Policies Directly From Application Code
What is AWS re:Invent?
AWS re:Invent is Amazon Web Services’ largest annual cloud conference, where AWS announces new services, enhancements, and strategic direction for the coming year. The event features keynotes, technical deep dives, hands-on sessions, and hundreds of product launches, making it one of the most influential cloud events in the industry.
AWS has announced IAM Policy Autopilot, an open source Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and command-line tool that analyzes application code and helps AI coding assistants generate accurate, identity-based IAM policies. The goal is to reduce the time developers spend writing, refining, and troubleshooting IAM permissions while ensuring the policies they start with reflect actual application behavior.
IAM Policy Autopilot provides a way to create functional starting policies that developers can review and refine as their applications evolve. It is available at no additional cost and runs locally, making it accessible to builders across skill levels.
What AWS Announced
IAM Policy Autopilot integrates with AI coding assistants such as Kiro, Claude Code, Cursor, and Cline. It supports applications written in Python, TypeScript, and Go, and it stays current with AWS services and features so that both developers and AI assistants can reference the latest IAM permission mappings.
The tool uses deterministic code analysis to evaluate AWS SDK calls in your application and generate corresponding IAM actions. It provides policy output that serves as an initial baseline, allowing developers to focus on building features rather than manually mapping permissions.
Why IAM Policy Autopilot Matters
1. Reduces IAM Policy Guesswork
Developers often begin with broad or incomplete IAM permissions and narrow them down later. AI assistants help, but they cannot always interpret the nuances of IAM or how code maps to specific AWS actions. IAM Policy Autopilot provides AWS-vetted knowledge so policies align with the services and API operations used in code.
2. Helps Prevent Access Denied Errors
During early development, missing permissions can slow down testing and iteration. IAM Policy Autopilot analyzes the code and helps generate the required identity-based policies up front. If Access Denied errors do occur, AI assistants can call the tool again to diagnose the issue and propose targeted permission updates.
3. Supports Ongoing Application Changes
As developers modify workloads, add integrations, or update SDK calls, they can simply rerun IAM Policy Autopilot to generate updated permissions. This helps maintain alignment between code and IAM policies throughout the development lifecycle.
How It Works
IAM Policy Autopilot operates as an MCP server or a standalone CLI tool. While developers interact with their AI coding assistants, the assistant can call the MCP server to analyze code files and generate IAM policies.
The tool creates IAM identity-based policies based on actual AWS SDK calls. Developers can then:
• Insert the policies directly into CloudFormation, CDK, or Terraform
• Allow the assistant to integrate the policy updates automatically
• Review the output to refine it for least privilege before deploying
IAM Policy Autopilot does not generate resource-based policies, permission boundaries, service control policies, or resource control policies. It prioritizes functionality over minimalism, so reviewing the generated output remains a best practice.
Example Workflow
A developer using an IDE with an integrated AI assistant can:
1. Ask the assistant to generate infrastructure or update application logic.
2. Let the assistant call IAM Policy Autopilot to analyze AWS SDK usage.
3. Receive a policy document that includes necessary actions.
4. Use that policy in CloudFormation, CDK, or Terraform.
5. If new Access Denied errors occur, the assistant calls IAM Policy Autopilot again for targeted recommendations.
This enhances development workflows by combining code analysis with IAM expertise that stays current across AWS services.
Integration Across AWS Services
IAM Policy Autopilot supports a range of AWS services, including:
• Amazon S3
• AWS Lambda
• Amazon DynamoDB
• Amazon EC2
• Amazon CloudWatch Logs
It helps generate permissions that align with how applications interact with these services. As a complementary tool, it works alongside IAM Access Analyzer for validation and refinement of least privilege permissions.
Availability
IAM Policy Autopilot is available now as an open source project on GitHub. It is free to use and supports Python, TypeScript, and Go applications. Developers can incorporate it into their preferred workflows using either the MCP server integration or the CLI tool.
A More Streamlined IAM Experience
IAM Policy Autopilot simplifies the often time-consuming process of writing and refining IAM policies. By analyzing application code and staying up to date with AWS services, it gives builders a reliable foundation from which to begin, allowing them to focus on application development rather than troubleshooting permissions.
This new tool reflects AWS’s efforts to enhance the developer experience, especially as AI coding assistants become more central to building and deploying modern applications.
Official Sources:
AWS About: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/11/iam-policy-autopilot-generate-iam-policies-code/
GitHub AWSlabs:
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