remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

You have tried to call a Remotion Lambda function, but have

Error message

You have tried to call a Remotion Lambda function, but have not set the environment variable AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID or REMOTION_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID.

What it means

checkCredentials throws before any AWS call if neither AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID nor REMOTION_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID is set, and no AWS profile is detected. The check is skipped when REMOTION_SKIP_AWS_CREDENTIALS_CHECK is set, when AWS_PROFILE/REMOTION_AWS_PROFILE is set, or when a local AWS profile file is found. Note: the CLI auto-loads .env, but the Node.js API does not.

Source

Thrown at packages/lambda-client/src/check-credentials.ts:36

export const checkCredentials = () => {
	if (getEnvVariable('REMOTION_SKIP_AWS_CREDENTIALS_CHECK')) {
		return;
	}

	if (getEnvVariable('REMOTION_AWS_PROFILE') || getEnvVariable('AWS_PROFILE')) {
		return;
	}

	if (isLikelyToHaveAwsProfile()) {
		return;
	}

	if (
		!getEnvVariable('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID') &&
		!getEnvVariable('REMOTION_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID')
	) {
		throw new Error(
			messageForVariable('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID or REMOTION_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),
		);
	}

	if (
		!getEnvVariable('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY') &&
		!getEnvVariable('REMOTION_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY')
	) {
		throw new Error(
			messageForVariable(
				'AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY or REMOTION_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY',
			),
		);
	}
};

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID (or REMOTION_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID) in the environment
2. If using the Node.js API, load your .env yourself (e.g. import 'dotenv/config')
3. Configure ~/.aws/credentials and rely on the profile, or set AWS_PROFILE
4. Only set REMOTION_SKIP_AWS_CREDENTIALS_CHECK if you intentionally use the SDK default credential chain (IMDS, SSR, etc.)

Example fix

// before - Node.js API, .env not auto-loaded
import {renderMediaOnLambda} from '@remotion/lambda-client';
await renderMediaOnLambda({...});

// after
import 'dotenv/config';
import {renderMediaOnLambda} from '@remotion/lambda-client';
await renderMediaOnLambda({...});

function assertAwsAccessKeyId() {
  const id = process.env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID ?? process.env.REMOTION_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID;
  if (!id && !process.env.AWS_PROFILE && !process.env.REMOTION_AWS_PROFILE) {
    throw new Error('Set AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID before calling Remotion Lambda');
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking any lambda-client function in a fresh shell/CI where the access-key-id env var is unset and no profile resolves.

Common situations: CI without injected secrets, calling the Node.js API without loading dotenv, .env missing the key, deploying to a host that strips env vars.

Related errors

• You have tried to call a Remotion Lambda function, but have
• UnrecognizedClientException: The AWS credentials provided we
• could not load AWS config: %w
• Lambda Insights is not supported by AWS in region ${region}.
• No valid AWS Caller Identity detected

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f47a11898e1f6be4. Report an issue: GitHub.