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Enhanced AWS SSO Authentication: Better UX with Styled Dialogs and Graceful Cancellation

· 3 min read
Erik Osterman
Erik Osterman
Founder @ Cloud Posse

We've significantly improved the AWS SSO authentication experience with styled verification code dialogs, animated status indicators, and proper Ctrl+C handling.

What Changed​

When authenticating with AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO), Atmos now displays the verification code in a styled dialog box with clear visual feedback during the authentication process.

New Features​

1. Styled Verification Dialog

The verification code is now displayed in a bordered dialog box with color-coded elements for better visibility:

╭───────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🔐 AWS SSO Authentication Required          │
│                                               │
│  Verification Code:  WDDD-HRQV               │
│                                               │
│  https://company.awsapps.com/start/#/device  │
│                                               │
│  Opening browser... If it doesn't open,      │
│  visit the URL above.                        │
╰───────────────────────────────────────────────╯

2. Animated Spinner

While waiting for authentication, an animated spinner shows real-time status with success/failure feedback:

⠋ Waiting for authentication...

3. Proper Ctrl+C Handling

Pressing Ctrl+C during authentication now properly cancels the entire authentication process:

  • Immediately stops the polling goroutine
  • Closes all channels cleanly
  • Returns a clear "authentication cancelled" error
  • No resource leaks or hanging processes

4. Graceful Degradation

The enhancement automatically adapts to your environment:

  • Terminal environments: Beautiful styled dialog with colors and animations
  • CI/CD pipelines: Simple text output optimized for logs
  • Non-TTY environments: Plain text fallback

Why This Matters​

Better User Experience​

Previously, the verification code was not displayed in the terminal at all. Now you can:

  • See the verification code directly in your terminal without having to find it in the browser
  • Quickly locate the code when switching between browser and terminal
  • Verify the code matches what AWS displays in the browser
  • Monitor authentication progress with real-time feedback
  • Cancel authentication cleanly with Ctrl+C without leaving background processes running

Consistent Across All Commands​

This enhancement applies to all Atmos authentication commands that trigger AWS SSO login:

  • atmos auth login - Interactive authentication
  • atmos auth env - Get credentials as environment variables
  • atmos auth exec - Execute commands with authenticated credentials

Any command that requires AWS SSO authentication will now show the styled verification dialog.

Important Note​

The verification code displayed is a device authorization user code (e.g., "WDDD-HRQV") generated by AWS for the OAuth 2.0 device flow—this is NOT an MFA token.

Any MFA prompts (such as authenticator app codes or SMS codes) will appear in your browser during the authentication flow, not in the terminal.

Technical Details​

Implementation​

The enhancement uses the Charm Bracelet ecosystem for beautiful terminal UIs:

  • Lipgloss - Styling and layout for the verification dialog
  • Bubbletea - Terminal UI framework for the interactive spinner
  • Bubbles - Pre-built spinner component

The implementation includes:

  • TTY detection to automatically choose between styled dialogs and plain text
  • Context-based cancellation for clean shutdown on Ctrl+C
  • Proper goroutine management to prevent resource leaks
  • Full test coverage with unit tests for all code paths

Test Coverage​

We've added comprehensive tests covering:

  • Styled dialog rendering with various inputs
  • Plain text fallback for non-TTY environments
  • Context cancellation behavior
  • Spinner state management

This enhancement makes AWS SSO authentication more user-friendly while maintaining full backward compatibility with existing workflows.