Resources · Make integration

AWS S3 Make integrationAutomate AWS S3 with Make.

Your files already sit in S3, so let Make do the moving. The AWS S3 Make integration brings 8 modules, 6 actions and 2 searches, each a brick of a scenario, the automation you build in Make. No trigger though. Nothing watches your bucket, so the page shows what to start from.

Try the AWS S3 integration on MakeSee the 8 modules

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What you can automate

What can the AWS S3 Make integration actually do?

It links your AWS S3 storage to Make so a scenario can put a file in a bucket, pull one back out, create a bucket and read what is already stored. Make lists 8 AWS S3 modules, and each one does a single job you choose in the editor. Nothing is written in code here, you fill fields and map data from one module into the next.

Three shapes come up again and again. The first is archiving what another app produces: a PDF generated in your billing tool goes straight to a bucket with Upload File, and nobody drags it there by hand. The second is serving files back: Get File pulls a document out of the bucket so the next module can attach it to an email or hand it to a client portal. The third is taking stock: List Files and List Folders read a path and give the scenario what is actually there, which is how a clean-up or a migration starts.

What Make does not give you here is a way to watch the bucket. The app ships 6 actions and 2 searches, and not one trigger, so nothing inside AWS S3 can wake a scenario up on its own. The start has to come from somewhere else: another app's trigger, or the clock Make puts on the first module.

The same storage also has an n8n node, and the two tools get there differently. The AWS S3 n8n integration covers that side, and n8n vs Make lays out the criteria. If you would rather learn the editor properly before wiring production files into it, Make training is the shorter road.

Connect

How do you connect AWS S3 to Make?

  1. 01

    Create the AWS user first

    Make does not open an authorization window here, it asks for keys. In AWS, go to Identity and Access Management, then Access Management and Users. Click Add User, name the user, tick Programmatic access.

  2. 02

    Give that user access to S3

    Still in AWS, attach the AmazonS3FullAccess policy through Attach existing policies directly, click Next, then finish the remaining screens with Create User. AWS shows an Access key ID and a Secret access key. Copy both.

  3. 03

    Paste the keys into Make

    Back in Make, drop any AWS S3 module into your scenario and click Create a connection. Name it in the Connection name field if you want, paste the two keys, confirm. A connection is your account linked to Make once, and every AWS S3 module reuses it.

First scenario

Your first scenario with AWS S3

GoalOn the schedule you set, Make reads a path in your bucket and downloads every file it finds there.

  1. 01

    Create the scenario

    From the Scenarios page in Make, start a new one and click the + to place your first module. Search for AWS S3 by name and the 8 modules show up in the list.

  2. 02

    Put List Files first

    Pick List Files and click Create a connection if your account is not linked yet. This module reads a path and hands the rest of the scenario what it finds, so it sets the pace here.

  3. 03

    Point it at a path

    Fill the module fields. Once the connection exists, Make reads your account and offers the buckets and folders it can see, so you pick from a list instead of typing a path from memory.

  4. 04

    Add Get File behind it

    Click the + on the right of List Files and add Get File. Map the values from the first module into the second, so each item List Files returns becomes its own bundle, the single item that travels from one module to the next, and Get File downloads it.

  5. 05

    Test with Run once

    Click Run once. Make executes the scenario a single time and shows the bundles each module received, which is where you check the path was right before anything runs on its own.

  6. 06

    Schedule it, then switch it on

    The clock on the first module is the Scheduling, set to every 15 minutes on a new scenario. Slow it down or speed it up to match the real rhythm of the job, then flip the switch.

Modules

What each AWS S3 module does

AWS S3 gives you 8 modules. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

AWS S31

Create Bucket

Action

In Make“Creates a new bucket.”

Storage usually gets created by hand in the AWS console. Create Bucket moves that step into the scenario, so the place to store things appears the moment the automation needs it.

When to use it
a new client signs and every document of theirs needs its own bucket to land in.
Watch out
this module fires on every run, so keep it out of a branch that repeats unless you really want one more bucket each time.
AWS S32

Get File

Action

In Make“Downloads a file from a bucket.”

Get File pulls a file out of a bucket and carries it into the scenario, so the next module can send it, convert it or drop it somewhere else. Nothing is saved on your machine.

When to use it
a signed contract stored in S3 has to go out as an attachment on the email your scenario is preparing.
Watch out
the Free plan stops at 5 MB per file and 512 MB of transfer, and that is the ceiling a large download hits first.
AWS S33

Make an API Call

Action

In Make“Performs an arbitrary authorized API call.”

Make an API Call is the escape hatch. It sends the request you write to the AWS S3 API over the same connection, so any endpoint the service exposes stays reachable from the scenario even without a dedicated module.

When to use it
no module in the list of 8 covers what you need.
Watch out
it asks you to know the API yourself, with no built-in help from Make, so treat it as the last resort rather than the first thing you reach for.
AWS S34

Upload File

Action

In Make“Uploads a file to a bucket.”

Going the other way, Upload File writes the file the scenario is carrying into a bucket, at the path you choose. Wherever it came from, a form, a PDF generator, another storage app, it ends up in S3 without a single click.

When to use it
an invoice comes out of your billing tool and has to be archived somewhere durable.
Watch out
on the Free plan a file over 5 MB will not go through, so check the size before you build the rest around it.
AWS S35

List Files

Search

In Make“Lists all files in the specified path.”

List Files reads a path in a bucket and returns what is stored there. Each file comes back as its own bundle, so the modules placed behind it run once per file.

When to use it
the scenario has to walk through a whole drop folder and do something with every item.
Watch out
a search can come back with nothing, with one item or with many, so build the rest of the scenario for the empty case too.
AWS S36

List Folders

Search

In Make“Lists all folders in the specified path.”

One level up, List Folders gives back the folders sitting under a path, not the files inside them. That is how a scenario finds out the way your storage is organized before it touches anything.

When to use it
your buckets are split by client and the scenario needs to know which folders exist before it picks one.
Watch out
a folder is not a file, so pair it with List Files when what you want is the contents.
AWS S37

Actions

ActionIn the docs only

Actions sits in the AWS S3 module list with nothing written next to it. No published description says what it changes or what it hands back, so this page will not pretend to know.

When to use it
you are auditing how far the app reaches and want to see the fields it asks for before deciding anything.
Watch out
an undocumented module is a weak base for a scenario someone else will maintain, so test it with Run once and read what comes back.
AWS S38

Searches

ActionIn the docs only

Same blank space for Searches, the other AWS S3 entry Make ships without a description. The name leans toward reading rather than writing, but nothing official backs that up.

When to use it
List Files and List Folders do not cover the lookup you need and you want to open this one in the editor before reaching for the API.
Watch out
when a build has to be dependable, Make an API Call is the documented route and this one is not.
Need help

Need help automating AWS S3 with Make?

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FAQ

Questions that come up next

01Is the AWS S3 Make integration free?
Yes, from the Free plan. AWS S3 is a standard app and not an Enterprise one, so it is available with nothing extra to pay on the Make side. What the Free plan frames is everything around it: 2 active scenarios, a minimum interval of 15 minutes between scheduled runs, 5 minutes of execution per run, files up to 5 MB and 512 MB of transfer. Every module that runs counts as one operation, the unit Make deducts from your plan. Paid plans bring the interval down to 1 minute, lift the cap on active scenarios and go up to 40 minutes of execution. Storage on the AWS side has its own pricing page.
02What do you need to connect AWS S3 to Make?
An active AWS account and credentials that carry the right permissions. In practice: you create a user in Identity and Access Management with Programmatic access, attach the AmazonS3FullAccess policy to it, then copy the Access key ID and the Secret access key AWS shows you. Over in Make, you add any AWS S3 module, click Create a connection, name it in the Connection name field if you want, and paste the two values. Every AWS S3 module you add afterwards reuses that connection.
03Does an AWS S3 trigger fire in real time?
No, because there is no trigger at all. The 8 modules split into 6 actions and 2 searches, and none of them watches your storage, so nothing on the AWS S3 side wakes a scenario when a file lands. The start has to come from elsewhere, and two routes come up most often. The clock Make puts on the first module runs the scenario at the interval you set, 15 minutes by default on a new scenario. Or a Make webhook, a URL another system calls, kicks off the run the moment that system has something to say.
04What if the AWS S3 module you need is missing?
Reach for Make an API Call. The app carries it: it sends the request you write to the AWS S3 API over the connection you already have, so any endpoint of the service stays within reach even though the list stops at 8 modules. Two of those, Actions and Searches, arrive with no description in Make's documentation, so test them with Run once and read what comes back before building on top. The documentation gives no numeric limit for this app, which means the ceilings you meet first are the ones on your plan.
05Make or n8n for AWS S3?
It depends on who will maintain it. Make stays visual from end to end: you drop modules on a canvas, map fields from a list and read the bundles after a Run once, which fits a team where the person building is not a developer. n8n asks for a bit more ease with data and code, and leaves more room when a job goes off the usual track. The same storage exists on both sides, so the real question is not what is possible, it is who will open the editor in six months.
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