Amazon has introduced the alpha version of Storage Browser for Amazon S3, which provides a user-friendly interface for accessing S3 data. This feature is integrated within the AWS Amplify JavaScript and React client libraries.

The Storage Browser is a component of the open-source Amplify UI React that can be incorporated into web applications, allowing users a straightforward way to manage S3 data. This new tool allows developers to enable their end-users to navigate, download, and upload content directly from the applications they are using.

Source: Project GitHub page

Danilo Poccia, the chief evangelist for EMEA at AWS, discusses the capabilities of this new initiative.

An open source Amplify UI React component that you can add to your web applications to provide your end users with a simple interface for data stored in S3. The component uses the new ListCallerAccessGrants API to list all S3 buckets, prefixes, and objects they can access, as defined by their S3 Access Grants.

According to the documentation on GitHub, Storage Browser for S3 can be installed via npm or by using the tagged versions of the @aws-amplify/ui-react-storage and aws-amplify packages. The following dependencies should be added to the package.json file:

The Amplify project has three main views, starting with the locations view, which is the initial view that shows the root-level S3 resources the user has access to, along with their associated permissions (READ/READWRITE). The location detail view is a file-browser-like interface where users can browse files and folders in S3, as well as upload or download files. The location action view appears when users select an action, such as uploading files.

While the general feedback has been mostly positive, several users have requested search support, which is currently lacking. Jason Butz, principal architect and practice lead at DMI, instead highlights a potential use case:

Have you ever faced the challenge of needing business users to manage access to files uploaded within your application? If so, the dialogue about enabling access to objects in an S3 Bucket within your application becomes crucial, alongside evaluating the feasibility of the effort. Thankfully, managing this might be becoming simpler.

Currently, there are three primary methods to manage authentication and authorization with the storage browser component: AWS IAM Identity Center and S3 Access Grants, which are ideal for access control on a per-S3-prefix basis; Amplify Auth, which offers the quickest implementation for developers who are already using Amplify; and Custom Auth, best suited for applications that maintain their own identity and authorization systems for user authentication and authorization. Eduardo Rabelo, Senior Cloud Consultant at Serverless Guru, comments:

It is exciting to see AWS offering such opinionated components for developers!

The AWS team leading the initiative is actively seeking input from developers, encompassing enhancement suggestions for APIs, and proposals for new features.

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