Evaluation record · mcp-server-s3

MCP S3 Server

v1.0.0

Community

MCPstorageawsmcpmodel-context-protocol

Strong

About This MCP

MCP servers for AWS S3 storage operations, enabling AI models to upload, download, list, and manage objects in S3 buckets. The landscape has shifted to official AWS options: the managed AWS MCP Server (GA 2026-05) covers all S3 APIs via its call_aws tool, and awslabs ships a dedicated S3 Tables MCP Server (read-only by default, write enabled only with --allow-write). Community S3 servers (e.g. aws-samples/sample-mcp-server-s3) remain available but are no longer the recommended path.

Last Evaluated: July 9, 2026

Official Website

Trust Vector Analysis

Dimension Breakdown

🚀Performance & Reliability

upload reliability

Upload success rate testing

Evidence

AWS S3 API — Built on reliable AWS S3 API with 99.99% durability SLA

highVerified: 2026-07-09

download performance

Download speed testing

Evidence

S3 Performance — High-speed downloads from globally distributed S3 infrastructure

highVerified: 2026-07-09

large file handling

Large file transfer testing

Evidence

S3 Multipart Upload — Supports multipart uploads for large files up to 5TB

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

listing performance

Listing performance testing

Evidence

S3 List Objects — Performance degrades with large buckets; pagination recommended

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

error recovery

Error handling testing

Evidence

AWS SDK — AWS SDK provides automatic retry with exponential backoff

highVerified: 2026-07-09

🛡️Security

authentication security

Authentication mechanism review

Evidence

AWS IAM — Uses AWS IAM credentials with fine-grained permissions

highVerified: 2026-07-09

credential exposure risk

Credential security analysis

Evidence

MCP Security Model — AWS access keys stored locally; AI can perform S3 operations

highVerified: 2026-07-09

bucket policy enforcement

Policy enforcement testing

Evidence

S3 Bucket Policies — Respects S3 bucket policies and IAM permissions

highVerified: 2026-07-09

object deletion risk

Destructive operation testing; small raise from 62 reflecting the read-only-by-default posture of the current official server

Evidence

AWS S3 Tables MCP Server — AI can delete objects and empty buckets if IAM permits; the official awslabs S3 Tables server mitigates this by defaulting to read-only and requiring an explicit --allow-write flag plus matching IAM permissions for writes

highVerified: 2026-07-09

public access risk

Access control testing

Evidence

S3 Public Access — Can modify ACLs and make objects public if permissions allow

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

audit logging

Audit logging review

Evidence

S3 Server Access Logging — Comprehensive logging via S3 access logs and CloudTrail

highVerified: 2026-07-09

🔒Privacy & Compliance

object content exposure

Data flow analysis

Evidence

MCP Data Flow — Downloaded object content and metadata sent to LLM provider

highVerified: 2026-07-09

metadata privacy

Metadata privacy assessment

Evidence

Privacy Analysis — Object metadata including tags and user-defined metadata exposed

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

bucket structure exposure

Structure privacy assessment

Evidence

Privacy Analysis — Bucket names and object keys may reveal organizational structure

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

third party data sharing

Data sharing analysis

Evidence

LLM Provider Policies — Object content shared with LLM provider per their privacy policy

highVerified: 2026-07-09

encryption support

Encryption support assessment

Evidence

S3 Encryption — Supports server-side and client-side encryption but data decrypted for AI

highVerified: 2026-07-09

👁️Trust & Transparency

documentation quality

Documentation completeness review; raised from 78 as first-party AWS documentation now exists

Evidence

AWS S3 Tables MCP Server Documentation — Official awslabs documentation site covers setup, IAM requirements, and the --allow-write model; community S3 servers retain variable documentation

highVerified: 2026-07-09

operation visibility

Logging and traceability assessment

Evidence

AWS CloudTrail — All operations logged in CloudTrail and MCP logs

highVerified: 2026-07-09

open source transparency

Source code review

Evidence

awslabs/mcp Repository — Official S3 Tables server is open source (Apache 2.0) in awslabs/mcp; community S3 implementations also open source

highVerified: 2026-07-09

api coverage clarity

API documentation review

Evidence

MCP Server Documentation — Clear but incomplete documentation of supported S3 operations

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

⚙️Operational Excellence

ease of setup

Setup complexity assessment

Evidence

Setup Documentation — Requires AWS credentials and appropriate IAM permissions

highVerified: 2026-07-09

transfer performance

Performance benchmarking

Evidence

S3 Transfer Acceleration — High-speed transfers with optional transfer acceleration

highVerified: 2026-07-09

reliability

Reliability analysis

Evidence

S3 Durability — Built on S3's 99.999999999% durability SLA

highVerified: 2026-07-09

operation coverage

Feature coverage assessment

Evidence

S3 MCP Server — Covers upload, download, list, delete, and metadata operations

highVerified: 2026-07-09

community support

Community support assessment; raised from 75 reflecting first-party AWS maintenance of the recommended server

Evidence

awslabs/mcp Repository — S3 Tables server is first-party maintained within the active awslabs/mcp suite; generic community S3 servers see moderate activity

mediumVerified: 2026-07-09

Strengths

+Built on highly reliable AWS S3 with 99.999999999% durability
+Comprehensive S3 operations (upload, download, list, delete, metadata)
+Official first-party option now available: awslabs S3 Tables MCP Server, read-only by default
+Excellent for cloud storage automation and data pipelines
+Full operation auditability through CloudTrail
+Supports multipart uploads for large files up to 5TB

Limitations

!Downloaded object content and metadata exposed to LLM provider
!AI can delete objects and modify ACLs within IAM permissions (official S3 Tables server requires explicit --allow-write)
!AWS access keys and credentials accessible to AI in locally configured community servers
!Object metadata and bucket structure may reveal sensitive information
!Can make objects public if IAM permissions allow
!Encrypted data decrypted before transmission to LLM provider
!Generic community S3 servers are unofficial; AWS's recommended paths are the managed AWS MCP Server or the awslabs S3 Tables server

Metadata

license: Apache 2.0 (awslabs S3 Tables server); community servers vary (MIT common)

supported platforms

0: All platforms with Python (uvx awslabs.s3-tables-mcp-server) or Node.js (community servers)

programming languages

0: Python

1: TypeScript

mcp version: 1.0

github repo: https://github.com/awslabs/mcp/tree/main/src/s3-tables-mcp-server

alternative repos

0: https://github.com/aws-samples/sample-mcp-server-s3

api dependency: AWS SDK (boto3 / AWS SDK for JavaScript)

authentication: AWS IAM credentials (access keys or IAM roles); write access gated behind --allow-write on the S3 Tables server

first release: 2024-11

maintained by: AWS (awslabs) and Community

Use Case Ratings

code generation

Good for generating S3 integration code and storage workflows

customer support

Useful for managing customer file uploads and support attachments

content creation

Good for managing media assets and content delivery

data analysis

Excellent for data pipeline automation and ETL workflows

research assistant

Useful for managing research data and document archives

legal compliance

Risk of exposing confidential documents; requires strict IAM controls

healthcare

Risk of exposing PHI in stored files; requires careful controls

financial analysis

Moderate risk for financial document storage

education

Excellent for teaching cloud storage and data pipeline concepts

creative writing

Good for managing writing projects and manuscript storage