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· 5 min read

How to set up AWS S3 from scratch and manage it with Nubbo

by Nubbo Team

guidetutorialaws-s3setupcloud-storage

AWS S3 is the most widely used object storage service in the world, but its console can feel overwhelming if it’s your first time using it. In this guide, you’ll set everything up from scratch: create your AWS account, prepare an S3 bucket, and connect it to Nubbo to manage your files from a clean, modern interface.

What is AWS S3?

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is an object storage service that lets you store any type of file in the cloud: images, videos, documents, backups, web assets… pretty much anything you need.

Some of its most common use cases:

  • Backups and archives: store backups of your projects or databases.
  • Asset hosting: serve images, videos, and static files for your website or application.
  • Media libraries: photographers and videographers store their entire catalogs on S3.
  • Client deliveries: share large files in an organized way.

S3 uses a pay-as-you-go model: you only pay for the storage you use and the data transfers. Plus, AWS offers a free tier that includes 5 GB of standard storage for the first 12 months.

Step 1: Create an AWS account

If you already have an AWS account, you can skip straight to the next step.

  1. Go to aws.amazon.com and click Create an AWS Account.
  2. Enter your email address and choose an account name.
  3. Verify your email with the code you’ll receive.
  4. Complete the contact details and add a payment method (required to verify the account, but you won’t be charged if you stay within the free tier).
  5. Select the Basic (free) plan when offered.
  6. Once registration is complete, log in to the AWS Management Console.

Step 2: Create an IAM user

For security, you shouldn’t use your root AWS account for everyday tasks. The right approach is to create an IAM (Identity and Access Management) user with permissions limited to S3.

  1. In the AWS Console, search for IAM in the top search bar and open the service.
  2. In the sidebar, go to Users and click Create user.
  3. Enter a name for the user (for example, nubbo-storage).
  4. On the permissions screen, select Attach policies directly.
  5. Search for the AmazonS3FullAccess policy and select it. This gives the user full access to all your S3 buckets.
  6. Review and click Create user.

Now you need to generate the access credentials:

  1. Click on the user you just created.
  2. Go to the Security credentials tab.
  3. In the Access keys section, click Create access key.
  4. Select the Third-party service use case.
  5. Save your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key somewhere safe. The secret is only shown once.

Step 3: Create a bucket

A bucket is the container where your files are stored in S3.

  1. In the AWS Console, search for S3 and open the service.
  2. Click Create bucket.
  3. Choose a name for the bucket (it must be globally unique across all of AWS, for example my-files-2026).
  4. Select the region closest to you (for example, eu-west-1 for Europe or us-east-1 for the US).
  5. Leave the rest of the settings at their default values.
  6. Click Create bucket.

Step 4: Configure CORS

CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) is required so Nubbo can upload files directly from your browser to S3. Without this configuration, uploads will be blocked.

  1. Open the bucket you just created.
  2. Go to the Permissions tab.
  3. Scroll down to the Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) section and click Edit.
  4. Paste the following configuration:
[
  {
    "AllowedHeaders": ["*"],
    "AllowedMethods": ["GET", "PUT", "POST", "DELETE", "HEAD"],
    "AllowedOrigins": ["*"],
    "ExposeHeaders": ["ETag"],
    "MaxAgeSeconds": 3600
  }
]
  1. Click Save changes.

For extra security, you can replace "*" in AllowedOrigins with "https://app.nubbo.app" to restrict uploads exclusively to Nubbo.

Step 5: Connect to Nubbo

Everything is set up on the AWS side. Now you just need to connect your bucket to Nubbo.

  1. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up for free on Nubbo.
  2. Once inside, click Add Provider in the sidebar.
  3. Select Amazon S3 as the provider type.
  4. Nubbo includes a built-in step-by-step guide inside the setup wizard that you can check at any time.
  5. Give the connection a descriptive name (for example, “My main bucket”).
  6. Enter the credentials you saved in Step 2: your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key.
  7. Select the bucket’s region and type the bucket name.
  8. Click Test connection to verify everything works.
  9. If the test passes, save the provider.

You can also use Smart mode: simply paste your credentials in CSV, JSON, or environment variable format and Nubbo will detect them automatically.

From now on, you’ll be able to browse your files, upload with drag & drop, preview images and videos, search files, and much more, all from the Nubbo interface.

Summary

In five steps you’ve set up everything you need:

  1. AWS account created with the free tier.
  2. IAM user with S3 permissions.
  3. Bucket created in the region of your choice.
  4. CORS configured to allow browser uploads.
  5. Bucket connected to Nubbo and ready to use.

Nubbo also supports DigitalOcean Spaces and Cloudflare R2, so if you use multiple providers you can manage them all from the same place.

Ready to get started? Create your free account and connect your first S3 bucket in minutes.