How to Claim $200 in AWS Credits and Configure Claude Code CLI via Amazon Bedrock

Token consumption remains a primary cost driver when deploying Claude Code CLI into everyday software engineering. Allowing autonomous coding agents to inspect codebases and execute test suites can accumulate substantial Anthropic API bills if left unmonitored.

Fortunately, Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers up to $200 in free promotional credits for new developer accounts through hands-on service exploration challenges. These credits apply directly toward Amazon Bedrock, letting engineers run foundational models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet without out-of-pocket expenses. This guide walks you through claiming the full $200 credit and configuring Claude Code CLI with Bedrock.

1. Registration Workflow to Claim $200 in AWS Credits

The AWS onboarding initiative consists of two stages: an initial $100 credit upon account verification, followed by $100 across five practical tasks in the Explore AWS console panel.

Step 1: Create a Verified AWS Account

• Register with valid identification assets: personal email, verified mobile number, and an active international payment card (Visa or Mastercard).
• AWS conducts a temporary authorization hold of approximately $1.00 USD to verify payment card authenticity, refunded within several business days.
• Select the Free Tier plan and choose Basic Support (Free). Validated new accounts receive their initial $100 credit voucher shortly after passing identity verification.

Step 2: Complete the 5 Explore AWS Challenges for an Extra $100

From the central AWS Management Console Home, locate the Explore AWS widget. Complete the five technical exercises, each yielding $20 in promotional credits up to $100 total:

1. Configure an AWS Budgets Threshold: Create a monthly spending alert in under two minutes. Review our guide on setting hard budget caps for AI coding agents for strict cost containment.
2. Deploy an AWS Lambda Function: Create a lightweight serverless function running standard starter code.
3. Provision an Amazon RDS Database: Launch a minimal database instance inside a default VPC.
4. Initialize an Amazon EC2 Virtual Machine: Launch a minimal micro Linux compute instance.
5. Send an Inference Prompt in Bedrock Text Playground: Open the Bedrock workspace and execute a basic completion request across any foundational model.

Promotional credits appear within 10 to 30 minutes in Billing under Credits. As soon as task completion is confirmed, terminate the EC2 node and delete the RDS instance to conserve your credit balance.

2. Enabling Anthropic Claude Access in Amazon Bedrock

Amazon Bedrock requires explicit model access activation to safeguard compute resources against automated abuse:

1. Select Supported Region: Switch console region to us-east-1 (N. Virginia) or us-west-2 (Oregon) for full Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude 3 Haiku availability.
2. Handling Verification Holds: If the console states “Your account is being verified”, wait several hours or contact aws-verification@amazon.com alongside an Account and Billing support case for faster review.
3. Submit Anthropic Use Case: In Bedrock navigate to Model access, choose the Anthropic collection, and fill out the brief questionnaire detailing your software engineering and Claude Code CLI testing use cases.
4. Verify Model Operation: Open Bedrock Playground, choose your authorized Claude model, and run a test query to confirm stable streaming.

3. Configuring Claude Code CLI with Amazon Bedrock

To redirect Claude Code inference traffic through Amazon Bedrock instead of default Anthropic endpoints, configure your local environment settings.

Step 1: Install Claude Code CLI

Install the official Claude Code package globally via npm:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Developers using VS Code can also install the official Claude Code extension from Marketplace to monitor interactive file diffs.

Step 2: Generate Bedrock API Credentials

Inside the Amazon Bedrock console, navigate to API keys. Generate a new key with an explicit expiration period to enforce cloud security best practices.

Step 3: Configure settings.json for Claude Code

Create or edit your local configuration file at ~/.claude/settings.json with the following parameters:

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK": "1",
    "AWS_REGION": "us-east-1",
    "AWS_BEARER_TOKEN_BEDROCK": "your-bedrock-api-key-here"
  }
}

Run the claude command in your project directory. Code generation and review tasks will now route through Amazon Bedrock and deduct from your active $200 promotional credit balance.

4. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Conclusion

The $200 AWS promotional credit package offers developers an outstanding opportunity to experience an autonomous multi-agent coding workflow at zero initial cost. Using Amazon Bedrock as your backend provider gives you low-latency inference while maintaining full control over daily development budgets. Set up your environment today and accelerate your software development with Claude Code.