Using service-linked roles for Amazon Q Apps

Amazon Q Apps uses AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) service-linked roles. A service-linked role is a unique type of IAM role that is linked directly to Amazon Q Apps. Service-linked roles are predefined by Amazon Q Apps and include all the permissions that the service requires to performs Q Apps related administrative actions to other AWS services on your behalf.

A service-linked role makes setting up Amazon Q Apps easier because you don’t have to manually add the necessary permissions. Amazon Q Apps defines the permissions of its service-linked roles, and unless defined otherwise, only Amazon Q Apps can assume its roles. The defined permissions include the trust policy and the permissions policy, and that permissions policy cannot be attached to any other IAM entity.

You can delete a service-linked role only after first deleting their related resources. This protects your Amazon Q Apps resources because you can't inadvertently remove permission to access the resources.

For information about other services that support service-linked roles, see AWS services that work with IAM and look for the services that have Yes in the Service-linked roles column. Choose a Yes with a link to view the service-linked role documentation for that service.

Service-linked role permissions for Amazon Q Apps

Amazon Q Apps uses one service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForAmazonQApps that performs Q Apps related administrative actions in your account. Examples of these actions include allowing CloudWatch to publish metrics to your AWS account.

The AWSServiceRoleForAmazonQApps service-linked role trusts the following services to assume the role:

The AWSServiceRoleForAmazonQApps service-linked role uses the managed policy QAppsServiceRolePolicy.

The content of this policy and any updates to it are described in AWS managed policies for Amazon Q Apps.

You must configure permissions to allow an IAM entity (such as a user, group, or role) to create, edit, or delete a service-linked role. For more information, see Service-Linked Role Permissions in the IAM User Guide.

Creating a service-linked role for Amazon Q Apps

You don't need to manually create a service-linked role. When you create an Amazon Q Business application in the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS API, Amazon Q Apps creates the service-linked role for you.

If you delete this service-linked role, and then need to create it again, you can use the same process to recreate the role in your account. When you create a new application, Amazon Q Apps creates the service-linked role for you again.

Editing a service-linked role for Amazon Q Apps

Amazon Q Apps does not allow you to edit service-linked roles. After you create a service-linked role, you cannot change the name of the role because various entities might reference the role. However, you can edit the description of the role using IAM. For more information, see Editing a service-linked role in the IAM User Guide.

Deleting a service-linked role for Amazon Q Apps

You can manually delete your AWSServiceRoleForQApps role. If you no longer need to use a feature or service that requires a service-linked role, we recommend that you delete that role. That way you don’t have an unused entity that is not actively monitored or maintained. However, you must delete your Q application or turn on QApps on all existing Q applications before you can manually delete the service-linked role associated with it.

To manually delete the service-linked role using IAM

Use the IAM console, the IAM CLI, or the IAM API to delete the AWSServiceRoleForQApps service-linked role. For more information, see Deleting a Service-Linked Role in the IAM User Guide.

Supported regions for Amazon Q Apps service-linked roles

Amazon Q Apps supports using service-linked roles in all of the regions where the service is available. For more information, see Amazon Q Business endpoints and quotas.