diff --git a/app/app.go b/app/app.go
index e9b71e1..a35c46d 100644
--- a/app/app.go
+++ b/app/app.go
@@ -1291,7 +1291,7 @@ func Init(name string, awsCredentials bool, sessionDuration int) (*App, error) {
 	if awsCredentials {
 		cfg, err := config.LoadDefaultConfig(context.Background())
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
+			return nil, auth.FriendlyAWSConfigError(err)
 		}
 		app.Session = cfg
 		app.AWS = apppackaws.New(cfg)
diff --git a/auth/auth.go b/auth/auth.go
index ce649de..35005b3 100644
--- a/auth/auth.go
+++ b/auth/auth.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/apppackio/apppack/state"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/aws"
@@ -13,6 +14,38 @@ import (
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
+// ignoreSharedConfigFiles disables loading of the local AWS shared config and
+// credentials files (~/.aws/config, ~/.aws/credentials). AppPack's OAuth flow
+// injects its own credentials, so those files are never needed here. Without
+// this, a partially-configured [default] profile on the user's machine makes
+// every non-`auth` command fail with an opaque SDK error.
+func ignoreSharedConfigFiles() config.LoadOptionsFunc {
+	return func(o *config.LoadOptions) error {
+		o.SharedConfigFiles = []string{}
+		o.SharedCredentialsFiles = []string{}
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
+// FriendlyAWSConfigError adds a hint to errors returned when loading the local
+// AWS configuration (the `--aws-credentials` flow, which intentionally reads
+// the user's ~/.aws files). The raw SDK "partial credentials" error is opaque;
+// this points the user at the real, machine-local cause.
+func FriendlyAWSConfigError(err error) error {
+	if err == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "partial credentials") {
+		return fmt.Errorf(
+			"%w: your local AWS credentials appear to be incomplete — "+
+				"check for a partial [default] profile in ~/.aws/credentials or ~/.aws/config, "+
+				"or stray AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID / AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variables",
+			err,
+		)
+	}
+	return err
+}
+
 const (
 	deviceCodeURL = "https://auth.apppack.io/oauth/device/code"
 	oauthTokenURL = "https://auth.apppack.io/oauth/token" // #nosec G101 -- URL path, not a credential
@@ -53,6 +86,7 @@ func AppAWSSession(appName string, sessionDuration int) (aws.Config, *AppRole, e
 			*creds.SessionToken,
 		)),
 		config.WithRegion(appRole.Region),
+		ignoreSharedConfigFiles(),
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return aws.Config{}, nil, err
@@ -90,6 +124,7 @@ func AdminAWSSession(idOrAlias string, sessionDuration int, region string) (aws.
 			*creds.SessionToken,
 		)),
 		config.WithRegion(region),
+		ignoreSharedConfigFiles(),
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return aws.Config{}, nil, err
diff --git a/auth/auth_test.go b/auth/auth_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3819990
--- /dev/null
+++ b/auth/auth_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package auth
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestFriendlyAWSConfigError(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("nil error stays nil", func(t *testing.T) {
+		if err := FriendlyAWSConfigError(nil); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("expected nil, got %v", err)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("partial credentials error gets a hint", func(t *testing.T) {
+		raw := errors.New("error fetching config from profile, default, Error using profile: \n 2, partial credentials found for profile default")
+		got := FriendlyAWSConfigError(raw)
+		if got == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected wrapped error, got nil")
+		}
+		if !strings.Contains(got.Error(), "local AWS credentials appear to be incomplete") {
+			t.Errorf("expected friendly hint, got: %v", got)
+		}
+		if !errors.Is(got, raw) {
+			t.Error("expected wrapped error to preserve the original via errors.Is")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("unrelated error is passed through unchanged", func(t *testing.T) {
+		raw := errors.New("some other failure")
+		got := FriendlyAWSConfigError(raw)
+		if !errors.Is(got, raw) || got.Error() != raw.Error() {
+			t.Errorf("expected passthrough, got: %v", got)
+		}
+	})
+}
diff --git a/auth/tokens.go b/auth/tokens.go
index e25b316..8f79c76 100644
--- a/auth/tokens.go
+++ b/auth/tokens.go
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ func (t *Tokens) GetCredentials(role Role, duration int) (*types.Credentials, er
 
 	cfg, err := config.LoadDefaultConfig(context.Background(),
 		config.WithRegion("us-east-1"), // STS is a global service, use us-east-1 as default
+		ignoreSharedConfigFiles(),
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/cmd/access.go b/cmd/access.go
index 1051e6a..8f4d087 100644
--- a/cmd/access.go
+++ b/cmd/access.go
@@ -86,12 +86,13 @@ func adminSession(sessionDuration int) (aws.Config, error) {
 	if UseAWSCredentials {
 		ctx := context.Background()
 		if region != "" {
-			return config.LoadDefaultConfig(ctx, config.WithRegion(region))
+			cfg, err := config.LoadDefaultConfig(ctx, config.WithRegion(region))
+			return cfg, auth.FriendlyAWSConfigError(err)
 		}
 
 		cfg, err := config.LoadDefaultConfig(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
-			return aws.Config{}, err
+			return aws.Config{}, auth.FriendlyAWSConfigError(err)
 		}
 
 		if cfg.Region == "" {