diff --git a/planetstack/ec2_observer/creds.py b/planetstack/ec2_observer/creds.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a29c0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/planetstack/ec2_observer/creds.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+from core.models import *
+
+def get_creds(user=None, slice=None, site=None, deployment=None):
+    if (not user or not site):
+        raise Exception('User and Site have to be in context to use EC2')
+
+    cred = UserCredential.objects.filter(user=user)
+    if (not cred):
+        cred = SiteCredential.objects.filter(site=site)
+        
+    if (cred):
+        env = 'AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=%s AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=%s'%(cred.key_id, cred.enc_value) 
+    else:
+        env = ''
+
+    return env