diff --git a/cmd/create.go b/cmd/create.go
index 2482e42c6..054f47331 100644
--- a/cmd/create.go
+++ b/cmd/create.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
+	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"syscall"
 	"time"
@@ -54,6 +55,19 @@ to quickly create a Cobra application.`,
 			log.Panic(err)
 		}
 
+		// set profile
+		profile, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("profile")
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Panicf("unable to get region values from viper")
+		}
+		viper.Set("aws.profile", profile)
+		// propagate it to local environment
+		err = os.Setenv("AWS_PROFILE", profile)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Panicf("unable to set environment variable AWS_PROFILE, error is: %v", err)
+		}
+		log.Println("profile:", profile)
+
 		infoCmd.Run(cmd, args)
 		progressPrinter.IncrementTracker("step-0", 1)
 
@@ -395,6 +409,12 @@ func init() {
 	createCmd.Flags().Bool("skip-gitlab", false, "Skip GitLab lab install and vault setup")
 	createCmd.Flags().Bool("skip-vault", false, "Skip post-gitClient lab install and vault setup")
 
+	initCmd.Flags().String("profile", "", "the profile to provision the cloud resources in. The profile data is collected from ~/.aws/config")
+	err := initCmd.MarkFlagRequired("profile")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Panic(err)
+	}
+
 	progressPrinter.GetInstance()
 	progressPrinter.SetupProgress(4)
 }
diff --git a/cmd/destroy.go b/cmd/destroy.go
index 581423f26..b1fb615de 100644
--- a/cmd/destroy.go
+++ b/cmd/destroy.go
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/kubefirst/kubefirst/internal/k8s"
 	"github.com/kubefirst/kubefirst/internal/terraform"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 	"log"
+	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"syscall"
 )
@@ -44,6 +46,19 @@ if the registry has already been deleted.`,
 			log.Panic(err)
 		}
 
+		// set profile
+		profile, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("profile")
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Panicf("unable to get region values from viper")
+		}
+		viper.Set("aws.profile", profile)
+		// propagate it to local environment
+		err = os.Setenv("AWS_PROFILE", profile)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Panicf("unable to set environment variable AWS_PROFILE, error is: %v", err)
+		}
+		log.Println("profile:", profile)
+
 		arnRole, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("aws-assume-role")
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Println("unable to use the provided AWS IAM role for AssumeRole feature")
@@ -131,6 +146,12 @@ func init() {
 	destroyCmd.Flags().Bool("skip-base-terraform", false, "whether to skip the terraform destroy against base install - note: if you already deleted registry it doesnt exist")
 	destroyCmd.Flags().Bool("destroy-buckets", false, "remove created aws buckets, not empty buckets are not cleaned")
 
+	initCmd.Flags().String("profile", "", "the profile to provision the cloud resources in. The profile data is collected from ~/.aws/config")
+	err := initCmd.MarkFlagRequired("profile")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Panic(err)
+	}
+
 	// AWS assume role
 	destroyCmd.Flags().String("aws-assume-role", "", "instead of using AWS IAM user credentials, AWS AssumeRole feature generate role based credentials, more at https://docs.aws.amazon.com/STS/latest/APIReference/API_AssumeRole.html")
 }
diff --git a/cmd/init.go b/cmd/init.go
index f539f2d5a..6f46d5fb2 100644
--- a/cmd/init.go
+++ b/cmd/init.go
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ func init() {
 		log.Panic(err)
 	}
 
-	initCmd.Flags().String("profile", "", "the profile to provision the cloud resources in. The profile data is collected from ~/aws/config")
+	initCmd.Flags().String("profile", "", "the profile to provision the cloud resources in. The profile data is collected from ~/.aws/config")
 	err = initCmd.MarkFlagRequired("profile")
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Panic(err)