diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 68e8663..8559cea 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ To get the most out of Terraform workspaces it is recommended that the AWS provi
 provider "aws" {
     region = "${var.region}"
     profile = "${var.workspace}"
+    shared_credentials_file = ${var.shared_credentials_file}
 }
 ```
 
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ This will make Terraform lookup AWS credentials from the `~/.aws/credentials` fi
 
 ## atmos -e
 
-Adding the `-e` flag to atmos will make it generate a new `~/.aws/credentials` file from environment variables. You must first include the `default` access key ID & secret access key like this:
+Adding the `-e` flag to atmos will make it generate a new `~/.aws/credentials-atmos` file from environment variables. You must first include the `default` access key ID & secret access key like this:
 
 ```
 DEFAULT_ACCESS_KEY_ID=id
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ QA_ACCESS_KEY_ID=id
 QA_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=key
 ```
 
-Note: Atmos will override your default credentials file as this functionality is for use in a docker container or in situations where you would rather use variables.
+This requires a `shared_credentials_file` variable on the top level. To support standard Terraform workflows its recommened to default this to the default shared credentials file location `$HOME/.aws/credentials`. Atmos will then handle the overriding safely in the background
 
 # atmos -m
 
diff --git a/atmos.py b/atmos.py
index cb24ea2..37359d7 100755
--- a/atmos.py
+++ b/atmos.py
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@ def main(argv):
         determine_actions(args, params)
 
 def determine_actions(args, params):
+    aws_creds_file = "$HOME/.aws/credentials"
     if (is_git_directory()) and not (args.m):
+        aws_creds_file = aws_creds_file + "-atmos"
         workspace_manager()
 
     workspace = get_env()
@@ -22,7 +24,7 @@ def determine_actions(args, params):
     cmd = 'terraform {args}'.format(args=args.command)
 
     if (args.command in env_actions) and not (args.p): # Append with env context
-        cmd = cmd + ' -var-file=vars/{env}.tfvars -var "workspace={env}"'.format(env=workspace)
+        cmd = cmd + ' -var-file=vars/{env}.tfvars -var "workspace={env}" -var "shared_credentials_file={aws_creds_file}"'.format(env=workspace, aws_creds_file=aws_creds_file)
 
     for param in params: # Pass terraform params directly through
         cmd = cmd + ' ' + param
@@ -62,7 +64,7 @@ def generate_creds():
         contents = contents + "[{workspace}]\n".format(workspace=workspace)
         contents = contents + "aws_access_key_id=" + os.environ.get(workspace.upper() + '_ACCESS_KEY_ID') + "\n"
         contents = contents + "aws_secret_access_key=" + os.environ.get(workspace.upper() + '_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY') + "\n"
-    with open(os.path.expanduser('~/.aws/credentials'), 'w+') as f:
+    with open(os.path.expanduser('~/.aws/credentials-atmos'), 'w+') as f:
         f.write(contents)
 
 def get_valid_envs():