diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0e4e268..b7d4011 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -120,6 +120,21 @@ The default endpoint is `169.254.169.254` for most cloud providers. This
 setting allows you to specify a custom IP address and optional port for the
 metadata service.
 
+### AWS Metadata API Version
+
+For AWS-compatible metadata services that don't support IMDSv2 tokens (like
+Tinkerbell's Hegel), you can specify the API version in `/etc/tiny-cloud.conf`:
+
+```sh
+# Use IMDSv1 (2009-04-04) without tokens for Tinkerbell
+CLOUD=aws
+IMDS_ENDPOINT=192.0.2.1:50061
+IMDS_URI=2009-04-04
+```
+
+The default is `latest` which uses IMDSv2 with token authentication. Setting
+`IMDS_URI=2009-04-04` uses the older IMDSv1 API without tokens.
+
 ## Operation
 
 The first time an instance boots -- either freshly instantiated from an image,
diff --git a/lib/tiny-cloud/cloud/aws/imds b/lib/tiny-cloud/cloud/aws/imds
index f7b877d..26f1633 100644
--- a/lib/tiny-cloud/cloud/aws/imds
+++ b/lib/tiny-cloud/cloud/aws/imds
@@ -5,14 +5,22 @@
 IMDS_HEADER="X-aws-ec2-metadata-token"
 IMDS_TOKEN_TTL_HEADER="X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds"
 : "${IMDS_TOKEN_TTL:=5}"
-IMDS_URI="latest"
+# Allow override of IMDS API version (default: latest, can use 2009-04-04 for IMDSv1)
+: "${IMDS_URI:=latest}"
 
 _imds_token() {
-	printf "PUT /latest/api/token HTTP/1.0\r\n%s: %s\r\n\r\n" \
-		"$IMDS_TOKEN_TTL_HEADER" "$IMDS_TOKEN_TTL" \
-		| nc -w 1 "$IMDS_ENDPOINT" 80 | tail -n 1
+	# Only try to get token if using 'latest' API version (IMDSv2)
+	# Older versions like 2009-04-04 don't support tokens (IMDSv1)
+	if [ "$IMDS_URI" = "latest" ]; then
+		printf "PUT /latest/api/token HTTP/1.0\r\n%s: %s\r\n\r\n" \
+			"$IMDS_TOKEN_TTL_HEADER" "$IMDS_TOKEN_TTL" \
+			| nc -w 1 "$IMDS_ENDPOINT" 80 | tail -n 1
+	fi
 }
 
 _imds_header() {
-	echo "$IMDS_HEADER: $(_imds_token)"
+	local token="$(_imds_token)"
+	if [ -n "$token" ]; then
+		echo "$IMDS_HEADER: $token"
+	fi
 }
diff --git a/lib/tiny-cloud/tiny-cloud.conf b/lib/tiny-cloud/tiny-cloud.conf
index 7100c49..2a22b4a 100644
--- a/lib/tiny-cloud/tiny-cloud.conf
+++ b/lib/tiny-cloud/tiny-cloud.conf
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@
 # Useful for custom metadata services
 #IMDS_ENDPOINT=169.254.169.254
 
-# IMDS token validity, in seconds (AWS only)
+# IMDS API version (AWS only)
+# Defaults to 'latest' (IMDSv2 with tokens)
+# Use '2009-04-04' for IMDSv1 without tokens (e.g., Tinkerbell)
+#IMDS_URI=latest
+
+# IMDS token validity, in seconds (AWS only, IMDSv2)
 #IMDS_TOKEN_TTL=5
 
 # Location of var directory