Kiro
AWS's spec-driven agentic IDE that turns prompts into requirements, design, and code.
About
Kiro is Amazon's agentic IDE, built on Code OSS so VS Code settings and Open VSX plugins carry over. Its differentiator is spec-driven development: a prompt becomes EARS-formatted requirements, then a design document with diagrams and interfaces, then tracked implementation tasks, before agents write the code. Agent hooks automate background work on file events (update tests on save, scan for committed secrets), steering files in .kiro/steering/ hold persistent project rules, and MCP support plugs in external tools. Pricing is credit-based with a free tier and paid plans; the free credits run out fast under heavy use, and the numbers have shifted before, so check the pricing page.
What it can do
- Spec-driven development (requirements, design, tasks)
- Agent hooks for event-triggered automation
- Steering files for persistent project context
- Agentic chat with autopilot and supervised modes
- MCP server integrations
- Multimodal chat input including images
- Custom agents and reusable Powers
- VS Code settings and Open VSX plugin compatibility
Setup
- Download Kiro for macOS, Linux, or Windows from kiro.dev.
- Sign in with Google, GitHub, or another supported method.
- Open a project folder; optionally let Kiro bootstrap steering files from your repo.
- Describe a feature to generate a spec, or use vibe chat mode for quick tasks.
Prerequisites
macOS, Linux, or Windows; a Kiro account for the credit-based plans.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 7/10
Scored 7/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: AWS backing with strong launch momentum; spec-driven approach widely covered in 2025-2026.; Actively developed: Powers, cloud execution, custom agents, and CLI added through 2026.; Closed-source proprietary product built on Code OSS; no public source repository.; Honest caveat: credit-based pricing has shifted before and free credits run out fast under heavy agentic use.. License: Proprietary SaaS; no public source license..
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 7.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 8.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 2.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 7.0/10
- · AWS backing with strong launch momentum; spec-driven approach widely covered in 2025-2026.
- · Actively developed: Powers, cloud execution, custom agents, and CLI added through 2026.
- · Closed-source proprietary product built on Code OSS; no public source repository.
- · Honest caveat: credit-based pricing has shifted before and free credits run out fast under heavy agentic use.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.