Kiro

• Turning a feature request into requirements, a design doc, and a task list, then letting Kiro implement the tasks while you review each step
• Diagnosing a bug with a bugfix spec that captures root-cause analysis before changing code
• Adding hooks that run linters, formatters, or type checks automatically after the agent edits files
• Starting a cloud session for a change that spans several GitHub and GitLab repositories and checking on it later from the IDE or phone
• Running Kiro CLI in headless mode inside a CI pipeline

Kiro's value is structure. Specs, steering files, and hooks turn a coding agent into a repeatable process that leaves a paper trail, which helps on multi-step features and on teams that review plans before code. Cloud sessions you can resume from the IDE, terminal, or phone make long tasks easier to hand off. The costs are overhead and predictability: specs are more process than small edits need, credits burn at different rates depending on model and task, and cloud sessions are paid-only and run in a single AWS region. It suits teams that want planned agent work more than developers who mostly want fast inline help.

About Kiro

Kiro's central idea is spec-driven development. Before writing code, the agent produces three files: requirements.md (user stories with acceptance criteria, or bugfix.md for bug analysis), design.md (architecture and sequence diagrams), and tasks.md (trackable implementation tasks). It then executes independent tasks in parallel waves and marks each one in progress or complete. Around that core are steering files in `.kiro/steering/` that encode project conventions (AGENTS.md is also supported), agent hooks that run shell commands or agent prompts on events such as file saves, prompt submission, or tool use, and MCP servers for external tools. In the IDE, Kiro can also check correctness with property-based tests. The same agent harness and `.kiro/` configuration power every surface: a desktop IDE for macOS, Windows, and Linux built on VS Code's open-source foundation (it imports VS Code settings and Open VSX extensions), a terminal CLI with headless mode for CI (Kiro's docs call it the next update of the Amazon Q Developer CLI; since version 3.0 in November 2026 it ships as a single standalone binary), Kiro Web for multi-repo tasks that open pull requests, an iOS app in early access, and a Kiro Mobile app on Google Play. Since September 2026, Kiro Web and cloud sessions have been generally available on paid plans. A session runs in a remote sandbox in the US East (N. Virginia) AWS Region, keeps working after you disconnect, can change repositories across GitHub and GitLab in one session, and can be resumed from the browser, IDE, terminal, or phone. Pricing is credit-based. The free tier includes 50 credits a month with Auto, Claude Sonnet 4.5, and open-weight models. Individual plans run from $20 to $200 per user per month with 1,000 to 10,000 credits and premium models such as Claude Opus 5.5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6, and a first upgrade to Pro makes the rest of that month free and adds 500 trial credits. Since November 4, 2026, teams of two or more use credit pooling at $20 per seat per month, with 500 included credits per seat shared across the pool. Add-on credits cost $0.04 each. The main tradeoff is structure: specs add planning steps that pay off on larger features but are more than a quick edit needs, and credit usage varies with model choice and task complexity.