What is Kiro? AWS-powered “AI Agent-powered IDE”
Automatically Generates and Tracks Requirements → Design → Implementation Tasks from Prompts
Kiro is an Agentic IDE currently released by AWS.
At its core is requirements → design → implementation tasks, which automatically generates and tracks “Spec-driven development” from prompts.
Architecture Diagram Illustrating the Complete AWS AI/Agent Development Stack, Including Kiro
Key Concepts
- Specs: Generates three-stage deliverables (requirements → design → implementation tasks) and updates them in sync with the code.
- Hooks: save/create/delete such as test updates, README maintenance, and security scans on events like Automates routine tasks.
- Steering:
.kiro/steering/Describes project conventions, stack, and structure in Markdown files and persists agent behavior. - MCP Integration: Connects external tools/data sources with Model Context Protocol.
- Code OSS-based: Incorporates VS Code settings and Open VSX-compatible plugins.
References
Introducing Kiro: https://kiro.dev/blog/introducing-kiro
Kiro Get started: https://kiro.dev/docs/getting-started/
Availability and Pricing (as of August 20, 2025)
- Availability: Public Preview (Features/documentation are subject to change)
*Released before official launch, allowing users to try it out.
Getting Started: https://kiro.dev/docs/getting-started/ - Platforms: Available for macOS (Intel/Apple Silicon) / Windows / Linux. Migration of existing VS Code settings is also possible.
Kiro Downloads: https://kiro.dev/downloads/
Kiro GitHub: https://github.com/kirodotdev/Kiro - Pricing (As of 2025-08-20):
- Free: 50 Vibe requests/month
- Pro $20: 225 Vibe requests + 125 Spec requests
- Pro+ $40: 450 Vibe requests + 250 Spec requests
- Power $200: 2,250 Vibe requests + 1,250 Spec requests
- Overage: Vibe $0.04 / Spec $0.20, with an initial 14-day 100+100 bonus.
*Vibe requests are conversational interactions that do not involve the execution of specification tasks. For example, this applies to cases where you ask questions about coding, review documents, or trigger hooks.
A typical Vibe consists of one user prompt and Kiro’s response, but particularly complex prompts may span multiple Vibes if they exceed the token limit allowed for a single request.
*Spec requests refer to task execution within Kiro’s structured development workflow. When creating requirements or design documents, you start with a Vibe and then execute individual tasks from the specifications. Each task generally corresponds to one Spec request, but may consume more tokens if it references a large amount of context or generates extensive output.
Reference: Vibe vs Spec sessions: https://kiro.dev/docs/chat/vibe
License
Subject to the AWS Customer Agreement / AWS Intellectual Property License.
https://kiro.dev/license/
References
Kiro Resources
- Kiro Official Website (About / Blog / Downloads / Changelog)
https://kiro.dev/ - Kiro Docs (Get started / Specs / Hooks / Steering / MCP, etc.)
https://kiro.dev/docs/ - Kiro Pricing
https://kiro.dev/pricing/ - Kiro Downloads (Mac/Win/Linux)
https://kiro.dev/downloads/ - License Information
https://kiro.dev/license/ - GitHub (Support / Security / README)
https://github.com/kirodotdev/Kiro - Introducing Kiro
https://kiro.dev/blog/introducing-kiro/ - Understanding Kiro’s Pricing: Specs, Vibes, and Usage Tracking
https://kiro.dev/blog/understanding-kiro-pricing-specs-vibes-usage-tracking/
AWS Official Blog and Related Services
- AWS Blog: Kiro Announcement Article (Introducing Kiro)
https://aws.amazon.com/jp/blogs/news/introducing-kiro/ - AWS Blog: AI Agent Development Platform
Enabling customers to deliver production-ready AI agents at scale
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/machine-learning/enabling-customers-to-deliver-production-ready-ai-agents-at-scale/ - Amazon Bedrock (Foundation Model Service)
https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/
Protocols and Standards
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) Official Website
https://modelcontextprotocol.io/
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