Kiro

Kiro is a first-party AWS IDE launched on July 14, 2025, built around spec-driven development as a deliberate alternative to vibe-coding workflows. The VS Code fork uses Amazon Bedrock with Claude Sonnet 4.0 as its primary model and generates structured requirements documents, design documents, and task lists before writing any code. Kiro became available in AWS GovCloud US-East and US-West regions in February 2026, making it the only AI IDE in the category with FedRAMP-eligible deployment for federal and defense workloads.

Key Capabilities:

• Spec generation from natural language prompts producing requirements documents, design documents, data flow diagrams, and task lists before code is written

• Automated spec extraction from existing codebases, translating current code into human-readable requirements

• Agent hooks for event-triggered automations that execute predefined actions on file save, file creation, and file deletion

• Steering files for defining persistent project conventions, patterns, and libraries that Kiro applies consistently across all sessions

• Amazon Bedrock multi-FM backend routing tasks across foundation models based on task fit

• Native AWS service generation for Lambda functions, DynamoDB schemas, IAM roles, and MCP tool schemas

• CloudWatch log analysis with automatic issue identification and defensive code generation

• Cross-file consistency enforcement across large multi-file implementations with single-prompt change propagation

• Amazon Q Developer integration for users with Q Pro subscriptions

• MCP support for connecting documentation, databases, and enterprise APIs

• VS Code settings, theme, and plugin import with Google, GitHub, and AWS Builder ID authentication

• AWS GovCloud deployment with AWS IAM Identity Center authentication for elevated compliance workloads

See Kiro pricing details →