Kiro

Kiro

Kiro is the agentic IDE from AWS, and its distinguishing idea is spec-driven development: before the agent writes code, Kiro produces requirements, a design document and a task list, and those artefacts stay in the repository as the source of truth. Kiro then works through the tasks, running commands and tests as it goes. The product ships as an IDE, a CLI and a web surface, so the same agent can be driven from an editor, a terminal or a browser. Kiro's default mode routes prompts through a mix of frontier models, and specific models can be selected per task.

Production credibility: Kiro was announced by AWS on 14 July 2025 and reached general availability on 7 May 2026. Its reasoning runs on Anthropic's Claude models served through Amazon Bedrock. AWS publishes credit-metered pricing on the product site: a free tier with 50 monthly credits and access to open-weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.5; Pro at $20 per user with 1,000 credits; Pro+ at $40 with 2,000; Pro Max at $100 with 5,000; and Power at $200 with 10,000. Additional credits are $0.04 each, and paid tiers add premium model options including Claude Opus.

Key Features

• Spec-driven workflow that writes requirements, design and task files before coding
• Specs persist in the repository, so the plan is reviewable and version controlled
• Available as an IDE, a CLI and a web interface over the same agent
• Auto mode routes across frontier models, with manual model selection available
• Agent hooks that trigger work on repository events
• Credit-metered plans from a free tier up to 10,000 monthly credits

Ideal Use Case

Teams that want an agent to build a whole feature rather than autocomplete a function, and that care about reviewing the plan before the code. The spec artefacts make it a reasonable fit where changes need a paper trail, and the AWS billing relationship suits organisations already buying through AWS. It also fits developers evaluating Cursor or Windsurf who want a model-flexible alternative with an explicit planning step.

How Kiro differentiates

Most agentic editors start typing immediately and expose the plan only as chat. Kiro makes the plan a file: requirements, design and tasks are written to the repository first, and the agent works the list. That trades speed on small edits for auditability on large ones. The second difference is commercial rather than technical — Kiro is AWS's own product, billed in credits through an AWS account and running Claude via Bedrock, so it lands inside an existing cloud agreement instead of a new vendor contract.

FAQ

Q: What is Kiro? A: Kiro is an agentic IDE from AWS. It writes requirements, a design document and a task list first, then works through the tasks writing and testing code. It is available as an IDE, a CLI and a web interface.

Q: How much does Kiro cost? A: Kiro has a free tier with 50 monthly credits. Paid plans are Pro at $20 per user for 1,000 credits, Pro+ at $40 for 2,000, Pro Max at $100 for 5,000 and Power at $200 for 10,000, with extra credits at $0.04 each.

Q: Which models does Kiro use? A: Kiro's Auto mode routes prompts across a mix of frontier models, with Anthropic's Claude models served through Amazon Bedrock. The free tier includes open-weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.5; paid tiers add premium options including Claude Opus.

Q: What is spec-driven development in Kiro? A: It means the agent produces requirements, a design document and a task list before writing code, and those files live in your repository. You review the plan first, and the specs remain as documentation afterwards.

Q: Is Kiro generally available? A: Yes. Kiro was announced in July 2025 and became generally available on 7 May 2026.

tl;dr

Kiro is AWS's spec-driven agentic IDE: it writes requirements, design and tasks into your repo before coding, then works the list. Free tier with 50 credits; paid plans run $20 to $200 per user per month. Generally available since May 2026, running Claude through Bedrock.