Kiro Documentation: Specs, Steering, Hooks and Agents for Spec-Driven Development
by Kiro (AWS)
The official reference for Kiro's spec-driven agent workflow: requirements, design and task files, steering, hooks, MCP and custom agents across IDE, CLI and web.
Overview
The Kiro documentation at kiro.dev/docs covers Kiro, an AI development environment whose footer links to AWS legal and privacy pages. The docs describe one agent harness shared by the IDE, the CLI, a web app and a mobile preview, all reading the same `.kiro/` configuration. Get Started covers installation, authentication and a first project. Models covers available models and reasoning effort. Features is the core: specs, steering, hooks, MCP, permissions, custom agents, workflows, Agent Skills, Powers, cloud sessions, memory, compaction, checkpoints and a local command sandbox. Specs turn a feature or bug into requirements.md (or bugfix.md), design.md and tasks.md. When you run all tasks, Kiro builds a dependency graph and executes tasks in waves: tasks inside a wave run concurrently, and the waves run in order. Steering files (product.md, tech.md, structure.md) live in `.kiro/steering/` with always, fileMatch, manual and auto inclusion modes, and Kiro also reads AGENTS.md. Hooks are JSON files in `.kiro/hooks/` that fire on events such as PostFileSave, PreToolUse, PostToolUse and Stop, and either run a shell command or inject an agent prompt. Further sections cover the CLI, Kiro Crew, enterprise governance, billing and migration from Q Developer. The overview page was last updated October 7, 2026. Pricing, checked November 8, 2026: a free plan with 50 monthly credits and paid plans from $20 per user per month.
At a Glance
- Topic
- Agentic
- Level
- Intermediate
- Format
- Documentation
- Cost
- Freemium
- Duration
- Self-paced reference; the docs put setup at under 5 minutes, and Get Started plus the Specs, Steering and Hooks pages take an afternoon to read and try
- Provider
- Kiro (AWS)
- Hands-on
- Yes — code/exercises
- Certificate
- None
What You’ll Learn
- ✓Write feature and bugfix specs as requirements, design and task markdown files
- ✓Run spec tasks in dependency-ordered waves that execute independent tasks concurrently
- ✓Configure workspace and global steering files with always, fileMatch, manual and auto inclusion
- ✓Use AGENTS.md files alongside Kiro steering to give agents per-directory context
- ✓Write JSON agent hooks on PostFileSave, PreToolUse and Stop to lint or gate actions
- ✓Connect MCP servers, define custom agents and set permissions for tool access
- ✓Run the same agent configuration in the Kiro IDE, headless CLI and web autonomous mode
Highlights
- •Documents a complete spec-driven workflow; Martin Fowler's site called Kiro the most lightweight of the three SDD tools it tested
- •Hooks and steering are plain files in .kiro/, so the setup can be versioned and shared in git
- •Covers IDE, CLI, web and enterprise deployment in one place, including GovCloud and IAM
- •Includes migration guides from Amazon Q Developer, Q CLI and VS Code
- •Kiro's July 2025 launch post drew 1,063 points and 462 comments on Hacker News
Who It’s For
Best For
- ✓Developers who want coding agents to work from reviewed specs before writing code
- ✓Teams standardising agent conventions with steering files, hooks and AGENTS.md
- ✓AWS shops migrating from Amazon Q Developer to an agentic IDE and CLI
Prerequisites
- •Day-to-day experience with a code editor or terminal and git
- •A Kiro account; the free plan's 50 monthly credits cover trying the workflow
- •Basic familiarity with coding agents and MCP helps for the hooks and custom agent pages
FAQ
What is Kiro Documentation: Specs, Steering, Hooks and Agents for Spec-Driven Development?
The Kiro documentation is the official guide to Kiro, the AWS agentic development environment built around spec-driven development. It is for developers who want coding agents to work from reviewed requirements, design and task files. After reading it you can write specs, set up steering and AGENTS.md, add hooks that lint or gate tool calls, and connect MCP servers.
Is Kiro Documentation: Specs, Steering, Hooks and Agents for Spec-Driven Development free?
Kiro Documentation: Specs, Steering, Hooks and Agents for Spec-Driven Development offers free content, with paid options for certificates or premium features.
What level is Kiro Documentation: Specs, Steering, Hooks and Agents for Spec-Driven Development for?
Kiro Documentation: Specs, Steering, Hooks and Agents for Spec-Driven Development is aimed at a intermediate audience. Recommended background: Day-to-day experience with a code editor or terminal and git, A Kiro account; the free plan's 50 monthly credits cover trying the workflow, Basic familiarity with coding agents and MCP helps for the hooks and custom agent pages.
How long does Kiro Documentation: Specs, Steering, Hooks and Agents for Spec-Driven Development take?
Expect roughly Self-paced reference; the docs put setup at under 5 minutes, and Get Started plus the Specs, Steering and Hooks pages take an afternoon to read and try. Most learners work through it at their own pace.
What will I learn from Kiro Documentation: Specs, Steering, Hooks and Agents for Spec-Driven Development?
You'll learn: Write feature and bugfix specs as requirements, design and task markdown files; Run spec tasks in dependency-ordered waves that execute independent tasks concurrently; Configure workspace and global steering files with always, fileMatch, manual and auto inclusion; Use AGENTS.md files alongside Kiro steering to give agents per-directory context; Write JSON agent hooks on PostFileSave, PreToolUse and Stop to lint or gate actions; Connect MCP servers, define custom agents and set permissions for tool access; Run the same agent configuration in the Kiro IDE, headless CLI and web autonomous mode.
Topics
Sources
This page was written from 7 sources, 2 on domains other than kiro.dev.
- 1.kiro.dev — docsvendor
- 2.kiro.dev — specsvendor
- 3.kiro.dev — steeringvendor
- 4.kiro.dev — hooksvendor
- 5.kiro.dev — pricingvendor
- 6.martinfowler.com — sdd 3 tools
- 7.hn.algolia.com — hn.algolia.com