IDE changelog

This release introduces new spec workflows that let you design features architecture-first and fix bugs with structured root cause analysis. Supervised mode now lets you review changes at the hunk level for precise control. New hook triggers automate work around spec tasks, and MCP servers can now surface prompts, templates, and elicitation support directly in chat.

A new Design-First workflow lets you start a feature spec from technical architecture instead of requirements. Provide a high-level or low-level design, pseudocode, or system diagram and Kiro derives feasible requirements from it. This is ideal when you have strict non-functional constraints, an existing design to port, or want to think through the architecture before defining user-facing behavior. Learn more ->

Specs now include a dedicated Bugfix workflow. Describe the issue you're seeing and Kiro walks you through root cause analysis, fix design, and regression prevention. The result is a bugfix.md that captures current behavior, expected behavior, and what must remain unchanged, giving the agent clear guardrails before it writes a single line of code. Learn more ->

Supervised mode now presents file changes as individual hunks instead of full-file diffs. Each hunk is a logical group of related lines that you can independently accept, reject, or discuss with inline chat. You can also accept changes at the file level or accept all changes at once. This gives you precise control over exactly which parts of a change to keep. Learn more ->

Two new hook triggers let you automate work around spec task execution. Pre Task Execution fires before a task begins, so you can run setup scripts or validate prerequisites. Post Task Execution fires after a task completes, letting you run tests, linting, or notify external systems automatically. Combine these with the existing hook actions to build end-to-end automation around your spec workflows. Learn more ->

MCP servers can now provide prompts and resource templates that appear in the context provider (#) menu in chat. Select a prompt to insert pre-built instructions, or fill in a resource template's parameters to pull in specific content as context. During tool execution, servers can also request additional input from you through elicitation. Kiro supports elicitation so servers can request the information they need without interrupting your workflow. Learn more ->

This release adds support for signing in to Kiro IDE with Okta or Microsoft Entra ID credentials.

Enterprise teams can now connect Okta or Microsoft Entra ID alongside AWS IAM Identity Center, giving organizations flexibility in how they manage user access. Developers sign in to the IDE with their existing corporate credentials. User and group synchronization happens automatically through SCIM provisioning. Configure your IdP once and it works across both Kiro IDE and CLI. Learn more ->

This release brings powerful new ways to customize and extend Kiro's agentic capabilities. Define your own specialized subagents, import portable skill packages from the community, and intercept tool invocations with new hook triggers. Enterprise customers also get new governance controls for web tools.

Define your own specialized agents to handle specific tasks in your workflow. Create a markdown file in ~/.kiro/agents (global) or .kiro/agents (workspace) with a system prompt and optional attributes like model selection, tool access, and MCP server integration. Kiro automatically selects the right custom agent based on its description, or you can invoke one explicitly. Learn more ->

Import and create portable instruction packages following the open Agent Skills standard. Skills bundle instructions, scripts, and templates that Kiro activates on-demand when relevant to your task. Share skills across projects or import them from the community. Learn more ->

New hook triggers let you intercept agent tool invocations. Pre Tool Use hooks can block certain tools or provide additional context before execution. Post Tool Use hooks enable logging, code formatting, or follow-up instructions after a tool runs. Filter by tool categories (read, write, shell, web) or specific tool names with wildcard support. Learn more ->

Pro-tier customers using IAM Identity Center can now control web tools access for their organization. Administrators can disable web search and web fetch tools from the AWS console under Settings > Shared settings. Learn more ->

Point Kiro at your organization's private extension registry instead of the default Open VSX marketplace. Configure a limited set of vetted extensions for your team by updating the extensionsGallery settings in product.json. Deploy across your organization using MDM or endpoint management. Learn more ->

This release introduces web tools for searching and fetching content from the internet, enhanced hooks with new action types, subagents for parallel task execution, and improved supervised mode with per-file review capabilities.

Kiro can now search the web and fetch content from URLs directly in chat. Use web tools to look up current documentation, find the latest library versions, or research solutions to technical problems. This keeps your development workflow in one place without switching to a browser.

Introducing contextual hooks with two new triggers: Prompt Submit and Agent Stop. These hooks fire at key moments in the agent workflow, letting you inject context or run commands before the agent acts. Choose between Agent Prompt actions to instruct the agent with natural language, or Shell Command actions to run commands locally without consuming credits.

Introducing subagents for parallel task execution. Kiro can now run multiple tasks simultaneously or delegate to specialized subagents. Two built-in subagents are available: a context gatherer for exploring projects and a general-purpose agent for parallelizing tasks. Each subagent has its own context window, keeping the main agent context clean. Use subagents to investigate multiple data sources in parallel, analyze GitHub issues across repositories, or extend your context window limits without requiring summarization.

Supervised mode now offers granular control over code changes with per-file review capabilities. When Kiro makes changes to multiple files, you can review each file individually and selectively accept or reject changes. This turn-based approach works in both vibe chat and spec chat sessions, giving you full visibility into each modification.

This release introduces Powers for dynamic MCP tool loading, conversation summarization to manage context windows, and slash commands for quick access to hooks and steering files.

Introducing Powers, a new way to give Kiro's agent instant expertise for any framework or tool. Powers package MCP servers, steering files, and hooks into reusable bundles that activate on-demand based on your conversation context. Instead of loading all MCP tools upfront and overwhelming your context window, powers load dynamically when you mention relevant keywords. Browse curated powers from launch partners including Datadog, Dynatrace, Figma, Neon, Netlify, Postman, Supabase, Stripe, and more—or create your own.

Adds automatic conversation summarization to manage long conversations. When your conversation reaches 80% of the model's context window limit, Kiro automatically summarizes previous messages to bring context usage back below the limit. A new context usage meter in the chat panel shows what percentage of the model's context is being used.

Introducing slash commands for quick access to hooks and steering files directly from the chat input. Type / to see available commands and execute them instantly. Hooks with manual triggers and steering files configured with manual inclusion appear in the slash command menu, letting you run tests, sync documentation, or pull in specific guidance on demand.

This release adds support for enterprise billing where administrators can onboard large teams to Kiro, provides the capability to revert to the results of a previous conversation through checkpointing, adds support for multi-root workspaces, and introduces property-based testing with Kiro.

Introduces property-based testing (PBT) to generate evidence for verification of spec requirements. Unlike unit tests, PBTs run hundreds of times with randomly generated inputs to detect edge cases.

Launches support for enterprise users in Kiro IDE. Profile selection when multiple profiles are configured (auto-select default profile if only one profile exists), new dashboard for enterprise users, in-chat alerts, usage metering and summaries, enterprise governance of telemetry and MCP settings.

Introducing the Kiro CLI. Kiro CLI leverages the Auto agent to deliver results in your terminal, and takes you from natural language, to code, to deployment. Kiro CLI supports different agent modes, MCPs, steering files, and custom agents. Install on macOS or Linux:

With multi-root workspace support, a single Kiro workspace can have multiple roots, e.g., a single workspace that contains both /users/bob/my-project and /shared/utils/auth as top-level folders.

Support for checkpointing which allows users to revert to the results of a previous conversation in Kiro. This feature enables developers to undo changes made by AI agents and return to a previous state of their workspace, while providing visibility into what changed and guidance on next steps.

Adds experimental settings to control the Codebase (#codebase) allowing users to opt-in to this CPU-intensive indexing feature.

Adds capabilities to the chat context provider for files to use line ranges in order to focus context to either a single line in a file or line range.

Access app.kiro.dev to manage your account, track usage statistics, and modify subscription settings through the web interface.

This release expands MCP capabilities with remote server support and one-click installation, introduces global steering rules and project-specific agent configuration, and refines agent workflows with improved hook execution, command trust, and targeted file context.

Connect to MCP servers hosted anywhere on the internet via Streamable HTTP, accessing cloud services and APIs without local installation.

Define global steering rules that apply across all your workspaces.

Support for the AGENTS.md standard to define guidelines, coding standards and architectural patterns. Add an AGENTS.md file to the global steering file location (~/.kiro/steering/), or to the root folder of your workspace, and they will get picked up by Kiro automatically.

Simplified MCP server setup with automatic installation—get started with MCP tools faster than ever. View servers →

Use environment variables in your MCP server configurations for flexible, environment-specific setups.

![## Use Case 3: Extending User Preferences

Scenario: Add a 'preferredPaymentMethod' field to UserPreferences

Targeted Context Needed: #IIfile:src/types/app.ts:127-143]]

This shows just the UserPreferences interface, which is what needs modification. The agent doesn't need to see:

• The full User interface (lines 115-126)
• Payment method enums (lines 105-112)
• Subscription types (lines 158-180)

Result: Faster, more accurate implementation with less context pollution.](/images/changelogs/v0.5.0/targeted-context.png)

Reference specific line ranges when adding files to context (e.g., #[[file:src/utils/helper.ts:10-25]]), giving you precise control over what the agent sees and enabling more focused implementations.

This release introduces dev server support with background processes, spec context provider and MVP task workflows, enhanced MCP controls, and per prompt usage tracking with notifications.

![The current task list marks some tasks (e.g. unit tests, documentation) as optional to focus on core features first.

Keep optional tasks (faster MVP) Make all tasks required (comprehensive from start)](/images/changelogs/v0.4.0/spec-mvp.png)

Choose your development pace during spec creation. When the agent generates tasks, select "Keep optional tasks (faster MVP)" to mark tests and documentation as optional (✱), or "Make all tasks required" for comprehensive coverage from the start. Optional tasks remain visible throughout the workflow, letting you focus on core features first

Use #spec in chat to reference your spec files directly. The agent now understands your spec context, providing more accurate responses during development

Long-running commands like npm run dev, build watchers, and test runners now start in the background automatically. The agent detects these processes, returns control to you immediately, and continues tracking them—no more blocked terminals

You can now see how many credits each prompt consumed, right in the chat panel.

![You're running low on Credits with less than 20% left. Upgrade your plan to get more resources and continue using Kiro. Your usage limit resets on 10/31.

Upgrade Plan

View Usage](/images/changelogs/v0.4.0/notification.png)

Get intelligent alerts about your credit usage patterns to help you stay informed and avoid surprises

This release brings spec task management, intelligent code diagnostics, AI-powered commit messages, and refined agent interactions to streamline your development process.

• Support for Sonnet 4.5 (experimental): You can now send your prompts to Sonnet 4.5 via the chat box. Sonnet 4.5 is also available in Auto, our agent which uses a variety of task-specific foundation models under the hood
• Spec MVP tasks: During spec creation, you can now mark tasks (including unit tests) as optional to prioritize core features while keeping comprehensive task lists
• Diagnostics Tool: Added diagnostics tool to provide agent with syntax, type, and semantic errors, improving agent accuracy and reducing lint errors
• Git Commit Message Generation: Draft commit messages using the agent directly from the source control pane with a single click. Learn more →
• Repetitive Tool Use Detection: Agent now detects repetitive tool usage patterns and prompts users to continue or stop, optimizing credit consumption
• Unified Credits System improvements: Unified credits system with Auto agent capabilities enhancements and bug fixes. This feature provides users a single credit pool and streamlined usage tracking. Learn more →

This release addresses critical security vulnerabilities and bug fixes.

• V8 Engine Security: Merge Chromium 138.0.7204.251 to address CVE-2025-10585, a zero-day vulnerability addressing type confusion issue in V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine.
• Command Execution Security: Fixed vulnerability on PowerShell that could allow malicious commands to execute without user confirmation

• License Access: Fixed render issue in License page