Kiro is now available in AWS GovCloud (US-East) and AWS GovCloud (US-West) regions, enabling government agencies and contractors to use Kiro within their compliance boundaries.
GovCloud Authentication
Authenticate using AWS IAM Identity Center with a GovCloud Start URL (containing us-gov-home). Kiro uses the same installer for both commercial and GovCloud regions—IAM Identity Center authentication automatically routes traffic to the appropriate region. Individual login methods like GitHub, Google, and AWS Builder ID are not available in GovCloud regions. Learn more ->
Inference Routing
For GovCloud customers, inference requests are processed using Amazon Bedrock in AWS GovCloud (US-West). Your content remains stored in the region where your Kiro profile was created, with all cross-
region communication encrypted via TLS 1.2+. Learn more ->
Added support for Claude Sonnet 4.6, a full upgrade from Sonnet 4.5 that approaches Opus 4.6 intelligence while being more token efficient. Sonnet 4.6 excels at iterative development workflows, maintains context across long sessions, and handles both lead agent and subagent roles in multi-model pipelines. Well-suited for teams using Kiro powers and custom subagents.
Available with experimental support in both the Kiro IDE and Kiro CLI for Pro, Pro+, and Power tier subscribers signing in with Google, GitHub, AWS Builder ID, AWS IAM Identity Center, or external IDP. Supported in us-east-1 (N. Virginia) and eu-central-1 (Frankfurt) with a 1.3x credit multiplier. Restart your IDE to access it from the model selector. Learn more ->
This release adds inline file references with @path syntax, dynamic model selection with tab completion, and estimated token usage visibility for tools. It also brings automatic skill loading, improved agent editing, and enhanced context management.
File and Directory References
Include file contents or directory trees directly in your messages using @path syntax. Content is expanded inline before sending, avoiding tool calls and saving tokens. Type @src/main.rs to inject file contents, or @src/ to show a directory tree. Tab completion and syntax highlighting help you reference files quickly. Learn more ->
Dynamic Model Selection
The /model command now supports direct selection with tab completion and fuzzy matching. Type /model clau<Tab> to see matching models, or /model claude-opus-4.6 to switch immediately. Ghost text hints appear as you type. Learn more ->
Tool Context Insights
The /tools command now displays estimated token counts for each tool and totals per origin, helping you understand context window usage from MCP servers and native tools. Learn more ->
This release adds support for signing in to Kiro IDE with Okta or Microsoft Entra ID credentials.
Enterprise SSO with Okta and Entra ID
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 adds support for authenticating Kiro CLI with Okta or Microsoft Entra ID credentials.
Enterprise SSO with Okta and Entra ID
Enterprise teams can now connect Okta or Microsoft Entra ID alongside AWS IAM Identity Center for centralized access management. Developers authenticate the CLI with their existing corporate credentials through a browser-based OAuth flow. User and group synchronization happens automatically through SCIM provisioning. Configure your IdP once and it works across both Kiro IDE and CLI. Learn more ->
You can now choose from three open weight models in the Kiro IDE and Kiro CLI. Available with experimental support on all plans, with sign-in via Google, GitHub, or AWS BuilderID. Inference runs in US East (N. Virginia). Restart your IDE to access them from the model selector. Learn more ->
DeepSeek 3.2
0.25x credit multiplier. Best suited for agentic workflows and code generation. Handles long tool-calling chains, stateful sessions, and multi-step reasoning well. Learn more ->
Minimax 2.1
0.15x credit multiplier. Best suited for multilingual programming and UI generation. Delivers strong results across Rust, Go, C++, Kotlin, TypeScript, and others. Learn more ->
Qwen3 Coder Next
0.05x credit multiplier. Purpose-built for coding agents with 256K context and strong error recovery. Works especially well for long agentic coding sessions in the CLI. Learn more ->
Added support for Claude Opus 4.6 in eu-central-1 for users authenticating with IAM Identity Center_** **_— Anthropic's smartest model with state-of-the-art coding and agentic capabilities. Opus 4.6 plans more carefully, sustains tasks for longer, operates reliably in larger codebases, and catches its own mistakes through better debugging. Available with experimental support in both the Kiro IDE and Kiro CLI for Pro, Pro+, and Power tier subscribers with a 2.2x credit multiplier. Restart your IDE to access it from the model selector.
Added support for Claude Opus 4.6 — Anthropic's most powerful model and the world's best for coding. Opus 4.6 excels on large-scale codebases and long-horizon projects, making it ideal for spec-driven development and sophisticated agents. Available with experimental support in both the Kiro IDE and Kiro CLI for Pro, Pro+, and Power tier subscribers with a 2.2x credit multiplier. Supported in us-east-1 for users authenticating with IAM Identity Center. Restart your IDE to access it from the model selector.
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.
Custom Subagents
Video transcript
The video shows the Kiro IDE with a "bike-rental-app" project open. The user asks the AI to "Create a subagent that generates docs and changelog for the bike rental app," and the agent responds by "Invoking Custom Agent Creator," searching the workspace, and creating a new agent configuration file, bike-docs-changelog.md, inside a .kiro/agents directory. The file's contents are shown — defining the agent's purpose, capabilities, git-analysis workflow, file locations, and response style. Later the user invokes that new "Bike Docs Changelog" subagent, which runs a git command and pauses on a permission prompt ("Waiting on your input") offering "Reject," "Trust," and "Run" buttons, with an integrated terminal panel visible at the bottom.
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 ->
Agent Skills
Video transcript
The video shows the Kiro IDE with a "bike-rental-app" project open. The user adds an Agent Skill by entering a GitHub URL (github.com/anthropics/skills/.../frontend-design) into an input field prompting for "a folder containing SKILL.md." A "frontend-design" entry then appears under the sidebar's "Agent Steering & Skills" section, and its SKILL.md file opens in the editor, showing front-matter (name, description, license) and design-guidance text. The user types "How can we improve the design and UI of the bike rental app?" into the AI chat panel, and the agent responds with an "Activated Skill: frontend-design" indicator before beginning to explore the project.
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 ->
Pre and Post Tool Use Hooks
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 ->
Web Tools Governance
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 ->
Custom Extension Registry
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 adds Agent Client Protocol (ACP) support for integrating Kiro into ACP-compatible IDEs and clients, a Help Agent for instant CLI guidance, and a range of tool and configuration improvements.
Agent Client Protocol (ACP) Support
ACP-compatible editors like JetBrains IDEs and Zed can now use Kiro as a custom agent. Run kiro-cli acp to start Kiro as an ACP-compliant agent that communicates over stdin/stdout using JSON-RPC. Kiro supports standard ACP methods plus extensions for slash commands, MCP tools, and session management. Learn more ->
Help Agent
Get instant answers about Kiro CLI without leaving your conversation. The built-in Help Agent uses documentation to answer questions about commands, tools, settings, and configuration — and can even create config files in .kiro/ for you. Use /help to switch to the Help Agent, or /help How do I configure MCP? to ask directly. Learn more ->
Enterprise Web Tools Governance
Administrators can now disable web_search and web_fetch tools organization-wide. Users see a notification in /tools when web access is disabled by their organization. Learn more ->
Subagent Access Control
New availableAgents and trustedAgents settings give fine-grained control over which agents can be spawned as subagents. Both support glob patterns like test-*. Learn more ->
Exit Codes & Startup Checks
Structured exit codes for scripting and automation. --require-mcp-startup ensures MCP servers are up before your session starts. Learn more ->