Agent Focus Mode

Chat takes center stage. Agent Focus Mode flips the traditional layout: conversations occupy the main panel, sessions line up on the left, and specs and diffs appear in an auxiliary panel on the right. You're directing agents, not editing code directly.

This is designed for developers who work agentically, defining intent through conversation rather than writing code line by line. Start a session, describe what you want, attach a spec when you need structure, and let the agent execute. Both Autopilot and Supervised modes are available.

Agent Focus Mode uses a multi-panel layout optimized for agentic workflows:

When an agent creates an artifact, a compact preview appears in the conversation. Open it to review the full artifact beside the chat. The context panel keeps Artifacts, Specs, and Changed Files available for the current session so you can return to them while you work.

See Agent Artifacts for supported content types, security limitations, and storage boundaries.

You can toggle between Agent Focus Mode and the traditional Editor View at any time using the Agent Focus button in the top-right corner of the IDE. Click it to move the current session into Agent Focus Mode. Click it again to return to Editor View for code-focused work. Both views can run simultaneously. Work started in one continues in the other. Sessions carry over between them.

When you create a new session in Agent Focus Mode, you can optionally pick a workflow to start with:

Picking a workflow sets the agent mode for that session. You can also skip the picker and start a freeform chat session by typing directly.

Launch multiple agent sessions, each working independently on different tasks or workspaces. Sessions are grouped by workspace in the left panel, with status indicators showing:

• Spinning: the agent is actively working
• Warning: the agent needs your input (tool approval, clarification)
• Paused: the session is idle, waiting for your next message

Click any session to switch the center and right panels to that conversation. Clear finished sessions from the list when you no longer need them.

When a session needs a decision from you — approving a command or answering a question — it raises an attention card in a panel beside the chat, so you don't have to be watching that session to catch it. Each card names the session and its project, shows the question and the exact command or path involved, and presents the agent's options as buttons, so you can respond in place without switching sessions.

Open the attention panel from the bell in the titlebar, which shows a count of outstanding asks. The panel never opens on its own, so a blocked agent won't interrupt what you're reading. Answered cards clear themselves, and an ask that times out is marked rather than silently removed.

Pin a session with Pin Session to keep it at the top of its section in the sessions panel. Pinned sessions stay in place as other sessions come and go, so long-running work is always one click away. Unpin a session to return it to its normal position.

Collapse the sessions panel to a slim icon strip when you want more room for the chat. Toggle it from the button at the left of the titlebar, or drag the panel's edge narrower to snap it closed (drag back out to reopen). Collapsed, each session becomes a colored monogram tile with a badge for its kind — local, cloud, or CLI — and a status indicator; hover a tile for its full title, workspace, and status. Your choice is remembered the next time you open the window.

Select Open with Kiro CLI on a session to resume that conversation in Kiro CLI. The session opens in a terminal window, so you can continue directing the agent from the command line.

Agent Focus keeps a history of where you've been — the sessions you've opened, the Settings pane, and a project's Workspace Configuration — so you can retrace your steps. Move back and forward with the arrows in the titlebar, or with Cmd/Ctrl+[ and Cmd/Ctrl+]. The Settings button is a toggle: open it to check something, then use Back (or click Settings again) to return to what you were doing.

Agent Focus Mode is where the IDE surfaces cloud sessions — sessions that run in a managed cloud sandbox and keep working after you close the window. A Cloud Sessions section appears in the sessions panel when cloud sessions are available for your account.

Select + (New Cloud Session) to compose one: optionally attach repositories with Select repos, choose a model and autonomy level (Autopilot or Autonomous), and submit your first prompt. Kiro provisions the sandbox, clones the selected repositories server-side (your local files are never uploaded), and starts working. Once the session is running, its bound repositories stay visible below the chat input.

Cloud sessions can be pinned like local sessions, and their context menu adds Open in Kiro Web and Open with Kiro CLI, so you can continue the same session in the browser or a terminal. Because a cloud session's files live in the sandbox rather than your workspace, editor-side affordances — opening files and diffs, checkpoints, the local context pickers, and clickable spec task actions — are unavailable there, and Supervised mode isn't offered.

See Cloud sessions for the full picture, including data boundaries and cloud configuration.

In Agent Focus Mode, specs emerge naturally from conversation. Instead of filling out forms or sequencing through phases manually:

1. Start a chat session and describe your idea
2. The agent asks clarifying questions to understand your intent
3. When you're ready, attach a spec. The agent formalizes what you've discussed into requirements, design, and tasks
4. Kick off execution and monitor progress across sessions

Spec documents and task rows in the context panel open directly in the editor, so you can review requirements, design, or an individual task in full without leaving the session.

Some capabilities still require the IDE view. Agent Focus keeps clear paths back for:

• Full Settings (Agent Focus provides a limited settings pane for session and update controls)
• Powers and skills
• MCP server management
• Terminal access
• Full git workflows
• Direct file editing

Switch back to the IDE view anytime using the IDE button in the top-right corner.

When a new version of Kiro is available, an update row appears at the bottom of the sessions panel so you don't have to leave Agent Focus Mode to notice it. You can also check manually at any time with the Check for Updates button in the Agent Focus Mode settings pane.

Files changed by the agent appear as inline code diffs in the chat. Click a diff to open the full file view in the auxiliary panel. For direct code editing, switch to Editor View. Agent Focus Mode is about directing the agent, not hand-editing files.