AWS debuts Kiro, its new AI agent-driven IDE platform for ‘better' vibe-coding
AWS has been creating tools to make software deployment easier for developers, and Kiro is in line with the tech giant's broad vision. The new offering from AWS enables developers to go from concept to prototype instantly through conversations about the requirements in terms of designs and specifications.
'I'm excited to announce Kiro, an AI IDE that helps you deliver from concept to production through a simplified developer experience for working with AI agents. Kiro is great at 'vibe coding' but goes way beyond that—Kiro's strength is getting those prototypes into production systems with features such as specs and hooks,' read the blog published by AWS executives Nikhil Swaminathan and Deepak Singh on Monday, July 15.
When a user interacts with Kiro, it creates these specifications and designs which later makes for reliable and robust code over time, Singh said. Kiro is in line with Amazon Connect, AI-based customer service system, and AWS Transform that uses AI agents to modernise applications, he added.
The IDE was launched ahead of AWS Summit 2025 in New York, United States, where it is expected to introduce developments related to AI agents. With Kiro, AWS is looking to make its mark in a rapidly growing market for AI coding tools with the presence of startups such as Windsurf and Cursor.
Kiro is dropping at a time when 'vibe coding' appears to be all the rage. It is the practice of using natural language prompts to generate apps.
Vibe-coding has gained attention as more and more developers have adopted tools that can respond to instructions in natural language with functional code. However, this phenomenon has also made some enterprises unsure of adopting AI coding tools into workflows owing to the lack of accuracy and possibility of hallucinations.
Kiro is reportedly addressing the issue of absence of structure in AI-generated code with something introduced by AWS known as spec coding – a practice that maintains the intuitive nature of AI-assisted development along with the accuracy sought by enterprises.
According to AWS, Kiro, which is said to be great at vibe-coding, goes beyond that with features like specs and hooks. In Kiro, specs are artifacts that come in handy when a developer needs the essentials to get to production. On the other hand, Kiro hooks act like an experienced developer catching things that one misses or complete boilerplate tasks in the background.
Kiro essentially comes with all the features that come with a typical AI code editor such as Model Context Control (MCP) support for connecting specialised tools, rules to guide AI behaviour across projects, agentic chat for ad-hoc coding tasks with file, URL, and Doc's context providers. 'Kiro is built on Code OSS, so you can keep your VS Code settings and Open VSX compatible plugins while working with our IDE. You get the full AI coding experience, plus the fundamentals needed for production,' read the blog.
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