What is Kiro CLI?

Kiro CLI is an AI-powered command-line tool for developers, provided by AWS. It lets you interact with AI agents directly from your terminal, enabling code generation, testing, and deployment through natural language commands.

No IDE required — just your terminal and the power of AI-assisted development.

Kiro CLI vs. Kiro IDE

Kiro CLI and Kiro IDE are both part of the Kiro ecosystem, but they serve different purposes.

Feature	Kiro IDE	Kiro CLI
Interface	GUI (VS Code-based)	Terminal
File Editing	Direct in editor	Auto-apply or confirm
Specs	Supported	Not supported
Powers	Supported	Not supported
Custom Agents	Limited	Full-featured
Code Intelligence	Basic	Tree-sitter + LSP
Autocomplete	IDE completions	Terminal command completions
Pipe Integration	Not possible	Supported
ACP (Editor Integration)	Not needed	Supported

An important point is that configurations are shared. MCP servers, steering files, and project settings work across both the IDE and CLI.

flowchart TB
    subgraph Kiro["Kiro Ecosystem"]
        IDE["Kiro IDE<br/>GUI Development"]
        CLI["Kiro CLI<br/>Terminal Development"]
    end
    subgraph Shared["Shared Resources"]
        Steering["Steering<br/>.kiro/steering/"]
        MCP["MCP Config<br/>.kiro/settings/mcp.json"]
        Agents["Agents<br/>.kiro/agents/"]
    end
    subgraph External["External Services"]
        Model["AI Models<br/>Claude Opus/Sonnet/Haiku"]
        Tools["External Tools<br/>GitHub, AWS, DB..."]
    end
    IDE --> Shared
    CLI --> Shared
    Shared --> Model
    Shared --> Tools
    style Kiro fill:#3b82f6,color:#fff
    style Shared fill:#8b5cf6,color:#fff
    style External fill:#22c55e,color:#fff

Installation

macOS

Install with a single command:

curl -fsSL https://cli.kiro.dev/install | bash

Linux (ZIP)

Download the appropriate package for your architecture:

# x86_64 (glibc 2.34+)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf \
  'https://desktop-release.q.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/kirocli-x86_64-linux.zip' \
  -o 'kirocli.zip'

# ARM aarch64 (glibc 2.34+)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf \
  'https://desktop-release.q.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/kirocli-aarch64-linux.zip' \
  -o 'kirocli.zip'

# Extract and install
unzip kirocli.zip
./kirocli/install.sh

Check your glibc version with ldd --version. For versions below 2.34, use the musl variant.

Ubuntu (.deb Package)

wget https://desktop-release.q.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/kiro-cli.deb
sudo dpkg -i kiro-cli.deb
sudo apt-get install -f

Linux AppImage

A portable format that runs without installation:

wget https://desktop-release.q.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/kiro-cli.appimage
chmod +x kiro-cli.appimage
./kiro-cli.appimage

Windows

There is no native Windows version yet. Install the Linux version through WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Proxy Configuration (Enterprise)

For environments behind a proxy (v1.8.0+):

export HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.company.com:8080
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.company.com:8080
export NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1,.company.com

# Authenticated proxy
export HTTP_PROXY=http://username:password@proxy.company.com:8080

Authentication

After installation, log in first:

kiro-cli login

Supported authentication providers:

Provider	Command
AWS Builder ID (default)	kiro-cli login
Google	kiro-cli login --social google
GitHub	kiro-cli login --social github
IAM Identity Center	kiro-cli login --license pro --identity-provider <URL> --region <REGION>

Verify your authentication:

kiro-cli whoami
kiro-cli whoami --format json

Getting Started

Interactive Mode

Navigate to your project and launch:

cd my-project
kiro-cli

Type your instructions in natural language:

> Explain the structure of this project

One-Shot Execution

For single questions or tasks, pass them as arguments:

kiro-cli "List all dependencies in package.json"

Essential Commands

kiro-cli --help       # Show help
kiro-cli --version    # Show version
kiro-cli version --changelog  # Show changelog

Pricing Plans

Kiro CLI shares the same pricing as Kiro IDE.

Plan	Monthly	Credits	Notes
Free	$0	50	500 bonus credits for the first 30 days
Pro	$20	1,000	Overage available ($0.04/credit)
Pro+	$40	3,000	Overage available
Power	$200	High volume	Overage available

Check usage during a chat session with the /usage command.

Environment Diagnostics

Run the doctor command to check for issues:

kiro-cli doctor
kiro-cli doctor --all          # Run all diagnostics
kiro-cli doctor --format json  # JSON output

Uninstallation

# macOS
kiro-cli uninstall

# Ubuntu
sudo apt-get remove kiro-cli
sudo apt-get purge kiro-cli

Summary

Topic	Details
What is Kiro CLI	AI-powered development tool for the terminal
Installation	curl -fsSL https://cli.kiro.dev/install | bash
Authentication	kiro-cli login (AWS Builder ID, GitHub, Google)
Launch	kiro-cli (interactive) / kiro-cli "question" (one-shot)
Diagnostics	kiro-cli doctor
Relation to IDE	Shared settings, different capabilities

In Day 2, you'll learn how to use interactive chat in depth.