Frequently Asked Questions - Kiro

Question 1

How can my teams get started with Kiro?

Accepted Answer

Organizations can get started with Kiro using their AWS IAM credentials.

Question 2

Do you provide an output indemnity for Kiro subscribers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we provide an output indemnity for paid Kiro subscribers. See Section 50.10 of the Service Terms for more details.

Question 3

Can I control telemetry sharing (usage data, performance metrics) for Kiro at the organization level?

Accepted Answer

We do not collect telemetry from Kiro Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, or Power users that access Kiro through AWS IAM Identity Center or external identity provider. However, enterprise admins can configure Kiro to collect user activity reports for the users in your organization.

Question 4

Which regions does Kiro support?

Accepted Answer

The Kiro CLI and IDE are available in the US East (N. Virginia) and Europe (Frankfurt) AWS Regions when logging in via IAM Identity Center. Kiro is also available in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions to address regulated workloads.

Question 5

What is Kiro?

Accepted Answer

Kiro is an agentic AI with an IDE, CLI, and web interface that helps you go from prototype to production. From simple to complex tasks, Kiro works alongside you to turn prompts into detailed specs, then into working code, docs, and tests—so what you build is exactly what you want and ready to share with your team. Kiro’s agents help you solve challenging problems and automate tasks like generating documentation and unit tests.

Question 6

What is spec-driven development? How is it different from vibe coding?

Accepted Answer

Developing with specs keeps the fun of vibe coding, but fixes some of its limitations: vibe coding can require too much guidance on complex tasks or when building on top of large codebases, and it can misinterpret context. When implementing a task with vibe coding, it’s difficult to keep track of all the decisions that were made along the way, and document them for your team. By using specs, Kiro works alongside you to define requirements, system design, and tasks to be implemented before writing any code. This approach explicitly documents the reasoning and implementation decisions, so Kiro can implement more complex tasks in fewer shots.

Question 7

How can I get started with Kiro?

Accepted Answer

Kiro works as an agent in the IDE, with a CLI, or in a web browser. Download the installer for your operating system, or sign in to use it with a paid account on the web, and log in with GitHub, Google, AWS Builder ID, or AWS IAM Identity Center. You do not need an AWS account to use Kiro. For more, see documentation.

Question 8

What programming languages does Kiro support?

Accepted Answer

Kiro supports a variety of programming languages that developers use in their day to day work. This list includes, but is not limited to Python, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, C#, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby, Kotlin, C, C++, shell scripting, SQL, Scala, JSON, YAML, and HCL.

Question 9

Can I import settings from my existing IDE?

Accepted Answer

Kiro is based on Code OSS, so you can import your VS Code settings, themes, and Open VSX compatible plugins in the Kiro onboarding flow.

Question 10

How is Kiro Web different from Kiro IDE and CLI?

Accepted Answer

Kiro IDE is for active, local development with real-time agent collaboration. Kiro CLI is for terminal-based workflows, custom agents, and deployment pipelines. Kiro Web is for delegating and steering from the browser, with sessions that run in isolated cloud sandboxes, keep going when you close your laptop, and coordinate changes across GitHub and GitLab repos in a single session. All three modes (autonomous, spec, and default) are available together on Kiro Web, and autonomous mode is only available in Kiro Web today. Use whichever Kiro interface fits the work; they work best together. Steering files and learnings carry across all three so context builds no matter where you work.

Question 11

Does Kiro use my content to train any models?

Accepted Answer

We do not use content from Kiro Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, or Power users that access Kiro through AWS IAM Identity Center or external identity provider. If you have an Amazon Q Developer Pro subscription and access Kiro through your AWS account with the Amazon Q Developer Pro subscription, then Kiro will not use your content for service improvement. We may use certain content from Kiro Free Tier and Kiro individual subscribers (those that access Kiro through a social login provider or AWS Builder ID) for service improvement. You can opt out of content collection at any time using the opt-out mechanism described in our documentation. For more information, see Service Improvement.

Question 12

I’m an Amazon Q Developer Pro customer using Kiro. Will Kiro use my content for service improvement?

Accepted Answer

No. Amazon Q Developer Pro customers who use Kiro will retain their Q Developer Pro benefits by logging into Kiro with the same credentials used for Amazon Q Developer Pro. Kiro will not collect their content for service improvement.

Question 13

How does Kiro pricing work?

Accepted Answer

Kiro offers flexible pricing tiers designed around how developers use Kiro. New users can start with the perpetual Kiro Free tier, which includes 50 credits. The Free Tier includes access to open weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.6, with limits. You can upgrade to paid tiers ranging from Pro ($20/month), Pro+ ($40/month), Pro Max ($100/month), to Power ($200/month) for increased capacity. Paid tiers include flexible overages available at $0.04 per additional credit. Kiro prices shown do not include applicable taxes or duties (such as VAT or sales tax) unless explicitly noted. Note that if you have a Japanese billing address, Japanese Consumption Tax will apply to your Kiro usage. The amount of tax collected depends on many factors, including, but not limited to, your Tax Registration Number ("TRN" or Tax ID), and billing address. Kiro in GovCloud pricing is approximately 20% higher than commercial pricing and does not include the Free tier. Kiro processes paid subscriptions on the 1st day of each calendar month.

Question 14

Which models does Kiro use under the hood?

Accepted Answer

By default, your prompts are processed by Auto, an agent that uses a mix of different frontier models such as Sonnet 4.5, combined with specialized models that are experts in specific tasks, intent detection, caching, and other techniques to give you a better balance of quality, latency, and costs. You can also choose to have your prompts processed exclusively by Sonnet 4.5, Sonnet 4.6, Haiku 4.5, Opus 4.5, Opus 4.6, or Opus 4.7.

Question 15

How does the sign-up bonus work?

Accepted Answer

The first time you upgrade to any Kiro paid plan, you get $20 credited towards your subscription when using Kiro as an individual via social login or Builder ID (not AWS Identity Center). Upgrading to a paid subscription requires a valid credit card. Kiro processes paid subscriptions on the 1st day of each calendar month. Let’s assume you first upgrade to a Kiro Pro plan ($20/month) on the 15th of June, for example, here’s how the sign-up bonus would work for you: you’d get credited $20 * 15/30 days left in June, which is $10. on July 1st, your card would get charged for (July subscription price) - (remaining free trial credit), which is $20 - ($20 * 15/30) = $10.

Question 16

What is a credit?

Accepted Answer

A credit is a unit of work in response to user prompts. Simple prompts can consume less than 1 credit. More complex prompts, such as executing a spec task, typically cost more than 1 credit. Additionally, different models consume credits at different rates, with a prompt executed via Sonnet 4.6 costing more credits than executing it with Auto. For example, a given task that consumes X credits to execute in Auto, will cost you 1.3X credits to execute via Sonnet 4.6. Credits are metered to the second decimal point, so the least number of credits a task can consume is 0.01 credits.

Question 17

What can I use credits for?

Accepted Answer

Any prompt you ask Kiro to execute, whether in vibe mode or spec mode, as well as spec refinement, task execution, and agent hook execution, will consume credits.

Question 18

How can I track my credit usage?

Accepted Answer

You can see the monthly credit limits for your plan, the number of credits used, and credits remaining in your subscription dashboard accessible in the Kiro IDE. Credit usage is updated at least every 5 minutes.

Question 19

Can I pay for additional credits?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on paid plans, you can enable overage to continue using Kiro past your monthly limits. Additional credits are $0.04 each, billed at month-end based on actual over-cap usage. For example, if you’re on the Pro tier and use 1,100 credits (100 over your limit), you’ll be charged an additional $4 on your next bill. Overage is disabled by default and must be enabled in Settings before it applies. Once you turn overages on, and for as long as you remain on a paid plan, overages stay on. Once you downgrade to the Kiro Free tier, overages will be disabled, and you need to turn them back on when you are back on a paid plan.

Question 20

Can I share my Kiro subscription with my team?

Accepted Answer

No, subscriptions and usage limits are calculated per individual user. For team usage, each developer needs their own subscription. Team billing and management features are coming soon.

Question 21

With which tools can I use my Kiro subscription?

Accepted Answer

Kiro subscriptions can be used with Kiro IDE, Kiro CLI, Kiro Web, ACP compatible IDEs, and automation in software development (ex: reviews during CI/CD). Use with OpenClaw and similar tools that leverage third-party harnesses is prohibited.

Question 22

What happens if I don’t use all my monthly credits?

Accepted Answer

Usage limits reset at the start of each billing month. Unused credits do not roll over to the next month.

Question 23

What payment methods do you accept?

Accepted Answer

We accept all major credit cards.

Question 24

What countries or regions are supported for individual plans?

Accepted Answer

Currently, you can purchase a Kiro paid plan with a billing address in Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao SAR, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Palestinian Territories, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Venezuela, and Yemen. More countries or regions will be added soon.

Model availability can vary by country or region. Kiro's model offerings align with each model provider's usage and geographic requirements for third-party services and interfaces. For more information, see each model provider's supported countries and regions, if relevant: Anthropic, Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi, MiniMax, GLM.

Question 25

Is Kiro pricing different in AWS GovCloud (US) regions?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Kiro pricing in AWS GovCloud (US) regions is approximately 20% higher than standard commercial region pricing. All Kiro subscription tiers (Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, and Power) are subject to this regional pricing adjustment when accessed through AWS GovCloud (US) regions.

Question 26

Is the free tier available for Enterprise, including AWS GovCloud (US), regions?

Accepted Answer

No, the free tier is not available in Kiro Enterprise and AWS GovCloud (US) regions. All Kiro subscription tiers (Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, and Power) are subject to this regional pricing adjustment when accessed through AWS GovCloud (US) regions.

Question 27

Which countries or regions support Kiro startup credits?

Accepted Answer

Kiro credits are supported in most countries globally where AWS billing is available. Startups in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Mexico, North Korea, Region of Crimea, Russia, Sudan, Syria, and Spain are not eligible for this program.

Question 28

What is Kiro CLI?

Accepted Answer

Kiro CLI is a tool that allows you to interact with Kiro’s AI agents directly from your terminal. The CLI enables you to use AI for tasks like writing, reviewing, modifying code, and automating workflows, all within your command-line environment. It understands your codebase and speeds up development through adaptive, natural dialogue. Kiro CLI carries over steering files and MCP configurations from the Kiro IDE, leveraging the Auto agent to deliver the best results at the best price.

Question 29

What is Kiro Web?

Accepted Answer

Kiro Web is where you build, delegate, and steer development work with Kiro from your browser. Connect your GitHub or GitLab repositories, describe what you need, and Kiro writes code, coordinates changes across repos, and opens pull requests. Available in preview for Kiro Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, and Power subscribers.

Question 30

How do I get started with Kiro Web?

Accepted Answer

Go to app.kiro.dev, sign in, describe what you need, connect your repositories from GitHub or GitLab in Settings if your task needs it, and Kiro writes code and opens pull requests across one or multiple repos. You can chat and iterate together, or toggle Autonomous to let Kiro own a task end-to-end, or use spec mode to shape the work before execution starts. If your organization uses AWS IAM Identity Center, your administrator needs to enable Kiro Web first.

Question 31

Who has access to the Kiro Web preview?

Accepted Answer

Kiro Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, and Power users. Sign in to try it.

Question 32

Is Kiro Web preview included in my current plan or will I be charged extra?

Accepted Answer

Kiro Web uses the existing credit model. Credits are consumed regardless of which interface the work runs on (IDE, CLI, or web). No separate charge for cloud compute. Available in preview to Kiro Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, and Power users.

Question 33

Does my organization need to enable Kiro Web separately?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if your organization uses AWS IAM Identity Center, your administrator needs to enable Kiro Web before you can access it. Enabling applies to all users in the profile and uses the same Identity Center start URL as your existing Kiro settings. During preview, Kiro Web is available in AWS US-East-1 (Northern Virginia) region only. MCP and other governance controls are not yet supported.

Question 34

Will I be charged for Kiro powers?

Accepted Answer

No, there is no additional charge for using Kiro powers. All Kiro users can access and use Kiro powers.

Question 35

Which authentication methods are supported for Kiro in GovCloud?

Accepted Answer

Kiro in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions supports enterprise authentication via AWS IAM Identity Center, including integration with external identity providers such as Okta and Microsoft Entra ID. Individual login methods such as GitHub, Google, and AWS Builder ID are not available in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions.

Question 36

Is Kiro pricing different in GovCloud regions?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Kiro pricing in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions is approximately 20% higher than standard commercial region pricing. All Kiro subscription tiers (Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, and Power) are subject to this regional pricing adjustment when accessed through AWS GovCloud (US) Regions.

Question 37

Is the free tier supported for Kiro in GovCloud?

Accepted Answer

The Free tier is not available in the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions. Kiro in AWS GovCloud (US) requires a paid subscription plan (Pro, Pro+, Pro Max, or Power) and enterprise authentication via AWS IAM Identity Center.

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