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Get Started Installation Authentication Your first project Models Overview Available models Reasoning effort Features How Kiro works Specs Steering Hooks MCP Permissions Custom agents Agent Skills Powers Cloud sessions Compaction Kiroignore Checkpoints and rewind Built-in tools Configuration scopes IDE 1.x What's new in 1.0 Setup & First Run Editor Chat Experimental Troubleshooting 0.x reference CLI What's new in 3.0 Setup & First Run Terminal UI Chat Voice mode Headless mode ACP Auto complete Experimental 2.x reference Crew Quick start Installation Running 24/7 Chat Agent Capabilities Features Interfaces Apps System & storage Configuration Security Troubleshooting Web Setup & First Run Identity Center Connect your repositories Working with the agent Autonomous mode Automations Memory Configuration Sync Sandbox Mobile - Preview Overview Commands and Reference CLI commands Slash commands Built-in tools Exit codes Settings Billing Overview Managing your subscription Upgrading your plan Downgrading your plan Cancelling your plan Purchasing add-on credits Managing your payments Managing usage notifications Managing your taxes Contacting billing support Deleting your account Related questions Enterprise Concepts Onboarding quickstart Connecting your identity provider Deployment options Subscribe your team Manage subscriptions Governance Monitor and track Settings Managed updates Billing IAM Supported regions Privacy and Security Overview Data protection Code references Compliance validation Infrastructure security IAM permissions Firewalls, proxies, and data perimeters VPC endpoints (AWS PrivateLink) Guides Overview Language support Learn by playing Migration Migrating from Q Developer Migrating from VSCode Upgrading from Q CLI * Docs * * Features * * Agent Skills Copy page View as Markdown Agent Skills Copy page View as Markdown What are skills? Skills are portable instruction packages that follow the open Agent Skills standard. They bundle instructions, scripts, and templates into reusable packages that Kiro can activate when relevant to your task. Capability IDE CLI Web Mobile Skill activation ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Workspace skills ( .kiro/skills/ ) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Global skills ( ~/.kiro/skills/ ) ✓ ✓ — — Kiro supports the Agent Skills standard, so you can import skills from the community or other compatible AI tools, and share your own skills across the ecosystem. How skills work AI agents are increasingly capable, but they often lack the specific context needed for real work. Without knowledge of your team's deployment process, your company's code review standards, or your project's data analysis pipeline, agents guess and iterate - just like you would when learning something new. Loading all this context upfront isn't practical either. Too much information overwhelms the agent, slowing responses and reducing quality. Skills solve this with progressive disclosure: * Discovery - At startup, Kiro loads only the name and description of each skill * Activation - When your request matches a skill's description, Kiro loads the full instructions * Execution - Kiro follows the instructions, loading scripts or reference files only as needed This keeps context focused while giving Kiro access to extensive specialized knowledge on demand. Using skills Skills can activate in two ways: * Automatically - Kiro matches your request against skill descriptions and loads the relevant skill * As slash commands - Type / followed by the skill name to invoke it directly IDE CLI Web Kiro automatically activates skills when your request matches a skill's description. You can also invoke a skill directly by typing / in the chat input to see available skills as slash commands. Selecting a slash command loads the full skill instructions, giving you explicit control over when a skill activates. You can add text after the skill name, for example /explain-file src/api/client.ts , and it is passed along to the agent as extra context. $ARGUMENTS and ${N} placeholder substitution into the skill body is currently CLI-only; see Passing arguments to a skill . View and manage skills in the Agent Steering & Skills section in the Kiro panel. Skill scope Skills can be created with a workspace scope or a global scope. Location Scope Use case .kiro/skills/ Workspace Project-specific workflows, team conventions ~/.kiro/skills/ Global Personal workflows across all projects When skills share the same name, workspace skills take priority over global skills. This allows you to define global skills that generally apply to all your workspaces, while preserving the ability to override them for specific projects. Custom agents and skills Info By default, the agent automatically loads skills from both workspace and global locations. Custom agents don't load skills by default - you need to explicitly add them to the agent's resources field using the skill:// URI scheme. json { "name" : "my-agent" , "resources" : [ "skill://.kiro/skills/*/SKILL.md" , "skill://~/.kiro/skills/*/SKILL.md" ] } The skill:// URI scheme supports specific paths, glob patterns, and home directory expansion. Importing skills IDE CLI Web * Open Agent Steering & Skills section in the Kiro panel * Click + and select Import a skill * Choose your source: * GitHub - Import from a public repository URL. You can paste a URL pointing to the skill folder or directly to the SKILL.md file. The URL must point to a subdirectory in the repository, not the repository root. * Local folder - Import from your filesystem Imported skills are copied to your skills directory and work immediately. Creating a skill A skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file: my-skill/ ├── SKILL.md # Required ├── scripts/ # Optional executable code ├── references/ # Optional documentation └── assets/ # Optional templates SKILL.md format The file starts with YAML frontmatter followed by markdown instructions: markdown --- name : pr - review description : Review pull requests for code quality , security issues , and test coverage. Use when reviewing PRs or preparing code for review. --- ## Review checklist When reviewing a pull request: 1. Check for vulnerabilities, injection risks, exposed secrets 2. Verify edge cases and failure modes are handled 3. Confirm new code has appropriate tests 4. Ensure variables and functions have clear names ## Common issues to flag - Hardcoded credentials or API keys - Missing input validation - Unhandled promise rejections - Console.log statements left in production code Frontmatter fields Field Required Description name Yes Must match folder name. Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only (max 64 chars). description Yes When to use this skill. Kiro matches this against your requests (max 1024 chars). license No License name or reference to a bundled license file. compatibility No Environment requirements (e.g., required tools, network access). metadata No Additional key-value data like author or version. See the full specification for detailed field constraints. Reference files For extensive documentation, use a references/ folder: aws-deployment/ ├── SKILL.md └── references/ ├── ecs-guide.md └── troubleshooting.md Reference the files in your SKILL.md: markdown For ECS deployments, follow the guide in `references/ecs-guide.md` . Kiro loads reference files only when the instructions direct it to. Example A CDK deployment skill: cdk-deploy/ ├── SKILL.md └── references/ └── stack-patterns.md SKILL.md: markdown --- name : cdk - deploy description : Deploy AWS CDK stacks with best practices. Use when deploying infrastructure , running cdk deploy , or troubleshooting CDK issues. --- ## Deployment workflow 1. Run `cdk synth` to validate templates before deploying 2. Use `cdk diff` to preview what will change 3. Run `cdk deploy` and review IAM changes ## Pre-deployment checks - Verify AWS credentials are configured for the target account - Check that the CDK version matches the project's requirements - Review `references/stack-patterns.md` for environment-specific patterns ## Rollback procedure If deployment fails: 1. Check CloudFormation console for the specific error 2. Run `cdk destroy` only if the stack is in a failed state 3. Fix the issue and redeploy Usage: bash > Deploy my CDK stack to staging I'll follow the deployment workflow. First, let me synthesize the templates .. . How skills differ from steering and powers Skills are portable packages following an open standard. They load on-demand and can include scripts. Use for reusable workflows you want to share or import from others. Steering is Kiro-specific context that shapes agent behavior. It supports always , auto , fileMatch , and manual modes. Use for project standards and conventions. Powers bundle MCP tools with knowledge and workflows. They activate dynamically based on context. Use for integrations where you need both tools and guidance. Tip For MCP integrations, powers are usually a better fit - they bundle tools with built-in guidance and activate automatically based on what you're working on. Best practices Write precise descriptions - The description determines when Kiro activates the skill. Include specific keywords and actions that match how you'd phrase requests: * Good: Review pull requests for security vulnerabilities and test coverage. Use when reviewing PRs or preparing code for review. * Vague: Helps with code review Keep SKILL.md focused - Put detailed reference material in references/ files. Kiro loads the full SKILL.md on activation, so keep it actionable. Use scripts for deterministic tasks - Validation, file generation, and API calls work better as scripts than LLM-generated code. Choose the right scope - Global for personal workflows you use everywhere (your review checklist). Workspace for team procedures and project-specific conventions. Version control workspace skills - Commit .kiro/skills/ to your repository so the team shares the same workflows. Troubleshooting Issue Solution Skill not activating Make the description more specific with keywords matching your request Slash command not found Verify the skill folder name matches what you're typing. Skills must have valid SKILL.md with frontmatter Skill not found Verify SKILL.md exists with valid frontmatter in the correct location Custom agent missing skills Add skill:// URIs to the agent's resources field Wrong skill activating Differentiate descriptions with more specific keywords Related documentation * Steering - Project-specific context and standards * Powers - MCP integrations with bundled knowledge * Custom agents - Agent configuration and resources * Agent Skills specification - Full format details Page updated: September 2, 2026 Troubleshooting Powers