Chat with Kiro AI agents, run Spec workflows, and get context-aware coding help directly in your editor.

Important: This extension requires the Kiro CLI to be installed separately. It does not bundle the CLI. See Prerequisites below.

Prerequisites

This extension is a UI wrapper around the Kiro CLI. You must install and authenticate the CLI before the extension will work.

1. Install the Kiro CLI

Download and install kiro-cli from kiro.dev.

On macOS/Linux, the CLI is typically installed to ~/.local/bin/kiro-cli. Make sure this directory is on your PATH:

# Check if kiro-cli is available
which kiro-cli

# If not found, add ~/.local/bin to your PATH (add to your shell profile)
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

2. Authenticate

Run one of:

kiro-cli login

Or use the Kiro: Login command from the VS Code Command Palette after installing the extension. This opens a browser window for authentication.

3. Verify

kiro-cli whoami

If this prints your username, you're ready to go.

Features

AI Chat Panel

Open a chat panel alongside your editor to converse with Kiro agents. Responses stream in real-time with Markdown rendering, syntax-highlighted code blocks, and copy-to-clipboard buttons.

Editor Context Awareness

Your active file and selected code are automatically included as context with every prompt, so the agent gives relevant, accurate answers without you having to paste anything.

Tool Call Visibility

See what the agent is doing — file reads, writes, and shell commands appear as compact status indicators between response chunks.

Model Selection

Switch between available AI models from a dropdown in the chat header. Supports all models available through the Kiro CLI.

Spec Workflow

Define features through a structured three-phase workflow: requirements → design → tasks. Artifacts are saved to .kiro/specs/ in your workspace.

Steering Files

Place Markdown files in .kiro/steering/ to guide the agent with project-specific rules and conventions. They're automatically included with every request.

Commands

Command	Description
`Kiro: Open Chat`	Open the AI chat panel
`Kiro: Start Spec`	Start a spec workflow
`Kiro: Restart CLI`	Restart the CLI process (checks auth, auto-logs in if needed)
`Kiro: Login`	Authenticate with the Kiro CLI

Getting Started

Install the Kiro CLI (kiro.dev)
Run kiro-cli login to authenticate
Install this extension from the Marketplace
Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) and run Kiro: Open Chat
Start chatting — your active file is automatically included as context

Extension Settings

This extension does not add any VS Code settings. Configuration is managed through the Kiro CLI (kiro-cli settings).

Troubleshooting

"Kiro CLI not found" error on activation The extension couldn't find kiro-cli on your PATH. Make sure it's installed and accessible:

which kiro-cli

If it's installed but not found, add its location to your PATH in your shell profile (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc, etc.).

"Kiro CLI is not authenticated" warning Run Kiro: Login from the Command Palette, or run kiro-cli login in your terminal.

Chat panel doesn't show editor context Make sure you have a file open in the editor before opening the chat panel. The extension captures the last active text editor and includes it with your prompts.