Kiro vs. Amazon Q Developer IDE Plugin #

Amazon Q Developer includes the Amazon Q Developer IDE plugin (Visual Studio Code, JetBrains, Eclipse, Visual Studio). The following mainly compares the functionality between Kiro and the Amazon Q Developer VS Code plugin.

Summary #

Both Kiro and Amazon Q Developer are AI Coding tools from AWS. In terms of overall user experience, Kiro is better, while the Amazon Q Developer plugin supports different IDEs, allowing users to continue using their existing IDEs. Here are the main differences:

Kiro’s Unique Advantages:

Spec Mode: A structured approach to handling complex development tasks that formalizes the software development process - this is unique to Kiro
Agent Hooks: Automatic triggers that execute predefined agent actions when specific events occur in the IDE
Flexible Autonomy: Both Autopilot mode (autonomous modification) and Supervised mode (review before applying changes)
Rich Context References: Supports multiple context reference methods like #Docs, #Git, #Rules, #Terminals, #Web, etc.

Amazon Q Developer’s Unique Advantages:

GUI Configuration: Provides a graphical interface for configuring MCP servers, more intuitive than Kiro’s JSON file configuration
Pinned Context Items: Can specify context items to be added to all messages in chat sessions
Prompt Library: Built-in prompt library functionality for storing and reusing common prompts
Named Agent: Provides specialized security review (/review) and Java upgrade (/transform) agents

Core Differences:

Development Methodology: Kiro emphasizes structured Spec-driven development, while Q Developer focuses more on traditional Agent programming approaches
Autonomy Control: Kiro provides both Supervised and Autopilot modes
Context Management: Kiro’s Steering system provides more flexible inclusion modes (always/conditional/manual), while Q Developer’s Project Rules only supports always inclusion

Feature Comparison #

Last comparison date: July 27, 2025

Category	Feature	Description	Kiro	Q Developer VS Code Plugin	Comments
Chat	Q&A Chat	Back-and-forth conversation	✅	✅
Chat	Inline Editing	Edit code or ask questions directly in the editor	✅ Supports additional context, multi-turn conversation	✅ No additional context, single-turn conversation
Agent	Vibe	Autonomous programming tasks, terminal commands, and code editing	✅	✅ Agent programming
	Spec	A structured approach to handling complex development tasks that formalizes the software development process	✅	❌
	Supervised mode	Kiro shows each suggested action and waits for your approval before proceeding. You'll see the exact changes Kiro wants to make and can accept, reject, or modify them.	✅	❌	Kiro asks you to review and accept code changes. VS Code plugin directly changes files and provides methods to undo edits.
	Autopilot mode	Autonomously complete end-to-end tasks. It can create files, modify code in multiple locations, run commands, and make architectural decisions without requiring approval at each step.	✅	❌	Kiro can read terminal output and can configure trusted commands.
	Diff and Review	Review and manage code changes generated by AI agents	✅	✅
	Hooks	Automatic triggers that execute predefined agent actions when specific events occur in the IDE	✅	❌
Inline Completion	Auto-completion	Provides suggestions and completes code as you type	✅	✅
Context	Codebase Indexing	Index your codebase by computing embeddings for each file. Improves AI responses about your code.	✅ Via #codebase	✅ Via @workspace
	Rules	System-level instructions to the model	✅ Steering	✅ Project Rules	Kiro's Steering provides always/conditional/manual inclusion modes, while Q IDE plugin only provides always inclusion mode.
	Add Images	Add images to context	✅	✅
	Pinned Context Items	Context pinning lets you specify context items to add to all messages in a chat session. When you pin a context item, it's automatically included in every message in the current conversation.	❌	✅
	Prompt Library	Store prompts in a library and insert them into chat without retyping the prompt each time	❌	✅	In Kiro, you can put prompts in manual Steering and include them using the #steering command.
@ Symbol	@Files	Reference specific files in your project	✅	✅
	@Folders	Reference entire folders for broader context	✅	✅
	@Code	Reference specific code snippets or symbols in your codebase	✅	✅
	@Docs	Access documentation and guides	✅	❌
	@Git	Reference git history and changes	✅	❌
	@Rules	Use rules	✅ Reference Steering files	❌
	@Terminals	Reference terminal content	✅	❌
	@Web	Reference external web resources and documentation	✅	❌
	# Problems	Reference problems in the current file	✅	❌
	@Lint Errors	Reference code linting errors (chat only)	✅	❌
	@Prompts	Prompt Library. Add saved prompts to context.	❌	✅	In Kiro, you can put prompts in manual Steering and include them using the #steering command.
MCP	Configuration	How to configure MCP servers	✅ JSON file	✅ GUI
	Workspace-level MCP	Applies to current workspace	✅	✅
	User-level MCP	Applies to all projects	✅	✅
	`stdio` transport	MCP servers on local desktop	✅	✅
	Auto-approve trusted tools	Avoid repeated approval prompts for trusted tools	✅	✅
User Experience	Parallel Sessions	Allow opening multiple tabs and running agents/chats in parallel	✅	✅
	Task List	Show current tasks and queued tasks	✅	❌
	History	View and manage chat conversations	✅	✅
	Context Summary	Automatically summarize and manage context to keep chats efficient	✅	❌
	Custom Layout	Quickly customize IDE layout	✅	✅
Named Agent	Security Review	Specialized agent for identifying security and code quality issues	❌	✅ Using `/review` command
Named Agent	Java Upgrade	Upgrade Java	❌	✅ Using `/transform` command	Additional charges apply.