AWS introduces powers for AI-powered Kiro IDE

AWS has released Kiro powers, an addition to the company’s Kiro AI-driven IDE that provides dynamic loading of context and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, with the intent of providing a unified approach to a broad range of development use cases.

Announced December 3, Kiro powers enables developers to access specialized expertise to accelerate software development. The new capability allows developers to customize their Kiro agent with specialized domain research in a single click, according to AWS. Kiro powers can be comprised of a combination of MCP servers for specialized tool access, steering files with best practices, and hooks to trigger specific actions, helping developers customize an agent for workflows. These workflows span from UI development to back-end development, API development, AI agent development, code deployment, and observability. 

A power is a bundle that includes:

POWER.md: The entry point steering file—an onboarding manual that tells the agent what MCP tools it has available and when to use them.

MCP server configuration: The tools and connection details for the MCP server.

Additional hooks or steering files: Things for an agent to run on IDE events or via slash commands.

Kiro powers are designed for easy discovery and installation, whether the developer is using curated partners, community-built powers, or a team’s private tools, AWS said. Discovery, configuration, and installation happen through the IDE or the kiro.dev website. Kiro powers provide a unified approach to applying AI to software development tasks that offers MCP compatibility, dynamic loading, and packaged expertise in one system, AWS said.

While Kiro powers now work exclusively in the Kiro IDE, plans call for having them work across any AI development tool, such as Kiro CLI, Cline, Cursor, Claude Code, and beyond. Kiro powers are built by leaders in their fields including Datadog, Dynatrace, Neon, Netlify, Postman, Supabase, and AWS (Strands Agents, Amazon Aurora). There will be more to come from both software vendors and open-source communities, AWS said.