Kiro CLI Setup: Installation and PATH Configuration Guide

What Is Kiro CLI?

Kiro CLI is a terminal-based AI coding assistant. Previously known as Amazon Q Developer CLI, it was rebranded as Kiro CLI. You talk to an AI agent in your terminal — it writes code, runs commands, and manages infrastructure.

It supports custom agents, MCP server integration, and shares configuration with Kiro IDE. Version 2.0 added native Windows support and headless CI/CD mode.

How to Install Kiro CLI?

macOS and Linux (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://kiro.dev/install.sh | bash

Or download manually:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf \
  'https://desktop-release.codewhisperer.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/kiro-cli/kiro-cli-linux-x64.zip' \
  -o kirocli.zip
unzip kirocli.zip
./kirocli/install.sh

The installer asks if it should modify your shell config. Say yes to auto-configure PATH.

Ubuntu (.deb package)

wget https://desktop-release.codewhisperer.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/kiro-cli/kiro-cli.deb
sudo dpkg -i kiro-cli.deb
sudo apt-get install -f

Verify

kiro-cli --version

How to Fix “command not found: kiro-cli”?

Most common issue after install. The binary is at ~/.local/bin/kiro-cli but your shell doesn’t include that directory in PATH.

# Immediate fix
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

# Make it permanent
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

For zsh:

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Verify:

which kiro-cli
# /home/youruser/.local/bin/kiro-cli

Where Are Kiro CLI Config Files?

Path	Purpose
~/.kiro/	Global config root
~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json	MCP server configuration
.kiro/steering/*.md	Project-level AI behavior rules
.kiro/skills/	Custom agent skills

MCP config example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-tool": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["my-mcp-server"],
      "env": {},
      "timeout": 60000
    }
  }
}

How Does It Share Config with Kiro IDE?

If you use both Kiro IDE and Kiro CLI, configuration is shared automatically:

• MCP servers: same ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json
• Steering rules: same .kiro/steering/ directory
• Project docs: everything under .kiro/

Configure once, use in both environments.

WSL Setup Notes

Installation in WSL is identical to standard Linux:

curl -fsSL https://kiro.dev/install.sh | bash
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

Make sure you’re in the WSL home directory (/home/youruser), not a Windows mount (/mnt/c/...).

Quick Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
command not found: kiro-cli	Add ~/.local/bin to PATH
Permission denied on install	chmod +x ./kirocli/install.sh
~/.local/bin doesn’t exist (macOS)	mkdir -p ~/.local/bin then reinstall
Can’t authenticate	Check network — Kiro needs AWS connectivity

Related Links

• Kiro CLI Official Installation
• Kiro CLI Commands Reference
• Kiro CLI 2.0 Blog Post
• Introducing Kiro CLI