Getting started

The fastest way to get started with the Agent Toolkit for AWS is to install the plugin for your AI coding agent. The plugin bundles the AWS MCP Server configuration and a curated set of agent skills in a single install.

For what the Agent Toolkit for AWS adds to the agent you already use, and what it does not do, see When to use the Agent Toolkit for AWS.

Sign up for an AWS account

To get started with AWS, you need an AWS account. There are two ways to sign up for AWS. If you want complete control over account configuration and where your content is stored, or if you have regulated workloads such as HIPAA or FedRAMP, use Sign up for AWS (advanced). If you are a new user and want to use a login you already own to sign in to AWS and create an AWS environment with preconfigured defaults in select AWS Regions, use Sign up for AWS.

Prerequisites

• uv installed on your system (required for the MCP proxy).

• (Optional) An AWS account with IAM credentials set up on your local machine. Credentials are required for tools that execute AWS API calls and run scripts, but not for searching documentation or discovering skills. If you do not have credentials configured, see Setting up the AWS MCP Server for detailed instructions.

Step 1: Install

Claude Code

In Claude Code:

/plugin install aws-core@claude-plugins-official
/reload-plugins

Codex

In your terminal:

codex plugin marketplace add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws

Then launch Codex and run /plugins to browse and install the aws-core plugin.

Devin

In your terminal:

devin plugins install aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws#plugins/aws-core

You must be signed in to Devin (devin auth login) to install plugins. In the Devin web app, you can instead choose Customize, Plugins, Add plugin, and then From repository. Enter the repository aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws and the subdirectory plugins/aws-core. Plugins that you install in the web app are also available in the Devin CLI and Devin Desktop.

Kiro

Add the following to your MCP configuration file (for example, ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aws-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "timeout": 100000,
      "transport": "stdio",
      "args": [
        "mcp-proxy-for-aws-cli@latest",
        "https://aws-mcp.us-east-1.api.aws/mcp",
        "--metadata", "AWS_REGION=us-west-2"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Then install skills:

npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws/skills

Other agents

If your agent supports MCP, you can configure the AWS MCP Server directly. See Setting up the AWS MCP Server for instructions.

Then install skills:

npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws/skills

AWS CLI

If you have the AWS CLI installed (version 2.35.0 or later), you can run an interactive setup wizard that detects your installed AI coding agents, installs default AWS skills, and configures the AWS MCP Server connection in a single command:

aws configure agent-toolkit

The wizard works with multiple agents, including Kiro, Cursor, and Claude Code.

To install and manage individual skills from the command line, see AWS CLI.

Step 2: Verify your connection

After you install the plugin, verify that the AWS MCP Server is connected:

1. Start a new conversation with your agent.

2. Ask: "What AWS Regions are available?"

If the agent returns a list of AWS Regions, the connection is working. If you see an authentication error, see Troubleshooting authentication errors.

Step 3: Try it out

Ask your agent to perform an AWS task:

• "What AWS services should I use to build a serverless API?"

• "Create an Amazon S3 bucket with versioning enabled and a lifecycle policy that transitions objects to Glacier after 90 days."

• "Help me troubleshoot why my CloudFormation deployment failed."

The agent discovers and uses relevant skills automatically. You do not need to know which skills are available — the agent finds them based on your request.

For more tasks, what handles each one, and where each is documented, see Common tasks and where to start.

Configure the recommended rules file

We recommend that you add the Agent Toolkit for AWS rules file to your project. A rules file provides persistent instructions that tell your agent how to work with AWS in every session. Without it, your agent might apply AWS best practices less consistently.

Copy the latest recommended rules file from the Agent Toolkit for AWS repository on GitHub into the rules file for your agent (for example, CLAUDE.md for Claude Code or AGENTS.md for Codex). For the file location for each agent and how to customize it, see Rules files.

Additional plugins

After you install aws-core, you can install additional plugins for specialized workflows:

• aws-agents — Skills for building AI agents on AWS with API Gateway and AgentCore.

• aws-data-analytics — Skills for data lake, analytics, and ETL workflows.

• aws-agents-for-devsecops — Skills for incident investigation, code security scanning, and penetration testing.

Install additional plugins using the same method as aws-core.