AWS CLI
The AWS CLI provides commands to set up AI coding agents with the Agent Toolkit for AWS and to manage installed AWS skills from the command line. The CLI works with any AI coding agent that the toolkit detects on your system — including Kiro, Cursor, and Claude Code — and is the recommended setup path when you want to install skills and configure the AWS MCP Server in a single step.
The CLI provides two command groups:
-
aws configure agent-toolkit— An interactive setup wizard that detects installed agents, installs default AWS skills, and configures the AWS MCP Server. -
aws agent-toolkit— A set of commands to install, update, remove, list, and search for individual AWS skills.
Prerequisites
-
AWS CLI version
2.35.0or later. To install or update the AWS CLI, see Installing the AWS CLI in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide. -
One or more supported AI coding agents installed on your system. The CLI detects supported agents by the presence of their configuration directories (for example,
~/.kirofor Kiro). Skills are installed globally in those configuration directories, not per project.
Setting up with the AWS CLI
The aws configure agent-toolkit command runs an interactive setup wizard. It
detects installed AI coding agents, installs default AWS skills, and configures the AWS MCP
Server connection.
aws configure agent-toolkit
After the wizard completes, your selected agents are ready to use the AWS MCP Server and the installed skills. Restart your agent client to pick up the new MCP Server configuration.
Managing skills with the AWS CLI
The aws agent-toolkit command group provides operations to install, update,
remove, list, and search for individual skills. By default, install, update, and remove operations
apply to all detected agents. Use the --agent option to target a specific tool. The
value for --agent is the stable agent identifier (for example, kiro)
— run any command with --help to see valid values.
Topics
Install a skill
The add-skill command downloads and installs an AWS skill to detected AI
coding agents. By default, the latest version is installed globally to all detected agents. Use
--agent to target a specific tool, or --skill-version to pin a specific
version.
Example 1: Install a skill
The following add-skill example downloads and installs the
aws-serverless skill to all detected AI coding agents.
aws agent-toolkit add-skill \ --skill-name aws-serverless
Example 2: Install a skill to a specific agent
The following add-skill example installs the aws-cdk skill only
to Kiro.
aws agent-toolkit add-skill \ --skill-name aws-cdk \ --agent kiro
Example 3: Install a specific version of a skill
The following add-skill example installs version v1 of the
aws-serverless skill.
aws agent-toolkit add-skill \ --skill-name aws-serverless \ --skill-version v1
Update an installed skill
The update-skill command updates an installed AWS skill to the latest
version. It compares the locally installed version against the available skills and downloads
the newer version if available. By default, the skill is updated for all detected agents. Use
--agent to update the skill for only a specific tool.
Example 1: Update an installed skill
The following update-skill example updates the aws-serverless
skill to the latest version across all agents where it is installed.
aws agent-toolkit update-skill \ --skill-name aws-serverless
Example 2: Update a skill for a specific agent
The following update-skill example updates the aws-serverless
skill only for Kiro.
aws agent-toolkit update-skill \ --skill-name aws-serverless \ --agent kiro
Remove an installed skill
The remove-skill command removes a previously installed AWS skill from
detected agents. By default, the skill is removed from all detected agents. Use
--agent to remove the skill from a specific tool only.
Example 1: Remove an installed skill
The following remove-skill example removes the aws-serverless
skill from all detected agents.
aws agent-toolkit remove-skill \ --skill-name aws-serverless
Example 2: Remove a skill from a specific agent
The following remove-skill example removes the aws-cdk skill only
from Kiro.
aws agent-toolkit remove-skill \ --skill-name aws-cdk \ --agent kiro
List installed skills
The list-installed-skills command lists AWS skills that were previously
installed by the aws agent-toolkit commands. It shows the skill name, agent, and
file path for each installation. By default, it lists skills from all detected agents. Use
--agent to filter results to a specific tool.
Example 1: List installed skills
The following list-installed-skills example lists all AWS skills installed
on detected agents.
aws agent-toolkit list-installed-skills
Example 2: List installed skills for a specific agent
The following list-installed-skills example lists skills installed only in
Kiro.
aws agent-toolkit list-installed-skills \ --agent kiro
List available skills
The list-available-skills command lists skills available in the remote
catalog.
Example 1: List all available skills
The following list-available-skills example lists all skills available in the
remote catalog.
aws agent-toolkit list-available-skills
Example 2: List available skills filtered by category
The following list-available-skills example lists only skills in the
aws-core category.
aws agent-toolkit list-available-skills \ --category-filter aws-core
Search for skills
The search-skills command searches the remote catalog for skills matching a
query.
Example: Search for available skills
The following search-skills example searches for skills related to serverless
development.
aws agent-toolkit search-skills \ --search-query serverless
Get skill metadata
The get-skill-metadata command retrieves metadata for a skill, including its
version, description, categories, and file list.
Example 1: Get metadata for a skill
The following get-skill-metadata example retrieves metadata for the
aws-serverless skill, including its version and file list.
aws agent-toolkit get-skill-metadata \ --skill-name aws-serverless
Example 2: Get metadata for a specific skill version
The following get-skill-metadata example retrieves metadata for version
v1 of the aws-serverless skill.
aws agent-toolkit get-skill-metadata \ --skill-name aws-serverless \ --skill-version v1
Get a file from a skill
The get-skill-file command retrieves the contents of a single file from a
skill. Use aws agent-toolkit get-skill-metadata to discover available file names
for each skill. By default, the latest version is retrieved. Use --skill-version to
fetch a specific version.
Example 1: Fetch a file from a skill
The following get-skill-file example retrieves the SKILL.md file
from the aws-serverless skill.
aws agent-toolkit get-skill-file \ --skill-name aws-serverless \ --file-path SKILL.md
Example 2: Fetch a specific version of a skill file
The following get-skill-file example retrieves a reference file from a
specific version of the aws-serverless skill.
aws agent-toolkit get-skill-file \ --skill-name aws-serverless \ --file-path references/architecture.md \ --skill-version v1
