Just yesterday, Amazon unexpectedly released its own AI IDE named Kira. This marks another VS Code fork entering the fray, competing for the attention of programmers against a growing list of editors like Cursor, Windsor, Firebase Studio, and Copilot. Powered by Claude Sonnet 4.0, Kira claims to handle complexity more effectively than other tools by using an approach called spec-driven development. Currently, it's available for free.

In other recent news for developers, the open-weight agentic coding model Kimmy K2 was also released, boasting performance that rivals Claude. These powerful tools are advancing at a rapid pace. In this article, we'll explore Amazon Kira to determine if it has what it takes to be a true competitor to established tools like Cursor and Copilot.

The Billion-Dollar Battle for Your IDE

You might recall the recent news when OpenAI was poised to acquire the VS Code fork, Windsor, for a staggering sum. That deal ultimately collapsed. Subsequently, Google entered the picture, effectively poaching the company's talent by persuading them to join Google in a multi-billion dollar move. While this left many Windsor employees in a difficult position, Cognition, the minds behind Devon, later stepped in to acquire the remaining assets in what was reported as an all-stock deal.

We are in an era where companies will invest billions for a VS Code fork, highlighting the intense competition to win over developers. A major player in this space is Anthropic, which has seen its revenue skyrocket from under a billion last year to over 4 billion this year, largely thanks to its Claude Code CLI tool. One of its most significant investors is Amazon, which has invested billions of dollars into the company.

Many developers who don't use the Claude command-line tool directly opt for an IDE like Cursor, which is powered by Claude. While it's a popular choice, its reliance on Anthropic creates a challenge. For developers to access Claude through Cursor, Cursor must act as a reseller, structuring its pricing for eventual profitability. A recent attempt by Cursor to adjust its pricing model surprised some customers with unexpectedly higher bills, leading to a public apology from the company.

Now, Kira enters this competitive landscape. As another VS Code fork with a comparable feature set, its initial pricing suggests it could offer more value from Claude at a lower cost. The timing of Kira's release by Amazon is certainly interesting, so let's examine its capabilities.

A Focus on Spec-Driven Development

The user interface is polished, though early use reveals some sluggishness and the absence of minor features found in competitors, like chat checkpoints. Service overload caused some delays, but these are typical teething problems for a new product launch. The most significant differentiator for Kira is its methodology, which aims to prevent generating large amounts of unvetted code simultaneously. It champions a more structured workflow called spec-driven development.

Instead of jumping directly into coding, the process encourages starting with a requirements.md file.

Note: This file is used to define key project parameters. For example: ```markdown

Requirements

User Story

As a user, I want to be able to log in with my email and password so that I can access my dashboard.

Acceptance Conditions

• Given a registered user, when they enter the correct credentials, they should be redirected to their dashboard.
• Given a user, when they enter incorrect credentials, they should see an error message. ```

This structured approach involves several steps: 1. Requirements: First, you define the user story and acceptance criteria in the requirements.md file. 2. Design: With a plan in place, you create a design document that outlines technical implementation details, such as component structure, testing strategies, and error handling. 3. Implementation Plan: Finally, these two documents are combined to generate a detailed implementation plan. This plan breaks down the project into specific tasks, each outlining the code the AI needs to write. You can then initiate each task directly from the IDE.

While this process can feel slower, it offers a more deliberate and robust framework for building serious applications, especially when collaborating within a team. It seems to be an IDE tailored for enterprise environments where design documentation and consistent code quality are paramount.

First Impressions and Future Outlook

At present, Kira is a closed-source product exclusively powered by Claude, although there are plans to integrate other models in the future. With Amazon offering it for free at launch, trying it out is an easy decision for interested developers. However, only time will determine if it can truly become a legitimate "Cursor killer" and carve out a significant market share in the competitive AI-powered IDE space.