Amazon Q Developer vs Goose

Amazon Q Developer vs GooseComparisonUpdated 2026-03-16

SUMMARY

Amazon Q Developer (CLI) uses markdown configuration while Goose (CLI) uses text. They differ on 2 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Amazon Q Developer	Goose	Notes
Config format	markdown	text
Hierarchy support	✗	✓	Whether config files can be placed at multiple directory levels
Global config	✓	✓	User-wide configuration outside any project
Project config	✓	✓
Subdirectory scoping	✗	✗	Config files in subdirectories that apply only to that subtree
File inclusion / imports	✗	✗	Ability to include or reference other files from config
Ignore file	✗	✗
IDE integration	CLI	CLI
Schema / structure	Free-form (Markdown)	Free-form (Markdown)	Whether config uses structured schema or free-form content
Git committed	✓	✓	Whether primary config files are intended to be version-controlled
Encoding	UTF-8	UTF-8

FILE MAPPING

Purpose	Amazon Q Developer	Goose
Settings / configuration	.amazonq/mcp.json	config.yaml

SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES

Amazon Q Developer

.amazonq/rules/*.md

markdown

# React Component Standards

## Purpose
Ensure consistent React component patterns across the frontend codebase.

## Priority
High

## Instructions
- Use functional components with TypeScript
- Define props interfaces above the component
- Use React.FC only when children are expected
- Colocate styles using CSS Modules (*.module.css)
- Extract hooks into separate files when reused
- Memoize expensive computations with useMemo
- Use React.lazy for route-level code splitting

Goose

.goosehints

text

This is a Ruby on Rails 7.2 application with Hotwire/Turbo.

Database: PostgreSQL 16
Ruby version: 3.3.x
Node: 22.x (for asset pipeline)

Key commands:
- bin/rails server — start dev server
- bin/rails test — run test suite
- bin/rails db:migrate — run migrations

Conventions:
- Use ViewComponents for reusable UI
- Stimulus controllers for JS behavior
- System tests with Capybara + Playwright
- RuboCop for linting (run: bundle exec rubocop)

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. Config format

Amazon Q Developer: markdown. Goose: text.

2. Hierarchy support

Amazon Q Developer: Not supported. Goose: Supported.

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Amazon Q Developer, configure .amazonq/rules/*.md. If you use Goose, configure config.yaml. Many projects include config files for multiple tools so each team member can use their preferred editor.

PORTABILITY TIP

sync-instructions.sh

bash

# Maintain a single source of truth:
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md CLAUDE.md
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md .cursorrules
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md AGENTS.md