Bolt vs Kiro | agentconfig.ing

Bolt vs KiroComparisonUpdated 2026-03-16

SUMMARY

Bolt (Platform) uses text configuration while Kiro (IDE) uses markdown. They differ on 4 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Bolt	Kiro	Notes
Config format	text	markdown
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	Platform	✓
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	Bolt	Kiro
Project instructions	.bolt/prompt	.kiro/steering/*.md
Project instructions	AGENTS.md	AGENTS.md

SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES

Bolt

.bolt/prompt

text

You are building a SaaS dashboard application.

Stack: Remix with TypeScript, Prisma ORM, PostgreSQL, TailwindCSS.

Key rules:
- Use server loaders for data fetching, not client-side fetch
- All forms use Remix Form with progressive enhancement
- Use Prisma for all database operations
- Style with TailwindCSS utility classes, no custom CSS
- Components go in app/components/, routes in app/routes/
- Use zod for form validation on both client and server

Kiro

.kiro/steering/*.md

markdown

---
inclusion: always
---

# Project Standards

## Stack
- TypeScript 5.x with Node.js 22
- AWS CDK v2 for infrastructure
- DynamoDB for data, S3 for assets

## Conventions
- Use ESM imports, not CommonJS
- Lambda handlers export a named `handler` function
- Use middy middleware for cross-cutting concerns
- All API responses follow JSON:API format

## Testing
- Unit tests with vitest
- Integration tests with aws-testing-library
- E2E tests use deployed staging environment

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. Config format

Bolt: text. Kiro: markdown.

2. Hierarchy support

Bolt: Not supported. Kiro: Supported.

3. Global config

Bolt: Not supported. Kiro: Supported.

4. IDE integration

Bolt: Platform. Kiro: Supported.

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Bolt, configure .bolt/prompt. If you use Kiro, configure .kiro/steering/*.md. 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