Kilo Code vs Kiro | agentconfig.ing

Kilo Code vs KiroComparisonUpdated 2026-03-18

SUMMARY

Kilo Code (IDE) uses markdown configuration while Kiro (IDE) uses markdown. They differ on 2 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Kilo Code	Kiro	Notes
Config format	markdown	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	✓	✓
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	Kilo Code	Kiro
Settings / configuration	.kilocodemodes	.kiro/hooks/*.kiro.hook

SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES

Kilo Code

.kilorules

markdown

# Project Rules

## Stack
- TypeScript 5.x with strict mode
- React 19 + Next.js 15 (App Router)
- Tailwind CSS v4 for styling
- Drizzle ORM for database access

## Code Standards
- Named exports only (no default exports)
- Prefer `const` assertions and satisfies operator
- Use Result<T, E> pattern for error handling
- Maximum 30 lines per function

## File Organization
- Colocate tests: `foo.ts` → `foo.test.ts`
- One component per file
- Barrel exports (index.ts) for public module APIs

## Git
- Conventional commits: feat|fix|chore|docs|test
- Squash merge feature branches
- Branch naming: type/description

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. Hierarchy support

Kilo Code: Not supported. Kiro: Supported.

2. Global config

Kilo Code: Not supported. Kiro: Supported.

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Kilo Code, configure .kilocodemodes. 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