Kiro vs Zed | agentconfig.ing

Kiro vs ZedComparisonUpdated 2026-03-16

SUMMARY

Kiro (IDE) uses markdown configuration while Zed (Editor) uses markdown. They differ on 1 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Kiro	Zed	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	✓	Editor
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	Kiro	Zed
Project instructions	.kiro/steering/*.md	Rules Library
Settings / configuration	.kiro/hooks/*.kiro.hook	.zed/settings.json

SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES

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

Zed

.rules

markdown

# Project Rules

## Stack
- TypeScript 5.x with strict mode
- React 19 with Server Components
- Tailwind CSS v4
- Drizzle ORM with PostgreSQL

## Code Style
- Prefer named exports over default exports
- Use "use client" directive only when interactivity is required
- Colocate tests in __tests__ directories next to source files
- Use Zod for all runtime validation

## Architecture
- App Router with nested layouts in app/
- Server actions in app/actions/
- Database schema in db/schema.ts
- Shared utilities in lib/

## Commands
- Dev server: pnpm dev
- Type check: pnpm typecheck
- Test: pnpm test
- Lint: pnpm lint

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. IDE integration

Kiro: Supported. Zed: Editor.

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Kiro, configure .kiro/steering/*.md. If you use Zed, configure .rules. 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