Kiro Project Setup

Kiro Project Setup Skill

Sets up a complete Kiro project structure so your AI assistant understands your project conventions, has access to custom skills, and respects your configuration preferences.

Instructions

When triggered, perform the following steps:

1. Create the .kiro/steering/ directory with a conventions.md file containing:

• Project naming conventions (file naming, variable naming)
• Code style preferences (formatting, linting rules)
• Architecture patterns used in the project
• Any team-specific rules the user provides

1. Create the .kiro/skills/ directory for project-level skills:

• Add a placeholder SKILL.md explaining that project-specific skills live here
• These skills are scoped to the repository and not shared globally

1. Add .gitignore entries for .kiro/ temp files if needed:

• If your AI tools create cache or temp files, consider adding entries like .kiro/cache/ or .kiro/tmp/ to .gitignore
• Keep .kiro/steering/ and .kiro/skills/ tracked in version control

1. Create a README section (or suggest additions) covering:

• How the project uses Kiro steering files
• Where to find and add project-level skills
• How new team members can customize their setup

Ask the user about their project before generating files. Gather:

• Programming language(s) used
• Preferred code style (tabs vs spaces, naming conventions)
• Any existing linting or formatting tools
• Team size and collaboration patterns

Guidelines

• Always ask before overwriting existing files in .kiro/
• Keep conventions.md concise and actionable - avoid vague guidance
• Use the project's existing style as the basis for conventions when possible
• Suggest committing .kiro/steering/ files so the whole team benefits
• Do not add secrets, credentials, or personal preferences to tracked files
• If the project already has a .kiro/ directory, offer to enhance rather than replace

Examples

User says: "Set up Kiro for my TypeScript project"

Response:

Create the following structure:

.kiro/
  steering/
    conventions.md
  skills/

Where conventions.md contains:

# Project Conventions

## Naming
- Files: kebab-case (e.g., user-service.ts)
- Classes: PascalCase
- Functions and variables: camelCase
- Constants: UPPER_SNAKE_CASE

## Code Style
- Use TypeScript strict mode
- Prefer async/await over raw promises
- Maximum line length: 100 characters

## Architecture
- Follow domain-driven structure under src/
- Keep business logic separate from infrastructure
- Use dependency injection for testability

And optionally add to .gitignore if your tools generate cache or temp files:

# Kiro temp files (add if your tools create these directories)
.kiro/cache/
.kiro/tmp/

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: timwukp
• Source: timwukp/agent-skills-best-practice
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.