🔧 Kiro Configuration Indexing¶

SpecMem automatically indexes all Kiro CLI configuration artifacts, making them searchable and available for context generation.

Overview¶

When you use the Kiro CLI to set up your project, it creates various configuration files:

Steering files (.kiro/steering/*.md) - Project guidelines and coding standards
MCP configuration (.kiro/settings/mcp.json) - Model Context Protocol servers
Hooks (.kiro/hooks/*.json) - Automated actions on file events

SpecMem indexes all of these, enabling:

Semantic search across all configuration
File-specific steering queries
Context bundles that include relevant guidelines
Awareness of available MCP tools

Steering Files¶

Steering files provide project-wide or file-specific guidance to the Kiro agent.

Format¶

---
inclusion: always | fileMatch | manual
fileMatchPattern: "*.py"
---

# Python Coding Standards

- Use type hints for all functions
- Follow PEP 8 style guide
- Write docstrings in Google format

Inclusion Modes¶

Mode	Description
`always`	Always included in context (high priority)
`fileMatch`	Included when working on files matching the pattern
`manual`	Only included when explicitly requested

Querying Steering¶

# Show all steering files
specmem steering

# Show steering applicable to a specific file
specmem steering --file src/auth/service.py

Python API¶

from specmem.kiro import KiroConfigIndexer

indexer = KiroConfigIndexer(Path("."))
indexer.index_steering()

# Get steering for a file
applicable = indexer.get_steering_for_file("src/auth.py")
for steering in applicable:
    print(f"{steering.title}: {steering.inclusion}")

MCP Configuration¶

SpecMem indexes your MCP server configuration to know what tools are available.

Format¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aws-docs": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["awslabs.aws-documentation-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL": "ERROR"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": ["search_documentation"]
    }
  }
}

What Gets Indexed¶

Server names and commands
Enabled/disabled status
Auto-approved tools
Environment configuration

Querying MCP Config¶

# Show all Kiro configuration including MCP
specmem kiro-config

Python API¶

from specmem.kiro import KiroConfigIndexer

indexer = KiroConfigIndexer(Path("."))
indexer.index_mcp_config()

# Get available tools
tools = indexer.get_available_tools()
for tool in tools:
    print(f"{tool.server_name}/{tool.tool_name}")

Hooks¶

SpecMem indexes your Kiro hooks to understand automated workflows.

Format¶

{
  "name": "validate-on-save",
  "description": "Validate specs when saved",
  "trigger": "file_save",
  "filePattern": ".kiro/specs/**/*.md",
  "action": "specmem validate --file ${file}",
  "enabled": true
}

Trigger Types¶

Trigger	Description
`file_save`	Triggered when a file is saved
`manual`	Triggered manually by user
`session_start`	Triggered when a new session starts

Querying Hooks¶

# Show all Kiro configuration including hooks
specmem kiro-config

Python API¶

from specmem.kiro import KiroConfigIndexer

indexer = KiroConfigIndexer(Path("."))
indexer.index_hooks()

# Get hooks that would trigger for a file
hooks = indexer.get_hooks_for_trigger("file_save", "main.py")
for hook in hooks:
    print(f"{hook.name}: {hook.action}")

CLI Commands¶

specmem kiro-config¶

Display a summary of all Kiro configuration:

specmem kiro-config

Output:

📝 Steering Files
┌──────────────┬───────────┬─────────┐
│ File         │ Inclusion │ Pattern │
├──────────────┼───────────┼─────────┤
│ python.md    │ fileMatch │ *.py    │
│ security.md  │ always    │ -       │
└──────────────┴───────────┴─────────┘

🔌 MCP Servers
┌─────────────┬─────────────────┬───────────┐
│ Server      │ Command         │ Status    │
├─────────────┼─────────────────┼───────────┤
│ aws-docs    │ uvx awslabs...  │ ✅ Enabled │
│ specmem     │ uvx specmem-mcp │ ✅ Enabled │
└─────────────┴─────────────────┴───────────┘

🪝 Hooks
┌──────────────────┬───────────┬─────────┬──────────┐
│ Hook             │ Trigger   │ Pattern │ Status   │
├──────────────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────┤
│ validate-on-save │ file_save │ *.md    │ ✅ Active │
└──────────────────┴───────────┴─────────┴──────────┘

specmem steering¶

Query steering files:

# Show all steering files
specmem steering

# Show steering for a specific file
specmem steering --file src/auth/service.py

Integration with Context Bundles¶

When generating context bundles, SpecMem automatically includes:

Always-included steering - High priority guidelines
File-matching steering - Guidelines for the specific files being changed
Triggered hooks - Information about hooks that would run

from specmem import SpecMemClient

sm = SpecMemClient()
bundle = sm.get_context_for_change(["src/auth.py"])

# Bundle includes applicable steering content
print(bundle.tldr)

Best Practices¶

Organizing Steering Files¶

.kiro/steering/
├── always/
│   ├── security.md      # Always included
│   └── architecture.md  # Always included
├── python.md            # fileMatch: *.py
├── typescript.md        # fileMatch: *.ts
└── testing.md           # fileMatch: tests/**/*

Steering File Tips¶

Use inclusion: always sparingly - only for critical guidelines
Use specific fileMatchPattern values to avoid noise
Keep steering files focused and concise
Update steering when project conventions change

MCP Configuration Tips¶

Disable unused servers to reduce noise
Use autoApprove for trusted, frequently-used tools
Document custom environment variables