Workspace Settings

Kiro is built on VS Code’s open-source foundation, so it uses the same .vscode/settings.json for editor behavior, formatters, terminal environment, and linting. Meanwhile, .kiro/ handles AI-specific configuration (steering, MCP servers, specs).

Directory	Purpose
.vscode/settings.json	Editor, formatter, linter, terminal, and extension settings
.vscode/extensions.json	Recommended extensions for the project
.kiro/steering/	AI behavior and project context for the agent
.kiro/settings/mcp.json	MCP server configuration (workspace-level)

Both directories are per-project and can be committed to version control for team consistency.

Create .vscode/settings.json

mkdir -p .vscode
cat > .vscode/settings.json << 'EOF'
{
  "terminal.integrated.env.linux": {
    "AWS_PROFILE": "your-sso-profile-name"
  },
  "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.linux": "bash",
  "terminal.integrated.copyOnSelection": true,
  "files.trimTrailingWhitespace": true,
  "files.trimFinalNewlines": true,
  "files.insertFinalNewline": true,
  "files.eol": "\n",
  "files.exclude": {
    "**/.terraform": true,
    "**/.terragrunt-cache": true,
    "**/__pycache__": true,
    "**/node_modules": true,
    "**/*.tfstate": true,
    "**/*.tfstate.*": true
  },
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.insertSpaces": true,
  "editor.tabSize": 2,
  "editor.trimAutoWhitespace": true,
  "[terraform]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "hashicorp.terraform",
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "editor.tabSize": 2
  },
  "[terraform-vars]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "hashicorp.terraform",
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "editor.tabSize": 2
  },
  "[json]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
    "editor.formatOnSave": true
  },
  "[yaml]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
    "editor.insertSpaces": true,
    "editor.tabSize": 2
  },
  "[markdown]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "DavidAnson.vscode-markdownlint",
    "editor.formatOnSave": true
  },
  "git.autofetch": true,
  "git.enableSmartCommit": true
}
EOF

Replace your-sso-profile-name with the profile name from ~/.aws/config (e.g., my-org-dev). This is the profile you configured with aws configure sso in the AWS Setup section.

What Each Section Does

Setting	Purpose
terminal.integrated.env.linux	Injects environment variables into every new terminal in this workspace
files.exclude	Hides noisy directories from the file explorer (Terraform state, caches, node_modules)
editor.formatOnSave	Automatically formats files when you save — formatters configured per language below
[terraform] / [terraform-vars]	Uses the HashiCorp Terraform extension as the formatter (2-space indent)
[json] / [yaml]	Uses Prettier as the formatter
[markdown]	Uses markdownlint for auto-fixing on save
git.autofetch / enableSmartCommit	Fetches remote changes in background and allows staging-less commits

What terminal.integrated.env.linux Does

Setting AWS_PROFILE in workspace settings means every new terminal opened in this Kiro workspace automatically uses that AWS profile. You no longer need to run export AWS_PROFILE=... manually each session.

Verify the Workspace Setting Works

1. Open a new terminal in Kiro: Ctrl+` → click + (or `Ctrl+Shift+“)
2. Check the active profile:

echo $AWS_PROFILE

Expected: Your profile name (e.g., my-org-dev)

3. Confirm AWS access:

aws sts get-caller-identity

Expected: JSON output with your Account, UserId, and Arn. If you see a credentials error, run aws sso login first (the profile is set, but the SSO session may have expired).

Workspace Setting vs export AWS_PROFILE — Which Wins?

There are two ways to set AWS_PROFILE in your terminal:

Method	Where it’s set	Scope
.vscode/settings.json → terminal.integrated.env.linux	Per-project workspace setting	Every new terminal in that Kiro workspace
export AWS_PROFILE=... in ~/.bashrc	Shell profile (global)	Every bash session, including non-Kiro terminals

Precedence rules:

1. Workspace setting wins over ~/.bashrc — When Kiro opens a terminal, it injects terminal.integrated.env.linux variables after your shell profile runs. So if ~/.bashrc exports AWS_PROFILE=team-shared but .vscode/settings.json sets AWS_PROFILE=my-project-dev, the terminal will use my-project-dev.

2. Manual export in the same session wins last — If you run export AWS_PROFILE=something-else in an already-open terminal, that overrides both. But only for that session — new terminals revert to the workspace setting.

3. No workspace setting? Falls back to ~/.bashrc → falls back to no profile (you must pass --profile explicitly).

Recommended approach:

• Use .vscode/settings.json for project-specific profiles (one profile per project)
• Remove export AWS_PROFILE from ~/.bashrc to avoid confusion
• If you work on a single project only, either method works fine

Example — two projects, two accounts:

~/workspace/project-alpha/.vscode/settings.json  → AWS_PROFILE=alpha-dev
~/workspace/project-beta/.vscode/settings.json   → AWS_PROFILE=beta-staging

Open project-alpha in Kiro → terminals use alpha-dev. Switch to project-beta → terminals use beta-staging. No manual exporting needed.