What's new in Kiro CLI

November 2026: Kiro CLI makes the V3 harness the default and ships as a single kiro-cli binary

Kiro CLI's biggest change so far in November 2026 is that V3 is now the default agent harness for interactive sessions on hosts that can run it. Three releases have shipped so far, from v3.0.0 to v3.2.0, and the month is still in progress.

Existing V2 users are asked before the default applies, and custom agents still in the V2 format are upgraded unless you turn that off. Kiro CLI is now a single standalone kiro-cli binary, which retires the Classic interface, the desktop app, and inline autocomplete. v3.1.0 added PreCompact and PostCompact Hooks and showed session credits in /usage, the status line, and workflow step rows. v3.2.0 added a full-screen Mermaid viewer, sign-in to more MCP servers without OAuth configuration, and a way to run one more iteration on a workflow loop that used all its iterations. Both releases also fixed a range of rendering, workflow, sub-agent, and session issues.

• V3 is the default agent harness for interactive sessions; V2 users are asked first and V2-format custom agents are upgraded unless disabled (v3.0.0)
• Kiro CLI is now a single kiro-cli binary; Classic interface, desktop app, and inline autocomplete are retired (v3.0.0)
• PreCompact and PostCompact Hooks run around conversation compaction (v3.1.0)
• Credits used so far appear in /usage, the status line, and workflow step rows (v3.1.0)
• Full-screen viewer for Mermaid diagrams too wide for the terminal (v3.2.0)
• Sign-in to more MCP servers with no OAuth configuration; run one more iteration on an exhausted workflow loop (v3.2.0)

All 5 Kiro CLI releases in November 2026

October 2026: Kiro CLI adds V3 Memory, workspace trust and Approve for me

Kiro CLI's October 2026 changes centered on V3: Memory for local sessions, workspace trust, and an Approve for me permission mode. Ten releases shipped, from v2.27.0 to v2.37.0.

On safety and permissions, v2.33.0 asks you to trust a folder before loading its hooks, agents, MCP servers, steering, workflows or language server configuration, so a cloned repository cannot change agent behavior on its own. v2.36.0 adds Approve for me, which approves routine actions, blocks risky ones and asks when unsure, with existing deny, ask and allow rules deciding first. v2.35.0 warns when Kiro starts as root or Administrator.

On workflow, v2.27.0 added a Workflows: sub-agent tool setting, [[folder:...]] Steering references and saved prompts as slash commands. v2.29.0 introduced Memory, and v2.34.0 added deletion from /memories. v2.31.0 and v2.37.0 render Mermaid diagrams in chat, and v2.37.0 turns on automatic V2 agent upgrades by default. The rest were fixes for model fallback, MCP sign-in, fullscreen and Windows setup.

• Workspace trust: Kiro CLI asks you to trust a folder before loading its hooks, agents, MCP servers, steering, workflows or language server config (v2.33.0)
• Approve for me approves routine actions, blocks risky ones and asks when unsure; enable it under /permissions (v2.36.0)
• Memory for local V3 sessions carries context like repository commands and conventions into later chats (v2.29.0)
• Memories can be deleted from /memories, and V3 MCP tools can now ask for input (v2.34.0)
• Saved prompts from workspace, global and MCP sources become slash commands in V3 (v2.27.0)
• Mermaid diagrams render in chat, with node shapes and nested subgraphs added later (v2.31.0, v2.37.0)

All 10 Kiro CLI releases in October 2026