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Well-Architected Skills and Steering for AI Coding Agents

AWS has released an open-source project that embeds Well-Architected Framework best practices directly into AI coding agents across 12 development tools including Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot. The project provides reusable skills and steering files that run locally without AWS credentials, enabling continuous architecture guidance during code writing rather than separate review gates. The initiative aims to reduce rework by catching misalignments early, as developers increasingly rely on AI assistants instead of consulting documentation.

read6 min publishedMay 26, 2026

Reusable skills and steering that teach AI coding agents how to apply the AWS Well-Architected Framework. One set of playbooks, 12 supported tools.

Kiro · Claude Code · Cursor · Codex · Windsurf · GitHub Copilot · Gemini CLI · Antigravity · Junie · Amp · Cline · AWS DevOps Agent

Important

This sample is provided for educational and demonstrative purposes. It is not intended for production use without additional review and testing appropriate to your environment.

Developers don't stop to consult documentation — they ask their AI assistant. If the assistant doesn't know the Well-Architected Framework, the guidance never reaches the code.

This project embeds WA best practices where development actually happens: in the IDE, at the moment code is being written. Instead of treating architecture reviews as a separate gate, teams get continuous, contextual guidance that:

  • ✅ Reduces rework by catching misalignments early
  • ✅ Works across 12 AI coding tools with a single source of truth
  • ✅ Requires no AWS credentials, no API calls — everything runs locally
  • ✅ Follows the open Agent Skills specification
steering/                           Always-on context (Kiro)
  well-architected.md                 Pillars, design principles, review process

skills/                             Step-by-step playbooks (tool-agnostic)
  wa-review/                          Full review across all 6 pillars
  security-assessment/                IAM, detection, data protection, incident response
  reliability-improvement-plan/       SPOFs, recovery, scaling, change management
  cost-optimization-audit/            Waste, right-sizing, pricing models
  performance-efficiency/             Resource selection, scaling, caching
  sustainability-optimization/        Utilization, managed services, data lifecycle
  operational-excellence/             CI/CD, observability, incidents, automation
  migration-readiness/                7 Rs assessment with migration plan
  architecture-decision-record/       WA-aligned ADRs with pillar impact

assets/                             Shared reference material
  v13/                                307 WA Framework best practices (by ID)
  well-architected-best-practices.md  Per-pillar investigation checklists
  cloudwatch-metrics-reference.md     Metric thresholds + composite alarm patterns
  incident-investigation-patterns.md  Triage, RCA, mitigation playbooks
  skill-authoring-guide.md            DevOps Agent skill authoring guide

adapters/                           Tool-specific configuration
  claude-code/                        CLAUDE.md + slash commands
  cursor/                             .cursor/rules/*.md
  codex/                              AGENTS.md
  windsurf/                           .windsurfrules
  github-copilot/                     .github/copilot-instructions.md
  cline/                              .clinerules
  gemini-cli/                         GEMINI.md
  antigravity/                        .agents/rules/*.md
  junie/                              .junie/guidelines + .junie/skills
  amp/                                .agents/skills/*.md
  devops-agent/                       Packaging for AWS DevOps Agent

install.sh                          One-command setup (macOS/Linux)
install.ps1                         One-command setup (Windows PowerShell)
./install.sh ~/my-project --tool claude-code
./install.sh ~/my-project --tool cursor
./install.sh ~/my-project --tool kiro

./install.sh ~/my-project --tool kiro --tool claude-code --tool cursor

./install.sh ~/my-project --tool all

./install.sh ~/my-project --tool claude-code --symlink

./install.sh --global --tool claude-code

Run ./install.sh --help

for full usage.

Windows (PowerShell):

.\install.ps1 -TargetDir C:\Projects\my-app -Tool claude-code
.\install.ps1 -Tool all -Force

Tip

Use --symlink

(bash) or -Symlink

(PowerShell) to create symbolic links instead of copies. When this repo updates, your project gets the changes automatically without reinstalling. On Windows, symlinks require elevated permissions.

Note

Global installs place files in your home directory (~/CLAUDE.md

, ~/.kiro/

, ~/.cursor/

, etc.) and apply to all projects without their own config. Use project-level installation (the default) if you only want WA guidance for specific projects.

Existing files — the installer prompts before overwriting. Use --force

to skip confirmation.

🔹 Kiro

mkdir -p .kiro/steering .kiro/skills
cp path/to/this-repo/steering/well-architected.md .kiro/steering/
cp -r path/to/this-repo/skills/* .kiro/skills/

🔹 Claude Code

cp path/to/this-repo/adapters/claude-code/CLAUDE.md ./CLAUDE.md
cp -r path/to/this-repo/adapters/claude-code/commands .claude/commands

🔹 Cursor

cp -r path/to/this-repo/adapters/cursor/rules .cursor/rules

🔹 Codex (OpenAI)

cp path/to/this-repo/adapters/codex/AGENTS.md ./AGENTS.md
cp -r path/to/this-repo/skills ./skills

🔹 Windsurf

cp path/to/this-repo/adapters/windsurf/.windsurfrules ./.windsurfrules

🔹 GitHub Copilot

mkdir -p .github
cp path/to/this-repo/adapters/github-copilot/.github/copilot-instructions.md .github/

🔹 Gemini CLI

cp path/to/this-repo/adapters/gemini-cli/GEMINI.md ./GEMINI.md
cp -r path/to/this-repo/skills ./skills

🔹 Antigravity

mkdir -p .agents/rules .agents/skills
cp -r path/to/this-repo/adapters/antigravity/rules/* .agents/rules/
for skill_dir in path/to/this-repo/skills/*/; do
  skill_name=$(basename "$skill_dir")
  mkdir -p ".agents/skills/$skill_name"
  cp "$skill_dir/SKILL.md" ".agents/skills/$skill_name/SKILL.md"
done

🔹 Junie (JetBrains)

mkdir -p .junie/guidelines .junie/skills
cp path/to/this-repo/adapters/junie/guidelines.md .junie/guidelines/well-architected.md
cp -r path/to/this-repo/skills/* .junie/skills/

🔹 Amp

cp path/to/this-repo/adapters/amp/AGENTS.md ./AGENTS.md
mkdir -p .agents/skills
cp -r path/to/this-repo/skills/* .agents/skills/

🔹 Cline

cp path/to/this-repo/adapters/cline/.clinerules ./.clinerules

🔹 AWS DevOps Agent

./install.sh ~/output-dir --tool devops-agent
php
graph LR
    S[skills/] --> A[adapters/]
    ST[steering/] --> A
    A --> K[Kiro]
    A --> CC[Claude Code]
    A --> CU[Cursor]
    A --> CO[Codex]
    A --> W[Windsurf]
    A --> GH[GitHub Copilot]
    A --> G[Gemini CLI]
    A --> AG[Antigravity]
    A --> J[Junie]
    A --> AM[Amp]
    A --> CL[Cline]
    A --> DA[DevOps Agent]
Component What it does
Skills (skills/*/SKILL.md )
Self-contained, tool-agnostic playbooks. Any AI agent can follow them step-by-step. They don't depend on steering or on each other.
Steering (steering/*.md )
Always-on context loaded into every Kiro conversation. Other tools use equivalent mechanisms via adapters.
Adapters (adapters/ )
Translate steering into each tool's native config format and wire up skills as commands or rules.
Assets (assets/ )
Shared reference material (v13 best practices, metrics, patterns) bundled with skills for tools that support it.
Tool Steering mechanism Skills mechanism
Kiro .kiro/steering/*.md
.kiro/skills/*/SKILL.md
Claude Code CLAUDE.md
.claude/commands/*.md (slash commands)
Cursor .cursor/rules/*.md
Rules with conditional activation
Codex AGENTS.md
References skills/ directory
Windsurf .windsurfrules
References skills/ directory
GitHub Copilot .github/copilot-instructions.md
Inline (no separate skill mechanism)
Cline .clinerules
References skills/ directory
Gemini CLI GEMINI.md
References skills/ directory
Antigravity .agents/rules/*.md
.agents/skills/*/SKILL.md
Junie .junie/guidelines/*.md
.junie/skills/*/SKILL.md
Amp AGENTS.md
.agents/skills/*/SKILL.md
AWS DevOps Agent N/A (skills are self-contained) SKILL.md zip upload to Agent Space
Skill Pillar(s) Use when you need to...
wa-review
All 6 Run a full Well-Architected review
security-assessment
🔒 Security Assess IAM, detection, data protection, incident response
reliability-improvement-plan
🔄 Reliability Find and eliminate single points of failure
cost-optimization-audit
💰 Cost Optimization Identify waste and right-sizing opportunities
performance-efficiency
⚡ Performance Efficiency Evaluate resource selection, scaling, and caching
sustainability-optimization
🌱 Sustainability Reduce carbon footprint and resource waste
operational-excellence
🛠️ Operational Excellence Assess CI/CD, observability, incident management
migration-readiness
All 6 Assess readiness to migrate a workload to AWS
architecture-decision-record
All 6 Document a design decision with WA pillar impact

Ask your AI coding agent:

What Well-Architected pillars should I consider for this architecture?

If configured correctly, it will reference all six pillars with specific guidance rather than giving a generic answer.

Tip

Claude Code users: try /wa-review

to invoke the full review skill as a slash command.

Kiro users: the steering loads automatically — just start discussing architecture and the agent applies WA principles.

We welcome contributions from the community and internal teams alike! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on adding skills, modifying steering files, or adding new tool adapters.

Note

This is a community-driven project. Anyone can collaborate and improve the skills and steering docs through Pull Requests. Adapt them to your domain, add new patterns, and share back.

See CONTRIBUTING for more information.

This project is licensed under the MIT-0 License.

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