AWS re:Invent 2025 - Reinventing software development with AI agents (INV205)

Reinventing Software Development with AI Agents

The Transformation of Software Development

• Developers are now able to write complete applications, not just individual lines of code, using sophisticated AI agents and natural language prompts.
• This has led to a significant acceleration in software development, with projects that used to take months now being completed in weeks or even days.
• AI agents are not just tools, but collaborative assistants that work alongside developers, helping them achieve a different kind of "flow state" and move much faster.

The Rise of Human-Agent Collaboration

• Developers are no longer just typing code, but orchestrating AI agents to handle routine tasks and focus on the most important, strategic, and innovative work.
• This shift in the "calculus" of software development is transforming team structures, development velocity, and technical debt management.
• Developers need to rethink their entire software development process and mindset to fully leverage the power of AI agents.

Speculative Development with Kira

• Kira is a platform that brings mature software engineering practices to AI-driven coding, introducing the concept of "speculative development".
• Kira allows developers to start with simple prompts or diagrams, which are then converted into clear requirements, structured designs, and working code, documentation, and tests.
• Kira's "agent hooks" automate routine tasks and enforce best practices, while its multimodal capabilities and access to frontier models like Opus 4.5 provide developers with flexibility and control.

Kira CLI: AI-Powered Terminal Workflows

• Kira CLI brings the power of Kira agents to the terminal, allowing developers who prefer a command-line interface to leverage the same capabilities.
• Kira CLI provides intelligent assistance for tasks like error analysis, bug fixing, and parallel execution of agentic tasks, all while maintaining context and adapting to developer feedback.
• The ability to create custom agents tailored to specific tasks or domains further enhances the productivity and efficiency of Kira CLI.

Frontier Agents: Autonomous, Scalable, and Collaborative

• AWS has introduced a new class of "frontier agents" that are autonomous, massively scalable, and able to work independently for extended periods without constant human intervention.
• The Kira Autonomous Agent is one such frontier agent, constantly building a comprehensive understanding of the codebase and learning from every interaction to become more capable over time.
• These frontier agents can handle a full range of development activities, from feature implementation to bug triage, in the background while developers focus on higher-level tasks.

Delta's Journey: Infusing AI into the Product Delivery Lifecycle

• Delta, a major airline, has taken a dual-path approach to incorporating AI-powered tools like Kira into their software development practices.
• On one path, they are infusing AI into their existing product development lifecycle, using tools like Kira to improve adoption, increase impact, and optimize delivery processes.
• On the second path, Delta is experimenting with entirely new ways of working, breaking down traditional team structures and bringing product owners and engineers together in collaborative workshops to drastically accelerate the development process.

The Future of Software Development

• The value of code as an artifact is evolving in a world where humans and agents collaborate to build software.
• Processes and tools will need to adapt to this new paradigm, with IDEs becoming more focused on context management and agent orchestration, and the software development lifecycle becoming more iterative and rapid-fire.
• Verifying intent, reducing the blast radius of changes, and building trust in AI-powered systems are key challenges that need to be addressed.
• Thriving in this rapidly changing environment requires continuous learning, community engagement, and a willingness to embrace the extraordinary possibilities of human-agent collaboration.

Opportunities and Support

• AWS is offering all re:Invent attendees $1,000 in Kira credits to get started.
• Startups can apply for up to one year's worth of Kira Pro or Kira Pro Plus tier credits (up to 100 seats) through the end of the year.
• The Kira community on Discord, with over 14,000 developers, provides a platform for learning, sharing ideas, and discovering best practices.