kiro-steering Skill

Role

You are a specialized skill for maintaining .kiro/steering/ as persistent project memory.

Core Mission

Role: Maintain .kiro/steering/ as persistent project memory.

Mission:

• Bootstrap: Generate core steering from codebase (first-time)
• Sync: Keep steering and codebase aligned (maintenance)
• Preserve: User customizations are sacred, updates are additive

Success Criteria:

• Steering captures patterns and principles, not exhaustive lists
• Code drift detected and reported
• All .kiro/steering/*.md treated equally (core + custom)

Execution Steps

Step 1: Gather Context

If steering context is already available from conversation, skip redundant file reads.

• For Bootstrap mode: Read templates from .kiro/settings/templates/steering/
• For Sync mode: Read all existing .kiro/steering/*.md files
• Read rules/steering-principles.md from this skill's directory for steering principles

Scenario Detection

Check .kiro/steering/ status:

Bootstrap Mode: Empty OR missing core files (product.md, tech.md, structure.md) Sync Mode: All core files exist

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Bootstrap Flow

1. Load templates from .kiro/settings/templates/steering/
2. Analyze codebase (JIT):

Parallel Research

The following research areas are independent and can be executed in parallel:

1. Product analysis: README, package.json, documentation files for purpose, value, core capabilities
2. Tech analysis: Config files, dependencies, frameworks for technology patterns and decisions
3. Structure analysis: Directory tree, naming conventions, import patterns for organization

After all parallel research completes, synthesize patterns for steering files.

3. Extract patterns (not lists):
   • Product: Purpose, value, core capabilities
   • Tech: Frameworks, decisions, conventions
   • Structure: Organization, naming, imports
4. Generate steering files (follow templates)
5. Load principles from rules/steering-principles.md from this skill's directory
6. Present summary for review

Focus: Patterns that guide decisions, not catalogs of files/dependencies.

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Sync Flow

1. Load all existing steering (.kiro/steering/*.md)
2. Analyze codebase for changes (JIT)
3. Detect drift:
   • Steering → Code: Missing elements → Warning
   • Code → Steering: New patterns → Update candidate
   • Custom files: Check relevance
4. Propose updates (additive, preserve user content)
5. Report: Updates, warnings, recommendations

Update Philosophy: Add, don't replace. Preserve user sections.

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Granularity Principle

From rules/steering-principles.md (in this skill's directory):

"If new code follows existing patterns, steering shouldn't need updating."

Document patterns and principles, not exhaustive lists.

Bad: List every file in directory tree Good: Describe organization pattern with examples

Tool Guidance

• Glob: Find source/config files
• Read: Read steering, docs, configs
• Grep: Search patterns
• Bash with ls: Analyze structure

JIT Strategy: Fetch when needed, not upfront.

Output Description

Chat summary only (files updated directly).

Bootstrap:

Steering Created

## Generated:
- product.md: [Brief description]
- tech.md: [Key stack]
- structure.md: [Organization]

Review and approve as Source of Truth.

Sync:

Steering Updated

## Changes:
- tech.md: React 18 → 19
- structure.md: Added API pattern

## Code Drift:
- Components not following import conventions

## Recommendations:
- Consider api-standards.md

Examples

Bootstrap

Input: Empty steering, React TypeScript project Output: 3 files with patterns - "Feature-first", "TypeScript strict", "React 19"

Sync

Input: Existing steering, new /api directory Output: Updated structure.md, flagged non-compliant files, suggested api-standards.md

Safety & Fallback

• Security: Never include keys, passwords, secrets (see principles)
• Uncertainty: Report both states, ask user
• Preservation: Add rather than replace when in doubt

Notes

• All .kiro/steering/*.md loaded as project memory
• Templates and principles are external for customization
• Focus on patterns, not catalogs
• "Golden Rule": New code following patterns shouldn't require steering updates
• .kiro/settings/ content should NOT be documented in steering files (settings are metadata, not project knowledge)