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title Chapter 7: Multi-Model Strategy and Providers
nav_order 7
parent Kiro Tutorial

Chapter 7: Multi-Model Strategy and Providers

Welcome to Chapter 7: Multi-Model Strategy and Providers. In this part of Kiro Tutorial: Spec-Driven Agentic IDE from AWS, you will build an intuitive mental model first, then move into concrete implementation details and practical production tradeoffs.

Kiro uses Claude Sonnet 4.0 and 3.7 by default and routes different task types to different model configurations. This chapter teaches you how to configure the model strategy for your team's workload profile.

Learning Goals

  • understand Kiro's default model routing between Claude Sonnet 4.0 and 3.7
  • configure model preferences for different task categories
  • understand the cost and latency tradeoffs between model tiers
  • set up budget controls and usage monitoring
  • plan model upgrades as new Claude versions become available

Fast Start Checklist

  1. open Kiro settings and navigate to the Model section
  2. confirm the default model is Claude Sonnet 4.0
  3. optionally override to Claude Sonnet 3.7 for faster or lower-cost interactive chat
  4. set a daily token budget for cost control
  5. review the model usage dashboard after a full session

Default Model Configuration

Kiro ships with two default model profiles:

Profile Model Best For
Primary Claude Sonnet 4.0 autonomous agent tasks, spec generation, complex code synthesis
Fast Claude Sonnet 3.7 interactive chat, quick edits, explanation and Q&A

Kiro automatically selects the appropriate model based on the interaction type. You can override this selection for specific use cases.

Model Configuration in Settings

{
  "models": {
    "primary": {
      "provider": "anthropic",
      "model": "claude-sonnet-4-0",
      "maxTokens": 8192,
      "temperature": 0.1
    },
    "fast": {
      "provider": "anthropic",
      "model": "claude-sonnet-3-7",
      "maxTokens": 4096,
      "temperature": 0.2
    },
    "routing": {
      "specGeneration": "primary",
      "taskExecution": "primary",
      "interactiveChat": "fast",
      "hookActions": "fast",
      "codeExplanation": "fast"
    }
  }
}

Claude Sonnet 4.0 vs. 3.7

Capability Claude Sonnet 4.0 Claude Sonnet 3.7
Code synthesis quality higher good
Multi-step reasoning stronger capable
Response latency moderate faster
Cost per token higher lower
Context window 200k tokens 200k tokens
Best use case spec generation, complex tasks chat, quick edits

Task-to-Model Routing

Map task types to model profiles based on your team's cost and quality priorities:

{
  "models": {
    "routing": {
      "specGeneration": "primary",       // requirements → design → tasks: quality matters most
      "taskExecution": "primary",        // autonomous agent: complex multi-step reasoning
      "codeReview": "primary",           // security and correctness review: quality matters
      "interactiveChat": "fast",         // quick Q&A and exploration: speed matters
      "hookActions": "fast",             // frequent event-driven actions: cost matters
      "codeExplanation": "fast",         // explaining existing code: speed and cost
      "documentationUpdate": "fast"      // doc updates: lower complexity
    }
  }
}

Budget Controls

Set daily and monthly token budgets to prevent unexpected cost spikes:

{
  "budget": {
    "daily": {
      "inputTokens": 500000,
      "outputTokens": 200000,
      "alertThreshold": 0.8,
      "action": "notify"
    },
    "monthly": {
      "inputTokens": 10000000,
      "outputTokens": 4000000,
      "alertThreshold": 0.9,
      "action": "restrict"
    }
  }
}

Budget actions:

  • notify: send an alert to the chat panel when the threshold is reached
  • restrict: switch all routing to the fast (lower-cost) model when the threshold is reached
  • pause: stop all agent activity and require manual reset when the limit is reached

Usage Monitoring

Track model usage in the Kiro dashboard:

# In the Chat panel:
> /usage

# Output:
Session token usage:
  Input: 47,832 tokens (Claude Sonnet 4.0: 31,200 | Claude Sonnet 3.7: 16,632)
  Output: 12,441 tokens (Claude Sonnet 4.0: 9,800 | Claude Sonnet 3.7: 2,641)
  Estimated cost: $0.43

Daily usage: 182,341 input / 48,902 output tokens (36% of daily budget)

Cost Optimization Patterns

Pattern Description Token Savings
Route chat to fast model use Sonnet 3.7 for all interactive chat 30-50% reduction on chat costs
Scope task context pass only relevant spec sections to agents 20-40% reduction per task
Compress steering files remove redundant rules from steering files 5-15% reduction on base context
Limit hook frequency use commit-level hooks instead of save-level 60-80% reduction on hook costs
Batch spec generation generate all spec documents in one call 10-20% reduction vs. sequential calls

Preparing for Model Upgrades

When AWS releases a new Claude version in Kiro, follow this upgrade protocol:

  1. review the release notes for the new model version
  2. test spec generation on a sample feature spec with the new model
  3. compare output quality against the previous model on the same spec
  4. if quality is equal or better, update the primary routing to the new model
  5. run the full test suite on an autonomous agent task using the new model
  6. monitor token usage for the first week on the new model
  7. update the model configuration in version control and notify the team

Source References

Summary

You now know how to configure Kiro's model routing, set budget controls, monitor usage, and plan for model upgrades.

Next: Chapter 8: Team Operations and Governance

Depth Expansion Playbook

Source Code Walkthrough

Note: Kiro is a proprietary AWS IDE; the kirodotdev/Kiro public repository contains documentation and GitHub automation scripts rather than the IDE's source code. The authoritative references for this chapter are the official Kiro documentation and configuration files within your project's .kiro/ directory.

Kiro Docs: Model Configuration

The model configuration documentation explains how to set the default model (Claude Sonnet 4.0), configure routing rules for different task profiles (chat vs. autonomous tasks), and manage budget controls in Kiro's settings.

.kiro/settings.json — model routing

Model routing configuration lives in .kiro/settings.json under the models key. The schema allows specifying different models for interactive chat and autonomous agent execution — the primary source for the multi-model strategy described in this chapter.

How These Components Connect

flowchart TD
    A[.kiro/settings.json models] --> B[Chat model: Claude Sonnet 4.0]
    A --> C[Agent model: Claude Sonnet 3.7]
    B --> D[Interactive conversation]
    C --> E[Autonomous task execution]
    D --> F[Token usage tracked]
    E --> F
    F --> G[Budget control gate]
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