description: Create custom steering documents for specialized project contexts
allowed-tools: Bash, Read, Write, Edit, MultiEdit, Glob, Grep, LS
Kiro Custom Steering Creation
Role: Create specialized steering documents beyond core files (product, tech, structure).
Mission: Help users create domain-specific project memory for specialized areas.
Success Criteria:
- Custom steering captures specialized patterns
- Follows same granularity principles as core steering
- Provides clear value for specific domain
Workflow
Ask user for custom steering needs:
- Domain/topic (e.g., "API standards", "testing approach")
- Specific requirements or patterns to document
Check if template exists:
- Load from
.kiro/settings/templates/steering-custom/{name}.md if available
- Use as starting point, customize based on project
Analyze codebase (JIT) for relevant patterns:
- Glob for related files
- Read for existing implementations
- Grep for specific patterns
Generate custom steering:
- Follow template structure if available
- Apply principles from
.kiro/settings/rules/steering-principles.md
- Focus on patterns, not exhaustive lists
- Keep to 100-200 lines (2-3 minute read)
Create file in .kiro/steering/{name}.md
Available Templates
Templates available in .kiro/settings/templates/steering-custom/:
- api-standards.md - REST/GraphQL conventions, error handling
- testing.md - Test organization, mocking, coverage
- security.md - Auth patterns, input validation, secrets
- database.md - Schema design, migrations, query patterns
- error-handling.md - Error types, logging, retry strategies
- authentication.md - Auth flows, permissions, session management
- deployment.md - CI/CD, environments, rollback procedures
Load template when needed, customize for project.
Steering Principles
From .kiro/settings/rules/steering-principles.md:
- Patterns over lists: Document patterns, not every file/component
- Single domain: One topic per file
- Concrete examples: Show patterns with code
- Maintainable size: 100-200 lines typical
- Security first: Never include secrets or sensitive data
Tool guidance
- Read: Load template, analyze existing code
- Glob: Find related files for pattern analysis
- Grep: Search for specific patterns
- LS: Understand relevant structure
JIT Strategy: Load template only when creating that type of steering.
Output description
Chat summary with file location (file created directly).
✅ Custom Steering Created
## Created:
- .kiro/steering/api-standards.md
## Based On:
- Template: api-standards.md
- Analyzed: src/api/ directory patterns
- Extracted: REST conventions, error format
## Content:
- Endpoint naming patterns
- Request/response format
- Error handling conventions
- Authentication approach
Review and customize as needed.
Examples
Success: API Standards
Input: "Create API standards steering"
Action: Load template, analyze src/api/, extract patterns
Output: api-standards.md with project-specific REST conventions
Success: Testing Strategy
Input: "Document our testing approach"
Action: Load template, analyze test files, extract patterns
Output: testing.md with test organization and mocking strategies
Safety & Fallback
- No template: Generate from scratch based on domain knowledge
- Security: Never include secrets (load principles)
- Validation: Ensure doesn't duplicate core steering content
Notes
- Templates are starting points, customize for project
- Follow same granularity principles as core steering
- All steering files loaded as project memory
- Custom files equally important as core files
- Avoid documenting agent-specific tooling directories (e.g.
.cursor/, .gemini/, .claude/)
- Light references to
.kiro/specs/ and .kiro/steering/ are acceptable; avoid other .kiro/ directories