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John Ajera
John Ajera

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Install Kiro Crew on Windows

#aws #kiro #crew #windows

Install Kiro Crew on Windows

Part 1 of Kiro Crew on Windows. Kiro Crew is a local agent Gateway + dashboard. It talks to the LLM through Kiro CLI (ACP). This is not the Kiro IDE.

Next: connect the dashboard from your phone with Tailscale (Part 2 of this series).

Kiro Crew Gateway talks to kiro-cli over ACP; Crew data lives under the user profile

1. Overview

  • Install KiroCrew-Setup.exe (Gateway bundled; no Python needed).
  • First launch: install Kiro CLI, then kiro-cli login (Builder ID in this guide).
  • State: %USERPROFILE%\.kiro\crew\ (survives uninstall).

2. Prerequisites

  • Windows 10/11 x64
  • Browser for Kiro sign-in
  • Network (installer + ~610 MB embedding model on first start)

3. Download

Direct stable installer (~260 MB, always latest):

https://download.crew.kiro.dev/desktop/stable/latest/KiroCrew-Setup.exe

Prefer the browser (Save link / open the URL)—usually faster than PowerShell.

CLI: use Windows curl.exe, not Invoke-WebRequest (IWR is slow on large files):

curl.exe -L "https://download.crew.kiro.dev/desktop/stable/latest/KiroCrew-Setup.exe" -o "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\KiroCrew-Setup.exe"
Start-Process "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\KiroCrew-Setup.exe"
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4. Install

  1. Run KiroCrew-Setup.exe.
  2. SmartScreen: More info → Run anyway only for this official signed build.
  3. Welcome → Next.

KiroCrew Setup welcome screen

  1. Choose Only for me (default, no UAC) or Anyone who uses this computer → Install.

KiroCrew Setup choose installation options

  1. Wait for install to finish.

KiroCrew Setup installing progress

  1. Leave Run KiroCrew checked → Finish.

KiroCrew Setup completing with Run KiroCrew checked

Uninstall: Settings → Apps → Kiro Crew. Does not delete %USERPROFILE%\.kiro\crew.

5. First launch

App starts the Gateway, then opens setup.

Kiro Crew waiting for gateway

Kiro Crew Set up Kiro: install CLI then sign in

  1. Leave Crew open. Install Kiro CLI in PowerShell. Source of the one-liner: kiro.dev/cli (Crew’s Open Kiro CLI setup only opens that page).

Kiro CLI Windows install: Download CLI or irm install.ps1

irm 'https://cli.kiro.dev/install.ps1' | iex
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Kiro CLI installer via irm install.ps1 succeeding in PowerShell

  1. Crew shows Sign in to Kiro (CLI Complete). This guide uses Builder ID: 
kiro-cli login
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Kiro Crew Sign in to Kiro required; use kiro-cli login for Builder ID

kiro-cli login returns Logged in

  1. Back in Crew → Check again. Continue past Privacy, then Tell Kiro about you → Continue.

Kiro Crew Privacy screen

Kiro Crew Tell Kiro about you onboarding

  1. Dashboard opens (app UI or http://localhost:5476).

Kiro Crew dashboard Schedule view

6. Summary: Copy-Paste 

curl.exe -L "https://download.crew.kiro.dev/desktop/stable/latest/KiroCrew-Setup.exe" -o "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\KiroCrew-Setup.exe"
Start-Process "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\KiroCrew-Setup.exe"
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1. Setup → Only for me → Finish → Launch
1. irm 'https://cli.kiro.dev/install.ps1' | iex
1. kiro-cli login
1. Check again → Privacy → Tell Kiro about you → Continue
1. Chat (app or http://localhost:5476)
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7. Troubleshooting

Issue Fix
SmartScreen Official CDN link above; Run anyway only for that signed build
CLI missing / no acp Re-run `irm 'https://cli.kiro.dev/install.ps1' \
Sign-in stuck {% raw %}kiro-cli login in a new PowerShell window, then Check again
Uninstall left data Expected—delete %USERPROFILE%\.kiro\crew manually

8. References

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