Amazon Q Developer Cli

by aws

MCP Client 719 stars
  • coding-agent

✨ Agentic chat experience in your terminal. Build applications using natural language.

About

What is Amazon Q Developer Cli?

Amazon Q Developer CLI brings IDE-style autocomplete and agentic capabilities to your terminal. It runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows (via WSL), and supports remote machines over SSH for developers.

How to use Amazon Q Developer Cli?

Install via DMG (macOS), Homebrew (brew install amazon-q), or platform-specific packages for Linux. After installation, use q chat for natural language interaction, enjoy automatic autocomplete for hundreds of CLIs, and invoke agentic execution with your permission.

Key features of Amazon Q Developer Cli

- IDE-style autocomplete for popular CLIs like git, npm, docker, and aws
- Natural language chat to ask questions and debug issues
- Contextual awareness from your local development environment
- Agentic execution to generate code, edit files, and automate Git workflows
- Seamless integration with VSCode and JetBrains IDEs
- Supports remote machines via SSH for autocomplete

Use cases of Amazon Q Developer Cli

- Quickly generate code or edit files without leaving the terminal
- Resolve merge conflicts through natural language commands
- Automate repetitive Git workflows with step-by-step permissions
- Explore and navigate large codebases by asking context-aware questions
- Debug errors and get explanations tailored to your project

FAQ from Amazon Q Developer Cli

What platforms does Amazon Q Developer Cli support?

It supports macOS (DMG, Homebrew), Linux (Ubuntu/Debian, AppImage, other builds), and Windows via WSL. Autocomplete also works over SSH on remote machines.

How do I install Amazon Q Developer Cli?

On macOS, download the DMG or run brew install amazon-q. Linux users can follow platform-specific guides linked in the documentation. Windows users should use WSL.

Does Amazon Q Developer Cli work with my terminal and IDE?

It works with any terminal and has official extensions for VSCode and JetBrains IDEs to provide full functionality.

Is Amazon Q Developer Cli free to use?

This repository is dual licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0. AWS trademarks apply. The README does not specify pricing; see the AWS documentation for details.

What are the known limitations of Amazon Q Developer Cli?

The README does not list explicit limitations. It is an open-source project under active development; check the GitHub issues page for known issues.

(Note: The README does not mention MCP servers or the Model Context Protocol. All statements are derived solely from the provided README content.)

Details

Author
aws
GitHub stars
719
Category
coding-agent
Repository
aws/amazon-q-developer-cli

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<a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/qdeveloper-ug/command-line-installing.html">
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Amazon Q
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Amazon Q CLI brings IDE-style autocomplete and agentic capabilities to your terminal.
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<a href="https://github.com/aws/amazon-q-developer-cli/graphs/commit-activity">GitHub commit activity</a>
<a href="https://github.com/aws/amazon-q-developer-cli/issues">GitHub open issues</a>
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Rust Test
Typos Test
Typescript Test
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😍 Features

- 🔮 Auto Completion: IDE-style completions to hundreds of popular CLIs like git, npm, docker, and aws. - 💬 Natural Language Chat: Interact with your terminal using natural language to ask questions, debug issues, or explore the codebase. - 🧠 Contextual Awareness: Integrates context from your local development environment, so answers are tailored to your specific code and setup. - 🤖 Agentic Execution: Let Amazon Q take action: generate code, edit files, automate Git workflows, resolve merge conflicts, and more — with your permission.

⚡️ Installation

- macOS:
- DMG: Download now
- Homebrew: brew install amazon-q
- Linux:
- Ubuntu/Debian
- AppImage
- Alternative Linux builds
- Windows:
- Follow the discussions for
Windows
- Or use it on Windows with WSL
- Remote machines
- Autocomplete in SSH

🚀 Start Contributing

Prerequisites

- MacOS
- Xcode 13 or later
- Brew

1. Clone repo

git clone https://github.com/aws/amazon-q-for-command-line.git

2. Setup

Hassle-free setup:
npm run setup

Or if you'd like to DIY:

<details>
<summary>Manual Setup</summary>
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1. Install platform dependencies

For Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config jq dpkg curl wget cmake clang libssl-dev libgtk-3-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev libdbus-1-dev libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-dev valac libibus-1.0-dev libglib2.0-dev sqlite3 libxdo-dev protobuf-compiler

2. Install Rust toolchain using Rustup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
rustup default stable

For pre-commit hooks, the following commands are required:

rustup toolchain install nightly
cargo install typos-cli

For MacOS development make sure the right targets are installed:

rustup target add x86_64-apple-darwin
rustup target add aarch64-apple-darwin

3. Setup Python and Node using mise

Add mise integrations to your shell:

For zsh:

echo 'eval "$(mise activate zsh)"' >> "${ZDOTDIR-$HOME}/.zshrc"

For bash:

echo 'eval "$(mise activate bash)"' >> ~/.bashrc

For fish:

echo 'mise activate fish | source' >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish

Install the Python and Node toolchains using:

mise trust
mise install

4. Setup precommit hooks

Run pnpm in root directory to add pre-commit hooks:

pnpm install --ignore-scripts

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3. Start Local Development

To compile and view changes made to q chat:
cargo run --bin chat_cli

> If you are working on other q commands, just append -- <command name>. For example, to run q login, you can run cargo run --bin chat_cli -- login

To run tests for the Q CLI crate:

cargo test -p chat_cli

To format Rust files:

cargo +nightly fmt

To run clippy:

cargo clippy --locked --workspace --color always -- -D warnings

💡 Quick Tip for Onboarding

Use Q CLI to help you onboard Q CLI!

Start a q chat session:

q chat

Once inside q chat, you can supply project context by adding the codebase-summary.md file:

/context add codebase-summary.md

This enables Q to answer onboarding questions like:

- “What does this crate do?”

- “Where is X implemented?”

- “How do these components interact?”

Great for speeding up your ramp-up and navigating the repo more effectively.

🏗️ Project Layout

Several projects live here:

- autocomplete - The autocomplete react app
- dashboard - The dashboard react app
- figterm - figterm, our headless terminal/pseudoterminal that
intercepts the user’s terminal edit buffer.
- q_cli - the q CLI, allows users to interface with Amazon Q Developer from
the command line
- fig_desktop - the Rust desktop app, uses
tao/wry
for windowing/webviews
- fig_input_method - The input method used to get cursor
position on macOS
- vscode - Contains the VSCode plugin needed
for the Amazon Q Developer for command line to work in VSCode
- jetbrains - Contains the VSCode plugin
needed for the Amazon Q Developer for command line to work in Jetbrains IDEs

Other folder to be aware of

- build-scripts/ - Contains all python scripts to build,
sign, and test the project on macOS and Linux
- crates/ - Contains all internal rust crates
- packages/ - Contains all internal npm packages
- proto/ -
protocol buffer message
specification for inter-process communication
- tests/ - Contain integration tests for the projects

Below is a high level architecture of how the different components of the app and
their IPC:

architecture

🛡️ Security

See CONTRIBUTING for more information.

📜 Licensing

This repo is dual licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0 licenses.

“Amazon Web Services” and all related marks, including logos, graphic designs, and service names, are trademarks or trade dress of AWS in the U.S. and other countries. AWS’s trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not AWS’s, in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits AWS.