pstack for Kiro

Kiro adaptation of cursor/plugins/pstack by poteto (Lauren Tan). All credit for the original design, writing, skills, and engineering philosophy belongs to poteto.

pstack is a Kiro Power for rigorous engineering work: understand the system first, make the smallest justified change, and prove the result against the real artifact. In poteto's words, if you want to go fast, go deep first. The goal is less code, higher quality, and parallel work that remains reviewable.

Compatibility

Surface	Support
Kiro IDE 1.0	Install this repository as a custom Power.
Kiro CLI 3.0	Automatically detects Powers installed by the IDE; use `kiro-cli --v3` and `/powers` to inspect them.
Custom agents	Manual install only; Agent Plugins 1.0 does not install custom-agent profiles.
Cloud sessions	Supported by Kiro as a Preview feature, subject to plan, repository-provider, version, and service limits.

The root plugin.json follows the Agent Plugins 1.0 schema. The Power makes the bundled skills/ available; it does not copy the profiles under agents/ into Kiro.

Install in Kiro IDE 1.0

Open the Powers panel.
Choose Add Custom Power.
Add this GitHub repository or select this repository as a local directory.
Confirm that pstack is installed and active.

Kiro CLI 3.0 sees the IDE-installed Power automatically:

kiro-cli --v3
/powers

Install the custom agents manually

Choose project scope or global scope. Start from a local clone of this repository and copy each JSON profile with its adjacent prompt file.

Project scope:

PSTACK_DIR="$PWD"
TARGET_PROJECT="/path/to/your/project"
mkdir -p "$TARGET_PROJECT/.kiro/agents"
cp "$PSTACK_DIR/agents/poteto-agent.json" "$PSTACK_DIR/agents/poteto-agent.prompt.md" "$TARGET_PROJECT/.kiro/agents/"
cp "$PSTACK_DIR/agents/comment-sicko.json" "$PSTACK_DIR/agents/comment-sicko.prompt.md" "$TARGET_PROJECT/.kiro/agents/"

Global scope:

PSTACK_DIR="$PWD"
mkdir -p ~/.kiro/agents
cp "$PSTACK_DIR/agents/poteto-agent.json" "$PSTACK_DIR/agents/poteto-agent.prompt.md" ~/.kiro/agents/
cp "$PSTACK_DIR/agents/comment-sicko.json" "$PSTACK_DIR/agents/comment-sicko.prompt.md" ~/.kiro/agents/

Project profiles override same-named global profiles. Both profiles use relative file://./... prompt URIs, so separating a JSON file from its prompt breaks loading.

poteto-agent includes installed Powers and can use Kiro's read, write, shell, subagent, and todo_list tool categories.
comment-sicko exposes only the read category. It reports proposed deletions and never edits files.

Installing the Power does not install either agent. Select the copied profile when creating an agent or make it available to a parent agent through Kiro's native subagent configuration.

Validate this package

Run the dependency-free validator and its mutation self-check with Node.js 18 or newer:

node scripts/validate-package.mjs
node scripts/test-validator.mjs

The validator checks the manifest and agent JSON, prompt resolution, Agent Skills frontmatter, relative links across active package documentation, and legacy platform references. The self-check proves one valid fixture passes and representative invalid manifest, agent, skill, link, and CLI-command mutations fail. Neither script modifies the checkout.

Use pstack

For a non-trivial task, state the outcome and how to verify it:

/poteto-mode the export writes duplicate rows after a retry. reproduce it first, fix the root cause, and show the real output.

poteto-mode selects a playbook and uses the other skills as needed. Invoke it again when you want the workflow applied; a skill invocation is not a permanent mode switch.

Useful direct entries:

Skill	Use it for
`/how`	Trace how a subsystem works.
`/why`	Investigate history through source control and configured integrations.
`/architect`	Settle callers, types, and boundaries before implementation.
`/arena`	Compare independent attempts to one brief.
`/swarm`	Split independent slices and aggregate results.
`/interrogate`	Review a diff skeptically.
`/tdd`	Write the smallest useful failing check before a fix.
`/show-me-your-work`	Keep an auditable decision log.
`/create-verification-skill`	Create project-local verification instructions under `.kiro/skills/`.

The guide covers setup, Kiro-native subagents, verification, cloud sessions, CLI /goal, exported transcripts, and external prerequisites.

Engineering philosophy

pstack preserves poteto's original principles:

Throughput without quality is not the goal.
Understand behavior and history before editing.
Prefer deletion and the smallest correct change.
Design from callers, data shapes, and ownership boundaries.
Reproduce defects and fix root causes.
Verify the real artifact, not a proxy or self-report.
Isolate parallel writers and make every unit reviewable.
Encode repeated lessons in types, tests, scripts, and structure.

The complete 21-principle index is the quickest reference. Fork it, improve it, and make it yours.

Compatibility limits and external prerequisites

pstack does not choose or guarantee a model. Kiro uses the model available in the current surface and configuration.
Skills can call only tools, MCP servers, issue trackers, source-control providers, browsers, and observability systems that you have separately configured and authorized.
GitHub, GitLab, Graphite, browser-driving, mobile simulators, and similar workflows require their own CLIs, credentials, repositories, and permissions.
Kiro native subagents run in isolated context but can share workspace access. Concurrent writers still need separate worktrees or directories.
Local IDE/CLI sessions do not keep running merely because a prompt asks them to. Use a Kiro cloud session for detached work, or Kiro Web Automations for scheduled repository work, after reviewing their Preview status, plan requirements, permissions, and limits.
/goal is a Kiro CLI command. It runs a bounded autonomous loop and leaves file changes in place if cleared; it is not an IDE slash command.
Chat history is not an implicit data source. Use current context, repository artifacts, configured integrations, or an explicit IDE/CLI transcript export. Kiro does not document importing an IDE chat export as a live conversation.
automations/benny/ is an external automation blueprint for Slack Events/queue/CI infrastructure invoking Kiro CLI headless sessions. It is not installed or activated by this Power and requires separately implemented infrastructure.

License

MIT