Amazon Bedrock AgentCore adds new features to help developers build agents faster

Today, Amazon Bedrock AgentCore introduces new features to help developers go from an idea to working agent prototype faster and manage the full agent lifecycle from a single platform: a managed harness (in preview), the AgentCore CLI, and AgentCore skills for coding assistants.

The managed harness (preview) lets developers define an agent by specifying a model, system prompt, and tools, then run it immediately with no orchestration code required. The harness manages the full agent loop: reasoning, tool selection, action execution, and response streaming. Each session gets its own microVM with filesystem and shell access. The harness is model agnostic with the ability to switch models mid-session. Any configuration set at create time can be overridden per invocation, so developers experiment without redeploying. When developers need full control, they can export the harness orchestration in Strands-based code. Filesystem persistence (preview) externalizes the local session state, allowing agents to suspend mid-task and resume exactly where they left off. As a prototype evolves, developers can easily add evaluations to measure quality, memory for personalization, or additional tools and skills. When it’s time to promote a validated concept, the AgentCore CLI deploys with the governance and audibility of infrastructure-as-code. AWS CDK is supported today as a resource manager, with Terraform coming soon. The AgentCore CLI has been optimized for coding assistant control, with pre-built skills that provide accurate, up-to-date AgentCore guidance. AgentCore skills are available today through Kiro Power, with support for Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor coming next week.

The managed harness (preview) in AgentCore is available in four AWS Regions: US West (Oregon), US East (N. Virginia), Europe (Frankfurt), and Asia Pacific (Sydney). The AgentCore CLI is available in 14 AWS Regions where AgentCore is available. There is no additional charge for the harness, CLI, or skills. Learn more through the blog, and visit the documentation to get started.