CDK Contribution Skill

CDK Contribution Skill is an Agent Skill that combines multiple specialized subagents, AWS tooling, and Agent SOPs to streamline the entire contribution process. It helps experienced developers move faster from issue analysis to PR submission while maintaining human oversight at critical decision points.

Developer Ecosystem Expansion

• Lower Contribution Barriers: Standardized LLM prompt templates maintained by the CDK team make it easier for new developers to contribute to AWS CDK
• Enhanced Development Efficiency: Kiro IDE integration accelerates PR authoring and self-review processes
• Knowledge Standardization: Codifies CDK team best practices into reusable, version-controlled prompt templates

Core Components

• Skill Definition (cdk-contribution-skill/SKILL.md) - Orchestrator instructions with phased workflow, approval gates, and deliverable requirements
• CDK Team Agent SOPs (cdk-contribution-skill/references/) - Standard operating procedures for each specialized phase of the contribution workflow
• Subagent Orchestration - Parallel execution of specialized agents (Issue Analyst, Solution Architect, Implementation Specialist, Test Engineer, QA, Documentation, Security Review, etc.)

What It Does

The skill implements an orchestrator pattern that:

• Runs subagents in parallel where possible
• Includes a human approval gate before implementation
• Produces all PR artifacts (code changes, tests, documentation, changelog)
• Writes structured deliverables to .contributions//
• Automates the journey from “here’s a GitHub issue” to “here’s a ready-to-submit PR”

What CDK Contribution Skill Is (and Isn’t)

✅ What It Is

A contributor acceleration tool that helps experienced developers move faster from issue → PR ready for review, with:

• Human-in-the-loop at critical decision points
• Approval gateway before implementation
• Contributor remains accountable for the final PR

❌ What It Is NOT

• Not a “zero-coding” AI PR generator
• Not a tool for users with no CDK/coding experience
• Not producing unreviewed “AI slop” PRs

Who Should Use This Skill

Good Fit

• Developers with coding experience looking to contribute to AWS CDK
• Beginning contributors who want guidance on CDK patterns and conventions
• Repeat/seasoned contributors who want to accelerate routine PR tasks
• Anyone comfortable reviewing and taking ownership of AI-assisted code

Not a Good Fit

• Users with no coding experience
• Anyone expecting fully automated, zero-review PRs
• Users unwilling to review and approve AI-generated changes
• Those looking to bulk-generate low-quality contributions

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         MAIN ORCHESTRATOR           │
│       (Me - Coordinates work)       │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────┘
                  │
    ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
    │     PHASE 1: ANALYSIS     │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
                  ▼
    ┌───────────────────────────┐
    │      ISSUE ANALYST        │
    │   Analyze issue & code    │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
                  │
    ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
    │     PHASE 2: PLANNING     │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
                  ▼
    ┌───────────────────────────┐
    │    SOLUTION ARCHITECT     │
    │   Create impl plan        │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
                  ▼
    ┌───────────────────────────┐
    │   🧑 YOUR APPROVAL 🧑     │
    │   Review plan before      │
    │   any code is written     │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
            [YES] │
    ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
    │  PHASE 3: BUILD & IMPL    │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
                  ▼
    ┌───────────────────────────┐
    │    BUILD + IMPLEMENT      │
    │  Setup env & write code   │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
                  │
    ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
    │ PHASE 4: PARALLEL VALID   │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
        ┌─────────┼─────────┐
        ▼         ▼         ▼
    ┌───────┐ ┌───────┐ ┌───────┐
    │ TEST  │ │  QA   │ │ DOCS  │
    └───┬───┘ └───┬───┘ └───┬───┘
        └─────────┼─────────┘
                  │
    ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
    │   PHASE 5: SELF REVIEW    │
    └─────────────┬─────────────┘
        ┌─────────┴─────────┐
        ▼                   ▼
    ┌───────────┐     ┌───────────┐
    │ SECURITY  │     │REGRESSION │
    │  REVIEW   │     │  REVIEW   │
    └─────┬─────┘     └─────┬─────┘
          └─────────┬─────────┘
                    ▼
          ┌───────────────────┐
          │   SYNTHESIZE      │
          │   REVIEW REPORT   │
          └─────────┬─────────┘
                    ▼
    ┌───────────────────────────┐
    │   🧑 REVIEW FINDINGS 🧑   │
    │   Submit PR or fix issues │
    └───────────────────────────┘

Workflow Phases

Phase 1: Analysis

The Issue Analyst examines the GitHub issue and relevant codebase to understand requirements and context.

Phase 2: Planning

The Solution Architect creates a detailed implementation plan based on the analysis.

🧑 Human Approval Gate: You review and approve the plan before any code is written.

Phase 3: Build & Implementation

The Build Engineer sets up the environment, and the Implementation Specialist writes the code according to the approved plan.

Phase 4: Parallel Validation

Multiple specialists work in parallel:

• Test Engineer creates and runs tests
• QA Specialist validates quality standards
• Documentation Specialist updates docs

Phase 5: Self Review

Security and Regression reviewers examine the changes, then synthesize findings into a comprehensive review report.

🧑 Final Review: You review all findings and decide whether to submit the PR or address issues.

Deliverables

Each phase writes its output to .contributions//:

Each deliverable includes ASCII diagrams summarizing key findings for that phase.

Reference SOPs

Detailed standard operating procedures are in cdk-contribution-skill/references/:

Supplementary references: debug-ci.md, integ-testing.md, linting.md

Getting Started

Install the Skill

Kiro IDE

1. Open Agent Steering & Skills in the Kiro panel
2. Click + → Import a skill
3. Select GitHub and paste: https://github.com/cdklabs/cdk-contribution-skill/tree/main/cdk-contribution-skill

Kiro CLI

Ask Kiro to install it:

Install https://github.com/cdklabs/cdk-contribution-skill to my Kiro skills

Use the Skill

1. Point the skill at a CDK GitHub issue
2. Review and approve the implementation plan
3. Review the final output and submit your PR

Prerequisites

• Local clone of the aws-cdk repository
• Node.js v18+, Yarn
• gh CLI (preferred for issue analysis) with gh auth login completed
• GitHub MCP server (fallback if gh CLI is unavailable)

Security

See CONTRIBUTING for more information.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License.