This project provides a command-line interface (CLI) for Amazon Q Developer, an AI-powered assistant designed to help developers build applications using natural language. It targets developers who want to leverage AI for tasks like code generation, debugging, and automating workflows directly within their terminal, offering IDE-like autocompletion and contextual awareness of the local development environment.

How It Works

The CLI integrates with popular command-line tools, providing natural language chat capabilities and agentic execution. It intercepts terminal input and output to understand context, enabling it to offer tailored suggestions, answer questions about the codebase, and perform actions like code generation or Git operations upon user permission. The architecture involves several components, including a Rust CLI core, a pseudoterminal for input interception, and integrations for IDEs like VS Code and JetBrains.

Quick Start & Requirements

• Installation: macOS users can download a DMG or use Homebrew (brew install amazon-q). Linux users can use AppImages. Windows users are directed to discussions or WSL.
• Prerequisites: macOS requires Xcode 13+, Homebrew. Manual setup involves installing platform dependencies (build-essential, pkg-config, etc.), Rust toolchain (via rustup), Python/Node via mise, and pre-commit hooks.
• Development Setup: Cloning the repo, running npm run setup or manual setup, and then cargo run --bin q_cli -- chat to start.
• Onboarding: Use q chat and /context add codebase-summary.md to provide project context.
• Links: Contributing Guide

Highlighted Details

• IDE-style autocompletion for hundreds of CLIs (git, npm, docker, aws).
• Natural language chat for querying, debugging, and exploring codebases.
• Contextual awareness of local development environment and codebase.
• Agentic execution for code generation, file editing, and Git automation.

Maintenance & Community

The project is maintained by AWS. Further community and contribution details are available in the CONTRIBUTING.md file.

Licensing & Compatibility

Dual-licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0. AWS trademarks are protected and cannot be used in a way that causes confusion or disparages AWS.

Limitations & Caveats

Windows support is noted as requiring follow-up in discussions, suggesting it may not be fully native or as streamlined as macOS/Linux. The manual setup process involves a significant number of dependencies.