Open Weight Models
Kiro supports open weight models alongside Claude, giving you flexibility to match model capabilities to your tasks while managing credit costs.
Available Models
Section titled “Available Models”DeepSeek v3.2
Section titled “DeepSeek v3.2”| Credit Multiplier | 0.25x |
| Architecture | Sparse Mixture-of-Experts |
| Strengths | Multi-step tool calling, maintaining state across long sessions |
Best for:
- Building agents and complex debugging
- Agentic workflows requiring persistent state
- Multi-file refactoring sessions
MiniMax 2.1
Section titled “MiniMax 2.1”| Credit Multiplier | 0.15x |
| Specialisation | Multilingual programming |
| Languages | Rust, Java, Go, C++, Kotlin, TypeScript, JavaScript |
Best for:
- Teams working across multiple programming languages
- Frontend development (web, Android, iOS)
- UI code generation
Qwen3 Coder Next
Section titled “Qwen3 Coder Next”| Credit Multiplier | 0.05x |
| Architecture | 80B sparse MoE (3B active parameters) |
| Context | 256K tokens |
| Performance | 70%+ on SWE-Bench Verified |
Best for:
- Long agentic CLI sessions
- Budget-conscious development
- Quick iterations and boilerplate generation
Choosing the Right Model
Section titled “Choosing the Right Model”| Task | Recommended Model | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quick code fixes | Qwen3 Coder Next | Lowest cost, fast responses |
| Complex debugging | DeepSeek v3.2 | Maintains context across long sessions |
| UI generation | MiniMax 2.1 | Strong at frontend code patterns |
| Multi-language projects | MiniMax 2.1 | Excellent across many languages |
| Spec-driven development | Claude (Auto) | Best for structured planning |
| Code review | Claude Opus | Highest reasoning quality |
Credit Efficiency Strategies
Section titled “Credit Efficiency Strategies”- Use Qwen3 for routine work — Boilerplate, simple refactors, documentation
- Reserve Claude for planning — Requirements, design, complex architecture
- Use DeepSeek for debugging — When you need persistent context
- Use MiniMax for frontend — UI components, styling, responsive layouts
How to Select Models
Section titled “How to Select Models”In the IDE
Section titled “In the IDE”Click the model selector in the chat panel and choose from the dropdown list.
In the CLI
Section titled “In the CLI”# Specify model explicitlykiro chat --model deepseek-v3
# Or use in agent modekiro agent --model qwen3-coder-next "Generate unit tests for auth module"Technical Details
Section titled “Technical Details”- Inference Region: AWS US East (N. Virginia)
- Availability: Free and paid users with Google, GitHub, or AWS Builder ID
- Support Status: Experimental (stability may vary)