Exploring the latest features of the Amazon Q Developer CLI

Note: This content was originally published on the AWS Blog and is reproduced here for archival purposes. Please visit the original post for the most up-to-date version.

It’s been a few weeks since my last post about the Amazon Q Developer Command Line Interface (CLI), and I’m excited to share all the great new features and improvements the team has been working on. The CLI has been evolving rapidly with a focus on enhancing user experience, improving context management, and adding powerful new capabilities. In this post, I’ll walk you through the most significant changes that make the Amazon Q Developer CLI even more powerful and user-friendly.

Conversation Persistence

One of the most requested features has been the ability to persist conversations, and I’m thrilled to share that this is now available. With the new q chat --resume command, your conversations are now automatically saved by a working directory. This means you can pick up right where you left off when you return to a project, without having to rebuild context or repeat information.

Q Developer has also added two new commands to give you more control over your conversation state:

  • /save allows you to explicitly save the current conversation state
  • /load lets you restore a previously saved conversation

These commands make it easier to manage multiple conversation threads related to different aspects of your project. You can save a conversation about one feature, switch to working on something else, and then load the previous conversation when you’re ready to continue.

A terminal interface showing the Amazon Q logo in dotted cyan text. Below it displays a 'Did you know?' tip explaining that users can resume the last conversation from their current directory using 'q chat --resume'. The bottom shows command shortcuts including '/help' for all commands, 'ctrl + j' for new lines, and 'ctrl + s' for fuzzy search. The terminal shows a successful import of conversation state from 'order-service.json'.

MCP and Tool Use Enhancements

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a key part of the Amazon Q Developer CLI, allowing for extensibility through additional tools and servers. Q Developer has made several improvements to how MCP servers are loaded and managed:

First, Q Developer has implemented background MCP server loading, which significantly improves startup time for q chat. Instead of waiting for all MCP servers to initialize before you can start interacting with Q Developer, the CLI now loads servers in the background while you begin your conversation. This means you can start working immediately, with tools becoming available as their servers finish loading.

The team has also added a new subcommand, q mcp, which provides a dedicated interface for updating and managing your MCP server configuration. This makes it easier to add, remove, or modify the MCP servers that extend your CLI’s capabilities.

For more granular control over which tools can be used, Q Developer has added the /tools command in q chat. This allows you to manage permissions for individual tools, giving you more control over what Q Developer can do in your environment. You can also reset permissions for a specific tool if you change your mind.

A terminal window showing a tools permission list with two main sections. The first section shows SQLite (MCP) commands, all marked as 'not trusted' including operations like list_tables, read_query, create_table, etc. The second 'Built-in' section lists system commands with varying trust levels: fs_read and report_issue are marked as 'trusted', while fs_write is 'not trusted', and use_aws and execute_bash are marked for 'trust read-only commands'. At the bottom, there's a note stating 'Trusted tools can be run without confirmation'.

Improved Context Control

Context is crucial for getting the most out of Q Developer, and the team has made several improvements to how you can manage and view context:

The file selection in q chat‘s fuzzy finder is now git-aware, making it easier to include relevant files from your repository. This is particularly useful when working with large codebases, as it helps you focus on the files that matter for your current task.

Q Developer has added fuzzy search for slash commands with Ctrl + s, allowing you to quickly find and execute commands without remembering their exact syntax. This makes the CLI more accessible, especially for new users or those who don’t use certain commands frequently.

The /context show --expand command has been improved to provide more detailed information about the current context, helping you understand what Q Developer knows about your environment. The team has also enhanced the context file display in q chat to make it more informative and easier to read.

One of the most exciting additions is the new capability for dynamically adding context to messages with context hooks. This allows the CLI to automatically include relevant context based on your conversation, improving the quality of responses without requiring manual context management.

A terminal window showing an expanded context view with two main sections. The 'global' section (marked with a globe icon) lists three markdown files: amazonq/rules/**/*.md, README.md, and AmazonQ.md. It includes hooks for 'On Session Start' and 'Per User Message', both showing '<none>'. Below that, a 'profile (default)' section (marked with a user icon) shows ~/python-coding-standards.md and has the same hook structure, also with '<none>' values. The command shown at the top is '/context show --expand'.

Context Window Awareness and Optimization

As conversations grow longer, managing the context window becomes increasingly important. Q Developer has added two new commands to help with this:

  • /usage displays an estimate of the context window usage, helping you understand how much of the available context space you’re using
  • /compact summarizes the conversation history, allowing you to reduce the size of the context while preserving the important information

These tools help you make the most of the available context window, ensuring that Q Developer has access to the most relevant information without running into token limits.

A terminal window showing usage statistics for Amazon Q. The current context window uses 3020 of 200k tokens, or 1.51%. It breaks down token usage: Context files use 160 tokens (0.08%), Q responses use 2040 tokens (1.02%), and user prompts use 820 tokens (0.41%). Below, 'Pro Tips' suggest commands: '/compact' to summarize conversation history, '/clear' to erase chat history, and '/context show' to view tokens per context file.

Image Support

I’m particularly excited to announce that q chat now supports images! This opens up a whole new dimension of interaction, allowing you to share screenshots, diagrams, or other visual information with Q Developer. This can be incredibly useful for debugging UI issues, discussing design concepts, or explaining complex ideas that are difficult to convey through text alone.

A text explanation of a UML sequence diagram for a Sales Transaction process. The text describes three main components: 1) Participants including an Actor (represented by a stick figure) and a System (represented by a rectangle), 2) Interaction Flow showing message exchanges and lifelines represented by vertical dashed lines, and 3) Loop Structure with a box labeled 'for as many items as needed' representing an iteration where the Actor scans items with product ID and amount parameters.

Editor for Long Prompts

For complex queries or detailed instructions, you may want multiple paragraphs. Q Developer supports Ctrl + j, allowing you to add a newline character to the prompt. In addition, the team has added the /editor command, which opens your configured text editor for composing prompts. This makes it much easier to craft detailed, multi-paragraph prompts or to edit and refine your questions before sending them to Q Developer.

A screenshot showing instructions for performing a threat model analysis using the STRIDE framework. The text requests threat analysis details in markdown format, including threat source, prerequisites, actions, impacts, and affected assets. It asks for severity ratings (low/medium/high) and AWS-based mitigation suggestions with documentation links. The image includes a template structure showing how to format the markdown response, with sections for "Threat Model Analysis," "Spoofing," and individual threat entries.

Expanded Region Support

I’m happy to announce that Q Developer has expanded its regional availability. Professional tier users can now access Q Developer in the Frankfurt region (eu-central-1). This expansion is part of Q Developer’s ongoing effort to provide lower latency and better service to customers across the globe. By adding support for the Frankfurt region, Amazon Q Developer is more accessible to European customers, allowing them to benefit from reduced latency and improved performance.

A terminal screenshot showing a prompt to select an IAM Identity Center profile. Two options are displayed: "q-dev-america" with an ARN in the us-east-1 region, and "q-dev-emea" with an ARN in the eu-central-1 region. The command being executed is "% q profile".

Ability to Manage Issues in CLI

Amazon Q Developer has made it easier to report issues directly from the CLI with two new features:

  • The /issue command in q chat allows you to create new GitHub issues
  • The report_issue tool provides a programmatic way for Q Developer to help you create detailed issue reports

These features streamline the feedback process, making it easier for you to report bugs or request features, and for the team to improve the CLI based on your input.

A terminal screenshot showing an issue reporting interface. The prompt explains how to submit feedback or feature requests to a GitHub repository, listing required information including: 1) a title and 2) optional details about actual behavior, expected behavior, and reproduction steps. At the bottom is a user comment stating "I just wanted you to know that all these new features are awesome!"

Keeping Up with Future Changes

To help you stay informed about new features and improvements, Q Developer has added a --changelog flag to the q version command. This displays the change log directly from the CLI, making it easy to see what’s new without having to visit the GitHub repository or read blog posts like this one.

Conclusion

The Amazon Q Developer CLI continues to evolve rapidly, with new features and improvements that make it an even more powerful tool for developers. From conversation persistence to image support, these updates reflect Q Developer’s commitment to building a CLI that helps you be more productive and effective in your daily work. I encourage you to try out these new features by installing the Amazon Q Developer CLI. Thank you for your continued support and feedback, which helps make Amazon Q Developer better every day.

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