AWS Step Functions adds a one-click AI agent setup button
Getting an AI coding agent to work with AWS Step Functions used to require manual work: find the right MCP server package, figure out the config format for your specific agent, wire up credentials. AWS just cut all of that out.
️ What the Button Does
AWS Step Functions added a Copy agent prompt button to the console. You click it, paste the copied fetch instruction into your AI agent’s chat or terminal, and the agent self-configures. No manual JSON editing, no hunting for package names.
The prompt points to a setup guide hosted on AWS documentation. The agent reads it and installs two things:
- AWS Serverless skill (from the Agent Toolkit for AWS): gives the agent deep context on Amazon States Language, retry and error handling patterns, Standard vs. Express workflow types, saga orchestration, parallel fan-out, and deployment via AWS SAM or AWS CDK.
- AWS Serverless MCP Server: gives the agent live access to your AWS account so it can create and update state machines, start executions, inspect workflow history, and manage resources directly.
Supported Agents
The setup guide auto-detects which agent you’re using and writes the correct config format automatically:
- Claude Code: installs via the plugin marketplace, registers via
claude mcp add - Kiro CLI: writes to
~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json - Codex: registers via
codex mcp add - Cursor: writes to
.cursor/mcp.json - GitHub Copilot: writes to
.vscode/mcp.json - Devin Desktop: writes to
.devin/mcp_config.json - OpenCode: writes to
~/.config/opencode/opencode.jsonc
Any other MCP-compatible agent gets a generic JSON configuration block to paste manually.
What You Can Build Once It’s Running
With the MCP server connected, your agent can accept natural language workflow descriptions and produce valid, deployable state machines. The source article lists these examples:
- Order processing with compensation logic (validate payment, reserve inventory, release on failure)
- Parallel Express workflows calling three Lambda functions and merging results
- Human approval gates that pause execution until a manager responds
- Retry with exponential backoff up to three attempts, routing failures to a fallback notification step
The agent can also deploy directly to your account, start test executions, and inspect results without leaving the agent interface.
Pricing and Availability
The button is available in all commercial AWS Regions at no additional cost. It uses your existing local AWS profile, so no new IAM roles are required. The Agent Toolkit content updates automatically as Step Functions adds new features, so the skills your agent installs stay current without re-running setup.
The button appears in three places in the console: the home page under “How it works,” the Local Development section, and at the top of the Create State Machine modal.
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