What is Amazon Q Developer?
Amazon Q Developer is AWS's AI coding assistant, launched in April 2024 as a rebrand and expansion of Amazon CodeWhisperer. It keeps everything CodeWhisperer did — real-time code suggestions and security vulnerability scanning — and adds a conversational chat interface, autonomous agents that can carry out multi-step coding tasks, and deep integration with AWS services for cloud-focused development.
It's built specifically with AWS-centric teams in mind: code transformation features can upgrade legacy Java applications, agents can help provision and configure AWS infrastructure, and it plugs directly into the AWS console and supported IDEs rather than being a general-purpose standalone editor.
There's a perpetual free tier for individual developers offering up to 50 agentic requests per month across chat, code transformation, and vulnerability scans. The Pro tier costs $19 per user per month and supports up to 1,000 agentic requests and 4,000 lines of code transformation monthly, plus data isolation (no training on your code), IP indemnity, and SSO support.
Key Features of Amazon Q Developer
- Real-time code suggestions: Inline autocomplete-style suggestions as you type, inherited from CodeWhisperer.
- Security vulnerability scanning: Scans code for known security issues automatically.
- Autonomous coding agents: Carries out multi-step coding tasks from a natural-language instruction.
- Legacy code transformation: Upgrades legacy applications, including automated Java version upgrades.
- AWS console integration: Works directly within the AWS console and supported IDEs for cloud-focused workflows.
Use Cases for Amazon Q Developer
- Get real-time code suggestions while working in a supported IDE
- Scan a codebase for security vulnerabilities automatically
- Upgrade a legacy Java application with automated transformation
- Provision or configure AWS infrastructure through an agentic chat interface