# Official sources Use this reference when grounding current Amazon Bedrock AgentCore behavior. ## Amazon Bedrock AgentCore - Get started with Amazon Bedrock AgentCore CLI https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/agentcore-get-started-cli.md - Available interfaces for using Amazon Bedrock AgentCore https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/develop-agents.html - AgentCore harness overview https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/harness.html - Get started with the harness https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/harness-get-started.html - Environment and Skills https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/harness-environment.html - Security and access control https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/harness-security.html - What is Amazon Bedrock AgentCore https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/what-is-bedrock-agentcore.html - Runtime getting started https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/runtime-get-started.html - AgentCore Memory https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/memory.html - AgentCore Gateway https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/gateway.html - AgentCore Identity https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/identity.html - AgentCore Observability https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/observability-configure.html - AgentCore generated observability data https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/observability-service-provided.html - Browser tool https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/browser-tool.html - Code Interpreter https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/code-interpreter.html - AgentCore Evaluations https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/evaluations.html - AgentCore Registry https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/registry.html - AgentCore Payments https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/payments.html - AgentCore tools configuration https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/harness-tools.html - Runtime file system configurations https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/runtime-filesystem-configurations.html - Runtime custom header passthrough https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/runtime-header-allowlist.html - Gateway MCP sessions https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/gateway-sessions.html - Gateway MCP elicitation https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/gateway-mcp-elicitation.html - Gateway MCP sampling https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/gateway-mcp-sampling.html - Gateway MCP progress notifications https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/gateway-mcp-progress.html - Gateway MCP logging notifications https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/gateway-mcp-logging.html - Long-term memory metadata filtering https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/long-term-memory-metadata.html - Policy in AgentCore https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/policy.html - Create a policy https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/policy-create-policies.html - Core concepts for policy https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/policy-core-concepts.html - Harness operations https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore/latest/devguide/harness-operations.html ## Grounded notes from Context7 - Current AWS devguide guidance says the recommended CLI install for new projects is `npm install -g @aws/agentcore`. - The AgentCore CLI is the Node.js command-line tool for creating, configuring, deploying, and managing agents and uses project JSON config under the `agentcore/` directory, including `agentcore.json` and `aws-targets.json`. - AgentCore tool configuration can include remote MCP servers, AgentCore Gateway, Browser, Code Interpreter, and inline functions. - For managed credential rotation and API key storage, prefer AgentCore Gateway and AgentCore Identity over raw authentication headers. - AgentCore Observability uses CloudWatch metrics for runtime, memory, gateway, built-in tools, and identity resources; custom runtime metrics need instrumentation such as AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry. - AgentCore offers two distinct paths: code-based agents and the managed harness. Current AWS docs describe the code-based agent path as generally available and the config-based harness path as preview. - Skills referenced with `--skill-path` must already exist inside the runtime container or session environment. The path reference does not upload the skill for you. - Gateway creation is not the end of the security model. Official policy docs show Cedar-based policy enforcement is a separate control plane you must design explicitly. - Harness security docs say SigV4 callers do not get per-user identity propagation into downstream tools. User-scoped token vault and on-behalf-of flows require the OAuth bearer-token path. - Harness overview docs note regional rollout is ongoing and the currently documented harness availability is limited; do not assume every AgentCore feature is live in every region. - Official harness docs describe `agentcore invoke --exec` shell access to the session environment, but installed CLI surfaces can drift. Verify the local CLI before promising that workflow. ## Current release-note deltas to account for The following items were missing or underrepresented in earlier skill guidance and must now be considered before giving implementation advice: - **Core service map expanded** — current overview docs list Runtime, Harness, Memory, Gateway, Identity, Code Interpreter, Browser, Observability, Payments, Evaluations, Policy, and Registry as AgentCore services/capabilities. - **Gateway MCP is now stateful and more interactive** — release notes describe MCP sessions, response streaming, elicitation pass-through, sampling messages, progress notifications, and logging notifications. Gateway advice must cover session scope, timeouts, human-in-the-loop prompts, client streaming behavior, and audit/log handling. - **Runtime and Harness support attached filesystems** — release notes describe Amazon S3 Files and Amazon EFS access point mounts for sharing skills, prompt templates, datasets, and intermediate outputs. Treat mounts as data-perimeter and lifecycle risks, not just convenience. - **Agent quality loop is first-class** — release notes describe optimization, batch evaluation, user simulation, and A/B testing. Do not treat evaluation as an external afterthought when the user asks for production readiness. - **Payments are preview** — payment flows add wallet, spending-limit, x402 endpoint, and transaction-governance risks. Keep this separate from GA runtime/gateway guidance. - **Node.js direct code deployment exists** — do not imply Python/container-only deployment paths. - **VPC egress and OBO token exchange exist** — Identity, Gateway, and Runtime can reach private resources; user-scoped access can use on-behalf-of token exchange. Verify network and identity boundaries instead of assuming public egress or raw static credentials. - **Memory supports structured metadata filtering** — namespace design is no longer enough; indexed metadata keys and retrieval filters can materially change isolation and relevance. - **Observability requires setup** — current docs call out CloudWatch Transaction Search setup, tracing enablement for memory resources, consistent session IDs, distributed tracing, custom attributes, resource usage monitoring, and alerts. - **AgentCore Registry is in preview** — registry-based discovery and governance can reduce sprawl but introduces approval, publication, semantic-search, and access-control decisions. - **AgentCore MCP server exists in awslabs/mcp** — coding agents may operate AgentCore resources through a user-configured AWS credential chain. Treat this as live AWS access requiring the user's read-only or explicitly approved profile. ## Starter toolkit caveat - The Bedrock AgentCore Starter Toolkit repository is still useful for migration and existing Python-based workflows. - Based on current official AWS devguide evidence, do not present the starter toolkit as the recommended starting point for new projects when the newer `@aws/agentcore` CLI is available. ## Current MCP/documentation refresh (2026-06-02) Service facts from official docs: - Current AgentCore docs cover Runtime, Harness, Memory, Gateway, Identity, Code Interpreter, Browser, Observability, Payments, Evaluations, Policy, and Registry as AgentCore services or capabilities. - Gateway MCP guidance includes sessions, response streaming, elicitation, sampling, progress notifications, and logging notifications; these are tool/session governance concerns, not just integration features. - AgentCore filesystem, Memory metadata filtering, observability setup, evaluations, registry, payments, VPC egress, and on-behalf-of token exchange materially affect security and production-readiness guidance. Sampled live evidence: - Read-only regional availability sampling reported `isAvailableIn` for Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, Amazon Bedrock, Amazon CloudWatch, and AWS IAM Identity Center in `us-east-1`, `us-west-2`, `eu-west-1`, and `ap-southeast-1`. - Read-only API sampling surfaced AgentCore operations for Memory, runtime invocation/commands, Browser, Code Interpreter, Evaluations, A/B tests, recommendations, workload access tokens, and payment operations. Some sampled payment operations were visible only in `us-east-1` and `us-west-2`; treat this as sampled availability evidence only. Review implications: - Keep AgentCore Gateway, Identity, Memory, Browser, Code Interpreter, Evaluations, Registry, Payments, filesystem, and harness advice in references and re-query docs/tooling before promising exact CLI flags, maturity status, API coverage, or regional support. - Service/API availability does not prove the user's account quotas, IAM permissions, deployed AgentCore resources, CLI version, or whether preview features are enabled. ## MCP grounding - Use current AWS documentation tools to find and read the cited AgentCore behavior. - Use read-only AWS MCP or read-only AWS CLI evidence for live availability and current-state claims when available. Treat that evidence as complementary to documentation, not as proof of the user's account configuration and never as permission to mutate AWS state. ## Grounding rule Docs explain service behavior. They do not prove the user's installed CLI version, active AWS account, IAM role, Region support, quotas, deployed AgentCore resources, or whether preview-only features are enabled in that account.