AWS Bedrock AgentCore
AWS Bedrock AgentCore provides a complete platform for deploying and scaling AI agents with nine core services. This skill covers service selection, deployment patterns, and integration workflows using AWS CLI.
How to use this skill: Identify the service(s) the user needs from the table below, then read the corresponding service README before responding. For cross-service patterns (credentials, security, registry integration), check the Cross-Service Resources section. Verify AWS-specific details using the MCP documentation tools.
AWS Documentation Requirement
Always verify AWS facts using MCP tools before answering. Two documentation sources are available:
- AgentCore-specific docs (
mcp__acdocs__*) — bundled with this plugin, provides search_agentcore_docs and fetch_agentcore_doc for AgentCore documentation
- General AWS docs (
mcp__aws-mcp__* or mcp__*awsdocs*__*) — loaded via the aws-mcp-setup dependency for broader AWS documentation
Prefer the AgentCore docs MCP for AgentCore-specific questions. If MCP tools are unavailable, guide the user through the aws-mcp-setup skill's setup flow.
Available Services
Common Workflows
Deploying a Gateway Target
Read services/gateway/README.md before implementing — Gateway setup involves deployment strategies, IAM, and auth choices that vary significantly by use case.
- Upload OpenAPI schema to S3
- (API Key auth only) Create credential provider and store API key
- Create gateway target linking schema (and credentials if using API key)
- Verify target status and test connectivity
Credential provider is only needed for API key authentication. Lambda targets use IAM roles, and MCP servers use OAuth.
Managing Credentials
Read cross-service/credential-management.md first — credential patterns differ across services and getting them wrong causes hard-to-debug auth failures.
- Use Identity service credential providers for all API keys
- Link providers to gateway targets via ARN references
- Rotate credentials quarterly through credential provider updates
- Monitor usage with CloudWatch metrics
Discovering Agents and Tools (Agent Registry)
Read services/registry/README.md first — the registry has governance workflows, MCP endpoint options, and sync modes that affect how records become discoverable.
- Create a registry to catalog your organization's AI resources
- Register resources (MCP servers, agents, skills, custom) with descriptive metadata
- Submit records for approval (auto-approve for dev, manual for production)
- Search and discover approved resources via CLI or MCP endpoint
Agent Registry is in Preview. Available in us-east-1, us-west-2, eu-west-1, ap-northeast-1, ap-southeast-2.
Evaluating Agent Quality
Read services/evaluations/README.md first — evaluators, scoring modes, and IAM setup vary between online monitoring and on-demand testing.
- Instrument the agent with OpenTelemetry (ADOT) for trace collection
- Create evaluators (use built-in like
Builtin.Helpfulness or create custom)
- Set up online evaluation with sampling rate and data source
- Monitor scores in CloudWatch dashboards; investigate low-scoring sessions
Monitoring Agents
Read services/observability/README.md for the full monitoring setup — observability configuration depends on your Runtime protocol and framework choice.
- Enable observability for agents
- Configure CloudWatch dashboards for metrics
- Set up alarms for error rates and latency
- Use X-Ray for distributed tracing
Deep-Dive References
Each service README (linked in the table above) contains sub-links to getting-started guides, troubleshooting, and advanced topics. Start with the service README and follow pointers from there.
Advanced Runtime & OAuth References
Deep-dive reference documentation for Runtime internals, deployment, OAuth integration, and communication protocols. Read these when building production Runtime deployments or configuring OAuth authentication:
- OAuth Integration:
references/agentcore-oauth-integration.md - Three-layer OAuth architecture (Inbound JWT, Outbound Credential Provider, Gateway OAuth), Cognito configuration, supported IdPs, end-to-end CDK examples
- Runtime Core Mechanisms:
references/agentcore-runtime-core.md - Container contract, MicroVM Session model, Agent lifecycle (per-request vs per-session), tool integration (MCP/HTTP), startup flow
- Runtime Deployment & Operations:
references/agentcore-runtime-deploy.md - CDK deployment (L1/L2 constructs), multi-Runtime architecture, security model, observability (OTel/CloudWatch), BedrockAgentCoreApp vs FastAPI comparison
- Runtime Protocol Reference:
references/agentcore-runtime-protocols.md - HTTP, MCP, A2A, AG-UI protocol specifications with container contracts, endpoint specs, and selection guide
Runnable Script Templates
Production-ready templates in scripts/ for common deployment patterns:
Cross-Service Resources
For patterns and best practices that span multiple AgentCore services:
Additional Resources
