Amazon CodeWhisperer was AWS's AI-powered
coding assistant for generating real-time
code suggestions, security scanning and
developer assistance. On April 30, 2024,
Amazon CodeWhisperer became part of
Amazon Q Developer.
The current Amazon Q Developer product
continues and expands the CodeWhisperer
coding capabilities.
🔄 CodeWhisperer features moved into
Amazon Q Developer. CodeWhisperer is now
a legacy product name.
🔄 Important: CodeWhisperer Is Now Amazon Q Developer
AWS announced that on April 30, 2024,
Amazon CodeWhisperer became part of Amazon Q
Developer. Code suggestions, IDE assistance,
command-line suggestions, code reviews and
other familiar CodeWhisperer capabilities
are now available through Amazon Q Developer.
For new users, search for and use
Amazon Q Developer rather than
looking for a separate CodeWhisperer product.
Overview
What Was Amazon CodeWhisperer?
Amazon CodeWhisperer was a generative AI
coding assistant developed by AWS. It was
designed to help developers write code
faster by providing real-time suggestions
inside supported development environments.
The assistant could generate anything from
small code snippets to larger blocks of
code based on comments, surrounding code
and developer context.
It also provided security scanning and
developer assistance, particularly for
applications built with AWS services.
What Happened To CodeWhisperer?
AWS merged CodeWhisperer into Amazon Q
Developer. Amazon Q Developer now includes
the familiar CodeWhisperer coding features
while adding broader conversational,
agentic and AWS management capabilities.
Current Product
Amazon Q Developer
Amazon Q Developer is the current AWS
developer assistant that inherited the
core CodeWhisperer capabilities and
expanded them across the software
development lifecycle.
✨
Code Suggestions
Generate real-time suggestions ranging
from snippets to complete functions
inside supported IDEs and the CLI.
🤖
Agentic Coding
Turn natural-language development tasks
into multi-step coding workflows.
💬
Code Chat
Ask questions about your project,
program logic, architecture and code.
🐛
Bug Fixing
Analyze problems and help identify
and implement fixes.
🧪
Test Generation
Generate functional tests and help
developers improve test coverage.
🔐
Security Scanning
Scan code for security vulnerabilities
and receive remediation guidance.
📚
Code Explanation
Understand unfamiliar codebases and
program logic through natural language.
🏗️
Feature Development
Ask the agent to plan and implement
larger application features.
☁️
AWS Assistance
Get contextual help with AWS services,
architecture and best practices.
💰
Cost Assistance
Amazon Q can answer questions about
AWS costs and help analyze spending.
🚀
Infrastructure as Code
Generate infrastructure-as-code for
CloudFormation, CDK and Terraform.
🔄
Code Transformation
Amazon Q provides modernization and
code transformation capabilities.
How It Works
From Prompt To Code
1
Describe
Tell Amazon Q what you want
to build or change.
2
Understand
Q analyzes relevant workspace
and project context.
3
Plan
For larger tasks, Q can break
the request into implementation
steps.
4
Generate
Generate code, tests, integrations
and supporting changes.
5
Review
Review generated changes before
accepting them into the project.
6
Test
Run tests and validate the
implementation.
7
Secure
Use security scanning to identify
potential vulnerabilities.
8
Deploy
Move completed applications
toward production.
AI Coding
Code Suggestions & Autocomplete
One of CodeWhisperer's defining capabilities
was real-time code generation. Amazon Q
Developer continues this experience by
generating suggestions based on comments,
existing code and development context.
Developer:
// Create a function that validates an email
Amazon Q:
function validateEmail(email) {
const pattern =
/^[^\s@]+@[^\s@]+\.[^\s@]+$/;
return pattern.test(email);
}
AI-generated code should always be reviewed,
tested and checked for security and correctness
before being used in production.
Languages
Programming Language Support
☕ Java
Code generation, assistance,
testing and transformation.
🐍 Python
Generate functions, scripts,
tests and application logic.
🟨 JavaScript
Build frontend and backend
JavaScript applications.
🔷 TypeScript
AI-assisted modern web
application development.
🟦 C#
Develop and transform supported
.NET applications.
🟣 C++
Get coding assistance for
supported C++ workflows.
🐹 Go
Generate and understand Go
application code.
🦀 Rust
Use AI assistance while working
with supported Rust projects.
🐘 PHP
Generate and explain PHP
application code.
AWS says Amazon Q Developer provides real-time
code suggestions in more than 25 programming
languages, including Java, Python and JavaScript.
IDE Support
Where Can Amazon Q Developer Be Used?
💻
Visual Studio Code
Use Amazon Q Developer directly
inside VS Code.
🧠
JetBrains
Use AI coding assistance across
supported JetBrains IDEs.
☕
IntelliJ IDEA
Get coding suggestions and
developer assistance.
🟣
Eclipse
Amazon Q Developer support is
available for Eclipse as a preview
experience.
🖥️
Command Line
Use the Q Developer CLI for
AI-assisted terminal workflows.
☁️
AWS Console
Ask Amazon Q questions directly
inside the AWS Management Console.
CLI
Amazon Q Developer In The Terminal
Amazon Q Developer includes an AI-powered
CLI experience that can work with local
files, run shell commands, call AWS APIs
and write code.
$ q
Amazon Q Developer CLI
> Explain this project
> Fix the failing tests
> Add authentication
> Refactor this module
> Create an AWS deployment
> Review the current changes
The CLI can adapt its workflow based on
developer feedback and work with local
development environments.
Agentic Development
Build Features With Natural Language
Amazon Q Developer's agentic coding
experience can take a natural-language
request and work through multiple steps
needed to implement a feature.
Prompt:
"Add a user profile page with authentication,
profile editing, validation, tests and
responsive styling."
↓
Understand Project
↓
Create Plan
↓
Modify Source Files
↓
Generate Components
↓
Add Validation
↓
Write Tests
↓
Run Development Tasks
↓
Review Changes
Amazon Q Developer can generate code,
tests, API integrations and other changes
as part of its agentic development workflow.
Security
Security Scanning
Security Assistance
Security scanning was one of the important
CodeWhisperer capabilities that continued
inside Amazon Q Developer.
🔐 Detect potential vulnerabilities
🔎 Analyze source code
🛠️ Suggest remediation
📋 Review security issues
☁️ Apply security guidance to AWS projects
Why It Matters
AI-generated code can introduce security
issues if it is accepted without review.
Security scanning provides an additional
layer of automated analysis before code
reaches production.
Security scanning does not replace a
professional security review, testing,
dependency management or secure coding
practices.
AWS Development
Built For AWS Developers
☁️
Amazon EC2
Get help understanding compute
resources and AWS architecture.
🪣
Amazon S3
Generate and explain code for
storage workflows.
⚡
AWS Lambda
Build serverless functions and
supporting infrastructure.
🗄️
Amazon DynamoDB
Get assistance with database
development and AWS patterns.
🌐
Amazon API Gateway
Develop APIs and supporting
serverless architectures.
🔐
IAM
Understand AWS permissions,
roles and security configurations.
Infrastructure
Generate Infrastructure As Code
Amazon Q Developer can help developers
generate infrastructure-as-code for AWS
CloudFormation, AWS CDK and Terraform.
☁️ CloudFormation
Generate AWS infrastructure
templates.
🧩 AWS CDK
Define cloud infrastructure
using familiar programming
languages.
🛠️ Terraform
Generate infrastructure
configuration for supported
workflows.
AWS Knowledge
Ask Questions About Your AWS Environment
Amazon Q Developer can provide contextual
assistance around AWS resources, architecture,
documentation and best practices, subject
to the permissions available to the user.
Example questions:
"Which EC2 instances are running?"
"Why is my Lambda function failing?"
"How can I reduce this AWS cost?"
"What architecture should I use for this app?"
"Explain this IAM policy."
"How should I deploy this application?"
Amazon Q respects the user's existing AWS
permissions. If the user cannot access
information without Q, Q cannot simply
bypass those permissions.
Pricing
Amazon Q Developer Pricing
Free Tier
$0
/ month
✓ Perpetual free tier
✓ IDE and CLI access
✓ 50 agentic requests per month
✓ Up to 1,000 lines of code transformation per month
✓ Code suggestions
✓ Security features
Amazon Q Developer Pro
$19
/ user / month
✓ Higher usage limits
✓ Expanded agentic capabilities
✓ 4,000 lines of code transformation per month
✓ Identity Center support
✓ Administrative controls
✓ IP indemnity
AWS currently lists a perpetual Free tier
and a Pro tier priced at $19 per user per
month. Usage limits and included features
can change, so check AWS pricing before
purchasing.
Free Tier
Who Can Use The Free Tier?
Amazon Q Developer offers a perpetual
Free tier with monthly limits.
Interface
Personal Builder ID
IAM Identity Center
IAM Credentials
AWS Management Console
—
✓
✓
IDE
✓
—
—
Command Line
✓
—
—
Privacy
Code, Privacy & Data Protection
AWS provides different data protection
and service-improvement controls depending
on the Amazon Q Developer tier and feature
being used.
AWS states that Amazon Q Developer Pro
does not use customer content for service
improvement. The Free tier provides an
opt-out option for data collection.
Amazon Q Developer also provides reference
tracking and controls related to public
code suggestions.
Always review the current Amazon Q Developer
data protection documentation before using
AI assistance with confidential source code.
Customization
Customize Q For Private Codebases
Amazon Q Developer supports customization
for organizations that want AI assistance
that understands their private codebase.
📁 Connect private source repositories
🧠 Build custom AI coding knowledge
📊 Evaluate customization effectiveness
🔄 Create new customization versions
↩️ Revert to previous versions
This capability is particularly useful for
organizations with large internal codebases,
custom frameworks and company-specific
coding patterns.
Software Lifecycle
Beyond Code Completion
1
Plan
Understand requirements and
architecture.
2
Code
Generate functions, components
and application features.
3
Test
Create and improve automated
tests.
4
Secure
Scan code and identify
potential vulnerabilities.
5
Review
Review changes and code
quality.
6
Deploy
Generate infrastructure and
deployment assistance.
7
Operate
Understand AWS resources,
errors and infrastructure.
8
Optimize
Analyze architecture and
AWS costs.
CodeWhisperer vs Amazon Q
What Changed?
Capability
CodeWhisperer
Amazon Q Developer
Code Suggestions
✓
✓
IDE Integration
✓
✓
CLI Assistance
✓
✓
Security Scanning
✓
✓
Code Reviews
✓
✓
Codebase Chat
Limited
✓
Agentic Coding
Limited
✓
AWS Resource Chat
Limited
✓
AWS Cost Assistance
—
✓
Code Transformation
—
✓
Current Product
Legacy
✓
Advantages
Why Developers Use Amazon Q Developer
✓ Advantages
Strong AWS ecosystem integration
Real-time code suggestions
Agentic coding workflows
IDE and CLI support
Security scanning
Code explanation
Test generation
AWS architecture assistance
Infrastructure-as-code generation
Free tier available
Private codebase customization
Enterprise administration features
! Limitations
Best suited to AWS-heavy workflows
Usage limits apply to the Free tier
AI-generated code requires review
Some advanced capabilities require Pro
Cloud and account features depend on AWS permissions
Pricing and quotas can change
CodeWhisperer is no longer a separate current product
Enterprise configuration can be complex
Best For
Who Should Use Amazon Q Developer?
☁️ AWS Developers
Develop applications using
AWS services and infrastructure.
💻 Software Developers
Generate code, explain projects,
fix bugs and write tests.
🚀 Startups
Build AWS applications faster
with AI-assisted development.
🏢 Enterprises
Apply AI assistance across
large private codebases.
🔐 Security Teams
Use automated code security
scanning during development.
🧑💻 DevOps Engineers
Generate infrastructure code
and troubleshoot AWS resources.
🎓 Students
Learn programming and AWS
development with AI guidance.
🛠️ CLI Developers
Work with AI assistance directly
from the terminal.
📦 Legacy Modernization Teams
Use Amazon Q capabilities for
supported code transformation
workflows.
Example Prompts
Amazon Q Developer Prompts
🐛
Fix A Bug
"Find why this API returns a 500 error
and suggest a fix."
🧪
Generate Tests
"Create unit tests for this authentication
service."
🔐
Security Review
"Review this function for common security
vulnerabilities."
☁️
AWS Architecture
"Design an AWS architecture for a scalable
image-processing application."
🏗️
Infrastructure
"Create Terraform configuration for this
AWS architecture."
📚
Explain Code
"Explain this authentication flow and
identify its dependencies."
Comparison
Amazon Q Developer vs Other AI Coding Tools
Tool
AI Coding
Agentic Coding
CLI
Security
Cloud/AWS
Free Tier
Amazon Q Developer
✓✓
✓✓
✓✓
✓✓
✓✓
✓
Claude Code
✓✓
✓✓
✓✓
✓
✓
—
Replit
✓✓
✓✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Codeium
✓✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Tabnine
✓✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Cursor
✓✓
✓✓
✓
✓
✓
—
AWS Cost Management
Ask Questions About Your AWS Spending
Amazon Q Developer can also help users
understand and analyze AWS costs using
natural-language questions.
Example:
"What were the biggest drivers
of last month's AWS cost increase?"
"Which services are costing
the most this month?"
"Where can I reduce AWS spending?"
"Explain this week's cost change."
Amazon Q can use information from AWS
Cost Explorer and other AWS cost-management
capabilities to provide contextual analysis.
Modern Development
Amazon Q Developer For Large Projects
Large software projects often require
developers to understand unfamiliar
architecture, dependencies and coding
conventions before making changes.
Amazon Q Developer can use project context
to answer questions about codebases,
explain program logic, suggest relevant
libraries and help developers implement
features.
Use an AWS account or supported
personal Builder ID.
2
Choose Interface
Use the IDE, CLI or AWS
Management Console.
3
Install
Install the Amazon Q Developer
extension or CLI.
4
Sign In
Authenticate with the selected
Amazon Q Developer tier.
5
Open Project
Open your existing project
or codebase.
6
Ask Q
Ask questions or describe
the task you need completed.
7
Review
Review generated code and
proposed changes.
8
Test
Run tests and validate
the final result.
CodeWhisperer History
CodeWhisperer Timeline
1
Launch
AWS introduced CodeWhisperer
as an AI coding assistant.
2
Expansion
The service gained code
suggestions and security
capabilities.
3
Amazon Q
AWS introduced Amazon Q as
a broader generative AI
assistant.
4
April 2024
CodeWhisperer became part
of Amazon Q Developer.
Current Recommendation
Should You Use CodeWhisperer?
Use Amazon Q Developer Instead
If you are searching for Amazon
CodeWhisperer today, the correct
current product to evaluate is
Amazon Q Developer.
✓ Current AWS AI coding assistant
✓ CodeWhisperer features included
✓ Agentic development
✓ IDE and CLI support
✓ AWS resource assistance
✓ Security scanning
Why The Old Name Still Matters
Many developers still search for
"Amazon CodeWhisperer" because it was
a popular AWS coding assistant.
Keeping CodeWhisperer as a keyword
helps users understand that the current
Amazon Q Developer product is its
successor.
FAQ
Amazon CodeWhisperer & Q Developer FAQ
Amazon CodeWhisperer became part of
Amazon Q Developer on April 30, 2024.
Its familiar coding capabilities moved
into Amazon Q Developer.
CodeWhisperer is no longer a separate
current product. AWS has moved its
features into Amazon Q Developer.
Amazon Q Developer is the current AWS
developer assistant that incorporates
CodeWhisperer capabilities.
Amazon Q Developer includes the familiar
CodeWhisperer features but is a broader
product with additional conversational,
agentic, AWS management, cost and
transformation capabilities.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer has a perpetual
Free tier with monthly usage limits.
AWS also offers a Pro tier.
AWS currently lists Amazon Q Developer
Pro at $19 per user per month.
AWS currently lists 50 agentic requests
per month in the Free tier.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer can generate
real-time code suggestions ranging from
snippets to complete functions.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer provides
integration with Visual Studio Code.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer supports
popular JetBrains IDEs.
Yes. AWS lists Eclipse support as
a preview experience.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer includes
an AI-powered command-line experience.
Yes. Developers can ask Q to analyze
problems and help identify or implement
bug fixes.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer can generate
functional tests and help improve test
coverage.
Yes. Security scanning is one of the
capabilities inherited from CodeWhisperer
and available through Amazon Q Developer.
Yes. You can ask Amazon Q to explain
program logic, unfamiliar code and
project architecture.
Amazon Q Developer can use workspace
context to understand relevant parts
of a project and answer questions
about the codebase.
Yes. Its agentic coding experience can
break natural-language requests into
steps and help implement application
features.
Yes. AWS says Q can help generate
infrastructure-as-code for CloudFormation,
AWS CDK and Terraform.
Yes. Amazon Q can provide contextual
guidance about AWS architecture,
services and best practices.
Amazon Q can provide information about
AWS resources when the user's permissions
allow access to that information.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer includes
capabilities for analyzing AWS costs
through natural-language questions.
Yes. AWS states that Amazon Q Developer
is built on Amazon Bedrock and uses
multiple foundation models.
Yes. Java is one of the programming
languages supported by Amazon Q Developer.
Yes. Python is one of the programming
languages supported by Amazon Q Developer.
Yes. JavaScript is one of the languages
supported for Amazon Q Developer coding
suggestions.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer supports
customization using private codebases
for supported organizational workflows.
AWS states that Amazon Q Developer Pro
does not use customer content for service
improvement. The Free tier provides
an opt-out option for data collection.
AWS lists IP indemnity as a Pro tier
benefit.
It can be useful for beginners because
it can explain code and programming
concepts, but generated code should
always be reviewed and understood.
Yes. AWS integration is one of its
strongest advantages, with assistance
for AWS architecture, resources,
infrastructure and troubleshooting.
CodeWhisperer is now part of Amazon Q
Developer, so this is essentially a
comparison between the older product
and its expanded successor. Q Developer
offers broader capabilities.
Search for Amazon Q Developer when
looking for the current AWS AI coding
assistant. CodeWhisperer remains a useful
historical keyword because many older
articles and tutorials use the name.
Yes. Amazon Q Developer provides coding
assistance in IDEs and the CLI and can
help with general software development,
although its AWS integration is a major
strength.
Yes, particularly for developers who
work with AWS or want an AI coding
assistant with IDE, CLI, security and
agentic development capabilities.
Looking For Amazon CodeWhisperer?
The product you want today is
Amazon Q Developer.
It includes the core CodeWhisperer
coding experience and expands it with
agentic development, AWS assistance,
security, cost analysis and more.