Join us as Dave walks through what it actually takes to build custom AI agents from scratch - not theory, but real projects he has shipped for his family, his work, and his community.

Dave shares how he used Kiro and Claude to solve real problems: normalizing flood-damaged library inventory data, automating AWS well-architected review collateral, building a room-cleaning task agent for his 12-year-old, planning family menus with Apple Calendar integration, and post-processing live concert recordings. You will learn how agents reason and take action, when to reach for a Kiro power versus a simpler automation, how MCP servers connect agents to real-world tools, and practical strategies for keeping agents accurate without burning through tokens.

Timestamps

0:00 Welcome & Introduction

7:57 Dave's Background and How He Got Started with Agents

13:00 The Library Flood Story - First Real-World Agent Use Case
16:00 AWS Well-Architected Review Automation
17:09 What Are Kiro Powers and MCP Servers?
22:13 Kiro Pricing and Bedrock Integration
28:13 Live Demo - Room Cleaning Agent with AWS Rekognition
41:24 Family Meal Planning and Apple Calendar Integration
44:27 Automating Live Concert Recording Post-Processing
52:31 Getting Started - Dave's Recommendations for Beginners

How to find Dave:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-stauffacher/

Links from the show:

https://kiro.dev/