Global steering files from ~/.kiro/steering/ not loaded into agent context

[prasadsamudralavss]

Before opening, please confirm:

• I have searched for duplicate or closed issues

Operating System

Tahoe 26.5(25F71)

Kiro Version

0.12.263

Bug Description

Description:
Global steering files placed in ~/.kiro/steering/ are not being loaded into the agent's context, despite the docs and changelog (v0.5) confirming this is a supported feature.

Environment:

• Kiro IDE version: 0.12.263
• OS: macOS arm64 (Darwin 25.5.0)
• VSCode version: 1.107.1

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create ~/.kiro/steering/my-global-context.md with the following front-matter and some content:

---
inclusion: always
---
# My Global Context
Some rules and guidelines here...

2. Open a workspace that has NO .kiro/steering/ directory
3. Start a new chat and ask a question that the steering file covers
4. Agent searches the workspace instead of using the global steering content

Expected Behavior

Expected behavior: The agent should receive the content of ~/.kiro/steering/my-global-context.md as global context (shown with [Global] tag), as documented at https://kiro.dev/docs/steering/#global-steering

Actual behavior:

• The agent does NOT receive global steering content
• Agent says "no steering files found" and searches the workspace
• The file IS recognized by the UI — using "Generate a custom steering document" → "Global agent steering" with the same name prompts "file already exists, overwrite?"
• The Agent Steering sidebar section remains empty

Workaround: Adding the folder containing the steering file as a workspace folder causes it to load as workspace-level steering.

Conversation ID

No response

Additional Context

• Docs: https://kiro.dev/docs/steering/#global-steering
• Blog: https://kiro.dev/blog/stop-repeating-yourself/
• Changelog v0.5: "Define global steering rules that apply across all your workspaces"

[github-actions]

Thanks for opening this issue and for the thorough write-up! We can see that global steering files from ~/.kiro/steering/ aren't being picked up by the agent context despite being recognized by the UI, and your detailed reproduction steps and workaround are really helpful. A maintainer will review this shortly. We appreciate you taking the time to report this — contributions like yours help make Kiro better for everyone! 🙌

[AnilMaktala]

Hey @prasadsamudralavss, Thanks for raising this. Try changing your front-matter to inclusion: auto and adding a description field — this should allow it to load through the progressive context system. Let us know if that resolves the issue.

We've marked this as a bug and will investigate further.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically closed due to inactivity. It has been 7 days since we requested additional information.

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