[BUG] RuntimeClientError when invoking agent deployed using Starter kit direct code deployment option

[rajeshkumarravi]

Describe the bug
Invoking agent deployed using Starter kit direct code deployment option results in RuntimeClientError. This may be caused due to

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Follow instructions using starter kit available here: Get started with Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Runtime direct code deployment
2. Invoke agent using agentcore invoke '{"prompt":"Tell me a joke"}'

Expected behavior
Agent responds with LLM generated joke.

Error Output

Invocation failed: An error occurred (RuntimeClientError) when calling the InvokeAgentRuntime operation: Runtime initialization time exceeded. Please make sure that initialization completes in 60s.

Environment:

• OS: macOS 26.0
• Python version: 3.13
• Package version: [e.g. 0.1.0]
• Installation method: agentcore starter kit

Additional context
Possible reasons for failure

• Incorrect starter-kit auto generated Agentcore Runtime IAM execution role
• uv pip install --target used by starter-kit adds absolute path to python interpreter from local environment to packaged binaries. Workaround, use pip install --target.

[rajeshkumarravi]

Looks like deployment packager is adding absolute path to python interpreter from local environment to shell scripts in bin folder which is causing the failure.

CloudWatch log:

bin/opentelemetry-instrument (from starter created deployment.zip):

bin/dotenv (from starter created deployment.zip):