The amino acid sequence of rabbit skeletal muscle heat-stable inhibitor of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase has been determined by microsequencing techniques. Proof of the structure involved a series of nonoverlapping tryptic fragments for primary identification of 86% of the amino acids. Complementary fragments generated by cleavage with chymotrypsin, Staphylococcus aureus V8 proteinase, and mast cell proteinase II contributed to proof of the structure. The inhibitor is a single polypeptide chain of 75 residues and has a molecular weight of 7829. It lacks tryptophan, proline, and sulfur-containing amino acids. The amino terminus of the inhibitor is blocked by an unidentified group. The amino-terminal region of the molecule contains the kinase inhibitory domain, and synthetic peptides based on the sequence of residues 11-30 are potent competitive inhibitors of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase [Scott, J. D., Fischer, E. H., Demaille, J. G. & Krebs, E. G. (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82, 4379-4383]. Residues 14-22 show considerable homology to the "hinge-regions" of the regulatory subunits of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase. The remainder of the molecule shows no similarity to the known amino acid sequence of any protein.