Kilo Code CLI

Orchestrate agents from your terminal. Plan, debug, and code fast with keyboard-first navigation on the command line.

The Kilo Code CLI uses the same underlying technology that powers the IDE extensions, so you can expect the same workflow to handle agentic coding tasks from start to finish.

Install

npm install -g @kilocode/cli

Change directory to where you want to work and run kilocode:

# Start interactive chat session
kilocode

# Start with a specific mode
kilocode --mode architect

# Start with a specific workspace
kilocode --workspace /path/to/project

to start the CLI and begin a new task with your preferred model and relevant mode.

What you can do with Kilo Code CLI

• Plan and execute code changes without leaving your terminal. Use your command line to make edits to your project without opening your IDE.
• Switch between hundreds of LLMs without constraints. Other CLI tools only work with one model or curate opinionated lists. With Kilo, you can switch models without booting up another tool.
• Choose the right mode for the task in your workflow. Select between Architect, Ask, Debug, Orchestrator, or custom agent modes.
• Automate tasks. Get AI assistance writing shell scripts for tasks like renaming all of the files in a folder or transforming sizes for a set of images.

CLI reference

CLI commands

Command	Description	Example
kilocode	Start interactive
/mode	Switch between modes (architect, code, debug, ask, orchestrator)	/mode orchestrator
/model	Learn about available models and switch between them
/model list	List available models
/model info	Prints description for a specific model by name	/model info z-ai/glm-4.5v
/model select	Select and switch to a new model
/new	Start a new task with the agent with a clean slate
/help	List available commands and how to use them
/exit	Exit the CLI

Config reference for providers

Kilo gives you the ability to bring your own keys for a number of model providers and AI gateways, like OpenRouter and Vercel AI Gateway. Each provider has unique configuration options and some let you set environment variables.

You can reference the Provider Configuration Guide for examples if you want to edit .config files manually. You can also run:

kilocode config

to complete configuration with an interactive workflow on the command line.

Autonomous mode (Non-Interactive)

Autonomous mode allows Kilo Code to run in automated environments like CI/CD pipelines without requiring user interaction.

# Run in autonomous mode with a prompt
kilocode --auto "Implement feature X"

# Run in autonomous mode with piped input
echo "Fix the bug in app.ts" | kilocode --auto

# Run in autonomous mode with timeout (in seconds)
kilocode --auto "Run tests" --timeout 300

Autonomous Mode Behavior

When running in Autonomous mode (--auto flag):

1. No User Interaction: All approval requests are handled automatically based on configuration
2. Auto-Approval/Rejection: Operations are approved or rejected based on your auto-approval settings
3. Follow-up Questions: Automatically responded with a message instructing the AI to make autonomous decisions
4. Automatic Exit: The CLI exits automatically when the task completes or times out

Auto-Approval Configuration

Autonomous mode respects your auto-approval configuration. Edit your config file with kilocode config to customize:

{
	"autoApproval": {
		"enabled": true,
		"read": {
			"enabled": true,
			"outside": true
		},
		"write": {
			"enabled": true,
			"outside": false,
			"protected": false
		},
		"execute": {
			"enabled": true,
			"allowed": ["npm", "git", "pnpm"],
			"denied": ["rm -rf", "sudo"]
		},
		"browser": {
			"enabled": false
		},
		"mcp": {
			"enabled": true
		},
		"mode": {
			"enabled": true
		},
		"subtasks": {
			"enabled": true
		},
		"question": {
			"enabled": false,
			"timeout": 60
		},
		"retry": {
			"enabled": true,
			"delay": 10
		},
		"todo": {
			"enabled": true
		}
	}
}

Configuration Options:

• read: Auto-approve file read operations
  • outside: Allow reading files outside workspace
• write: Auto-approve file write operations
  • outside: Allow writing files outside workspace
  • protected: Allow writing to protected files (e.g., package.json)
• execute: Auto-approve command execution
  • allowed: List of allowed command patterns (e.g., ["npm", "git"])
  • denied: List of denied command patterns (takes precedence)
• browser: Auto-approve browser operations
• mcp: Auto-approve MCP tool usage
• mode: Auto-approve mode switching
• subtasks: Auto-approve subtask creation
• question: Auto-approve follow-up questions
• retry: Auto-approve API retry requests
• todo: Auto-approve todo list updates

Command Approval Patterns

The execute.allowed and execute.denied lists support hierarchical pattern matching:

• Base command: "git" matches any git command (e.g., git status, git commit, git push)
• Command + subcommand: "git status" matches any git status command (e.g., git status --short, git status -v)
• Full command: "git status --short" only matches exactly git status --short

Example:

{
	"execute": {
		"enabled": true,
		"allowed": [
			"npm", // Allows all npm commands
			"git status", // Allows all git status commands
			"ls -la" // Only allows exactly "ls -la"
		],
		"denied": [
			"git push --force" // Denies this specific command even if "git" is allowed
		]
	}
}

Interactive Command Approval

When running in interactive mode, command approval requests now show hierarchical options:

[!] Action Required:
> ✓ Run Command (y)
  ✓ Always run git (1)
  ✓ Always run git status (2)
  ✓ Always run git status --short --branch (3)
  ✗ Reject (n)

Selecting an "Always run" option will:

1. Approve and execute the current command
2. Add the pattern to your execute.allowed list in the config
3. Auto-approve matching commands in the future

This allows you to progressively build your auto-approval rules without manually editing the config file.

Autonomous Mode Follow-up Questions

In Autonomous mode, when the AI asks a follow-up question, it receives this response:

"This process is running in non-interactive Autonomous mode. The user cannot make decisions, so you should make the decision autonomously."

This instructs the AI to proceed without user input.

Exit Codes

• 0: Success (task completed)
• 124: Timeout (task exceeded time limit)
• 1: Error (initialization or execution failure)

Example CI/CD Integration

# GitHub Actions example
- name: Run Kilo Code
  run: |
      echo "Implement the new feature" | kilocode --auto --timeout 600

Local Development

DevTools

In order to run the CLI with devtools, add DEV=true to your pnpm start command, and then run npx react-devtools to show the devtools inspector.