Kilo: Open Source IDEs & Code Editors

What is Kilo?

What it is

Kilo is an open-source AI coding agent platform that integrates into VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, the CLI, and cloud environments. It enables developers to build, ship, and iterate faster by acting as an autonomous or semi-autonomous coding assistant across their entire workflow. Built in TypeScript and licensed under MIT, it supports 500+ models—including GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview—without vendor lock-in or markup.

Kilo solves the fragmentation problem in AI-assisted development by unifying coding, planning, debugging, and review capabilities into a single extensible agent framework. Unlike siloed tools, it allows mid-task model switching, self-correction, and terminal/browser control, reducing context switching and manual intervention.

Key capabilities

Code generation from natural language across multiple files
Inline autocomplete with ghost-text suggestions and tab-to-accept
Self-checking to review and correct its own output
Terminal and browser control for command execution and web automation
MCP marketplace for discovering and integrating external tools via MCP servers
Support for 500+ models with mid-task switching based on latency, cost, or reasoning needs
Five built-in agents: Code, Plan, Ask, Debug, and Review

Who uses it and how

Developers use VS Code or JetBrains extensions to get inline AI assistance during coding
Engineers run the CLI in CI/CD pipelines with kilo run --auto to automate testing, fixing, and deployment tasks
Teams deploy KiloClaw as a persistent cloud agent for ongoing code maintenance and monitoring
Organizations use the hosted cloud agent at app.kilo.ai/cloud for team-wide access without local setup
Contributors build custom agents via the MCP ecosystem to extend Kilo for domain-specific workflows

Getting started

Install via npm, pnpm, bun, Homebrew, Arch AUR, or download prebuilt binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Run kilo in any project directory to start the CLI agent. For VS Code or JetBrains, install the official extension/plugin from their respective marketplaces. Cloud features are accessible at app.kilo.ai.

When to use it — and when not to

Use Kilo when you need a unified, open-source agent that works across IDEs, CLI, and cloud with no API key setup or model markup. It replaces paid tools like GitHub Copilot or Cursor when cost control, model choice, or self-hosting are priorities. Self-hoster must manage their own model provider accounts (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic) and may need SMTP or storage for advanced features like email notifications or artifact caching. Avoid it if you require fully offline operation without internet access to model providers, or if your workflow strictly depends on proprietary tooling with no integration path.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

The open source coding agent for building with AI in VS Code, JetBrains, or the CLI.

Kilo-in-VS-Code-and-CLI

Kilo Code is an AI coding agent that meets you everywhere you work: VS Code, JetBrains, and the CLI. It's open source with open pricing. You pick from 500+ models, switch between them mid-task, and pay the model provider's rate with zero markup. No API keys required to start.

Installation

Pick where you want to run Kilo.

VS Code

Install the Kilo Code extension directly, or grab it from the VS Code Marketplace. Create an account and you'll have access to 500+ models including GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, all at provider pricing.

CLI

# npm
npm install -g @kilocode/cli

# curl
curl -fsSL https://kilo.ai/cli/install | bash

# pnpm
pnpm add -g @kilocode/cli

# bun
bun add -g @kilocode/cli

# Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew install Kilo-Org/tap/kilo

# Arch Linux (AUR)
paru -S kilo-bin

Then run kilo in any project directory to start.

JetBrains

Install the Kilo Code plugin from the JetBrains Marketplace, or search "Kilo Code" in Settings → Plugins inside any JetBrains IDE.

Cloud Agent

Run Kilo from the web, no local machine needed, at app.kilo.ai/cloud.

Code Reviews

Set up automated AI code reviews on your pull requests at app.kilo.ai/code-reviews.

KiloClaw

Spin up your always-on AI agent at app.kilo.ai/claw.

Install the CLI from GitHub Releases (binaries)

Download the latest binary from the Releases page.

Platform	Asset
Windows (most PCs)	`kilo-windows-x64.zip`
macOS (Apple Silicon)	`kilo-darwin-arm64.zip`
macOS (Intel)	`kilo-darwin-x64.zip`
Linux x64	`kilo-linux-x64.tar.gz`
Linux ARM	`kilo-linux-arm64.tar.gz`

Notes: x64-baseline is a compatibility build for older CPUs without AVX. musl is the statically linked build for Alpine or minimal Docker images without glibc. kilo-vscode-*.vsix is the VS Code extension package, not the CLI. Source code archives are for building from source.

Agents

Kilo ships with specialized agents you switch between depending on the task. You can also build your own custom agents.

Code - The default. Implements and edits code from natural language.
Plan - Designs architecture and writes implementation plans before any code gets written.
Ask - Answers questions about your codebase without touching any files.
Debug - Troubleshoots and traces issues.
Review - Reviews your changes and surfaces issues across performance, security, style, and test coverage.

Learn more about agents and custom agents.

What it does

Code generation from natural language, across multiple files.
Inline autocomplete with ghost-text suggestions and tab to accept.
Self-checking so the agent reviews and corrects its own work.
Terminal and browser control to run commands and automate the web.
MCP marketplace to find and wire up MCP servers that extend what the agent can do.
500+ models with mid-task switching, so you can match latency, cost, and reasoning to the job.

Autonomous Mode (CI/CD)

Run kilo run with --auto for fully autonomous operation with no prompts, built for CI/CD pipelines:

kilo run --auto "run tests and fix any failures"

--auto disables all permission prompts and lets the agent execute any action without confirmation. Only use it in trusted environments.

Documentation

For configuration and everything else, head over to the docs.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome from developers, writers, and everyone in between. Start with the Contributing Guide for environment setup, coding standards, and how to open a pull request. See RELEASING.md for the VS Code extension and CLI release process, and packages/kilo-jetbrains/RELEASING.md for the JetBrains plugin.

Please review our Code of Conduct before getting involved.

License

MIT. You're free to use, modify, and distribute this code, including commercially, as long as you keep the attribution and license notices. See License.

FAQ

Where did Kilo CLI come from?

Kilo CLI is a fork of OpenCode, enhanced to work within the Kilo agentic engineering platform.

Join the community Discord | X | Reddit

Frequently asked questions

Is Kilo free to use?

Kilo is open source under the MIT licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Kilo do?

AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, and Cloud

What is Kilo written in?

Kilo is primarily written in TypeScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/kilo-org/kilocode, and it has 27,341 GitHub stars.