Kilo Code
Open-source (MIT) AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, the CLI, mobile and Slack, with hundreds of models at provider rates and built-in subagents.
Kilo Code is an open-source (MIT) coding agent that runs in VS Code, JetBrains and the terminal, and continues on your phone, in Slack and in cloud agents. The IDE extensions are built on the Kilo CLI and share one kilo.jsonc. Models come through the Kilo Gateway at provider rates with no markup, or from your own keys, a ChatGPT or SuperGrok subscription, or local Ollama and LM Studio. Code, Plan and Debug agents split big jobs into subagents on their own; the old Orchestrator mode is deprecated. It's consistently among the most-used coding agents on OpenRouter's public rankings (see our monthly analysis). Every guide below was rebuilt from Kilo's docs on 2026-09-27.
Kilo is one of the most-used independent coding agents in OpenRouter's public usage rankings, which we track in the openrouter-monthly column. Its lineage is Cline → Roo Code → Kilo Code; Cline and Roo Code are covered in the glossary.
Guides
npm install -g @kilocode/cli, mobile and Slack; signing in or bringing your own key; kilo.jsonc.task tool. How subagents, background tasks and Kilo Swarm work.If you only ever use Claude and prefer Anthropic's official tooling, Claude Cowork + Claude Code is cleaner. If you need long-running unattended autonomy (memory across sessions, scheduled task execution), Hermes is purpose-built for that. If you need a sandboxed agent for production secrets, IronClaw's deny-by-default model goes further than Kilo's optional sandbox. Kilo is best for developers who want maximum model flexibility, multi-IDE support and subagent delegation out of the box.
At a Glance
| Factor | Detail |
|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source AI coding agent: VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin, CLI, mobile apps, Slack bot, cloud agents |
| License | MIT |
| Current release | 7.8.1 (2026-09-25) |
| Lineage | Cline → Roo Code → Kilo Code; the CLI is a fork of OpenCode |
| Install | VS Code Marketplace (Install Pre-Release Version), Open VSX, JetBrains Marketplace, npm install -g @kilocode/cli |
| Config | ~/.config/kilo/kilo.jsonc + project kilo.jsonc or .kilo/ |
| Model access | Kilo Gateway (provider rates, no markup), BYOK, 30+ direct providers, ChatGPT/SuperGrok logins, local |
| Pricing | Free tool; credits at cost plus a 5% purchase fee; Kilo Pass $19/$49/$199 a month; Teams $15/user/month |
| Safety controls | allow/ask/deny permission rules; OS sandbox (macOS/Linux, off by default) |
| Less ideal for | Long-running unattended autonomy (use Hermes), handling production secrets (use IronClaw), Anthropic-only stacks (Claude Code) |
Kilo Code Use Cases (paired with our Use Cases hub)
Kilo's orchestrator mode shines whenever a task has multiple natural sub-steps. These pair particularly well:
- Code review automation — Kilo's code-review agents run on GitHub and GitLab pull requests
- Dependency updater — a cloud agent can branch, upgrade and open the PR
- PR summarizer — subagents can read the diff in parallel
- Release notes generator — pair with mobile Kilo for review-on-the-go workflow
- All 12 use cases →
Related on This Site
- Official sources: Kilo Code docs · pricing · GitHub (MIT)
- OpenClaw — the conversational/skills-oriented self-hosted alternative; pairs with Kilo for non-coding work
- Hermes — long-running autonomous agent; complements Kilo for unattended tasks
- Claude Cowork — Anthropic's first-party stack, a different philosophy
- IronClaw — when production-grade sandboxing matters more than IDE convenience
- Decision guide — pick the right agent for your workload
- What is Cline? · What is Roo Code? · What was orchestrator mode?
- Monthly OpenRouter analysis — original data on coding-agent adoption
See also: News · Cost calculator (the models Kilo routes to are in there) · Security hub
Latest Kilo Code News
Recent releases, tutorials, and video summaries:
