The outcome

Get into the official Kilo Code experience with the right account and a setup you understand.

Kilo Code is a open-source AI coding agent for VS Code and terminal workflows. Planning and completing repository tasks with specialized agents, configurable providers, project rules, granular tool permissions, and optional terminal automation. This guide narrows that broad capability into one repeatable outcome, with checkpoints that keep the source material and your judgment in the loop.

Before you begin

Set the boundary before the tool starts.

Choose one real task, identify who will use the result, and decide what evidence or test will make the result acceptable. Gather only the source material needed for that task. If the work contains confidential, personal, regulated, or client-owned information, confirm that the platform and account are approved before sharing it.

Troiana principle

AI should make the work easier to inspect. If the workflow removes the source, the owner, or the review step, redesign the workflow.

Step by step

A workflow you can repeat.

  1. 01

    Start at https://kilo.ai/ and confirm the domain before entering account or payment information.

  2. 02

    For desktop use, follow the official download link. Current availability: Kilo Code is available as a VS Code extension and CLI with coding, planning, debugging, custom-agent, autocomplete, MCP, and multi-provider workflows..

  3. 03

    A supported editor or terminal, the official extension or CLI, and an approved built-in, cloud, gateway, or local model provider.

  4. 04

    Sign in with the account you intend to keep using, then review plan, data, notification, and permission settings.

  5. 05

    Run one low-risk test task before connecting sensitive files, repositories, or workspace data.

Working standard

What good use looks like.

  • Use official download pages.
  • Review permissions during setup.
  • Keep installers and applications updated.

Kilo can read and edit files, execute shell commands, access external directories and the web, load skills and MCP tools, and launch other agents. Its smooth defaults allow many tools automatically, so review project and global rules before use, deny secrets and external paths, keep shell and side effects approval-gated, avoid autonomous mode on untrusted work, isolate parallel sessions, bound cost and retries, and independently verify every result.

Official references

Check the current product documentation.

Features, plan limits, availability, and data controls change. These official pages are the starting points used for this collection.