The outcome

Learn the interaction loop using a small task with a clear outcome.

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

    Install the official extension or CLI and select an approved provider without storing credentials in the repository.

  2. 02

    Open a clean branch and change consequential tools from allow to ask or deny before the first task.

  3. 03

    Use a planning agent to inspect the request and agree on acceptance criteria before allowing edits.

  4. 04

    Review commands, changed files, tests, costs, and the final diff before committing or shipping.

Working standard

What good use looks like.

  • State the outcome before the background.
  • Provide the real source material.
  • Review the result before expanding the task.

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.