The outcome

Produce a scoped, tested change without letting permissive defaults or autonomous execution bypass review.

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

    Create a clean branch, capture repository status and baseline checks, and inspect project guidance, generated files, and sensitive paths.

  2. 02

    Review global and project permission rules, changing shell, edits, external directories, web access, MCP, skills, and subagents to ask or deny where appropriate.

  3. 03

    Give the planning agent the outcome, acceptance criteria, relevant paths, non-goals, and validation commands, then approve a minimal implementation plan.

  4. 04

    Use the coding agent interactively, reviewing every consequential action, changed file, dependency, command, test result, and attempt to broaden scope.

  5. 05

    Run trusted checks independently, inspect the complete diff and usage cost, and merge or deploy only through the repository's normal human-approved workflow.

Working standard

What good use looks like.

  • Audit defaults before the first prompt.
  • Use interactive mode for consequential work.
  • Keep release actions human-controlled.

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.