Kimi CLI Guide

Kimi CLI is a new CLI agent that can help you with your software development tasks and terminal operations.

IMPORTANT

Kimi CLI is currently in technical preview.

Key features

• Shell-like UI and shell command execution
• IDE integration via Agent Client Protocol
• Zsh integration
• MCP support
• And more to come...

Installation

Script install

Linux/macOS:

curl -LsSf https://cdn.kimi.com/binaries/kimi-cli/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

Invoke-RestMethod https://cdn.kimi.com/binaries/kimi-cli/install.ps1 | Invoke-Expression

Package manager install

If you prefer more control, install via uv. If you have not installed uv yet, please follow the instructions here to install it first.

Once uv is installed, you can install Kimi CLI with:

uv tool install --python 3.13 kimi-cli

Run kimi --help to check if Kimi CLI is installed successfully.

IMPORTANT

Due to the security checks on macOS, the first time you run kimi command may take 10 seconds or more depending on your system environment.

Upgrading

Upgrade Kimi CLI to the latest version with:

uv tool upgrade kimi-cli --no-cache

Usage

Run kimi command in the directory you want to work on, then send /setup to setup Kimi CLI:

After setup, Kimi CLI will be ready to use. You can send /help to get more information.

Features

Thinking mode

In Kimi CLI, you can toggle Thinking mode by pressing the Tab key.

Shell command mode

Kimi CLI is not only a coding agent, but also a shell. You can switch the shell command mode by pressing Ctrl-X. In this mode, you can directly run shell commands without leaving Kimi CLI.

NOTE

Built-in shell commands like cd are not supported yet.

Zsh integration

You can use Kimi CLI together with Zsh, to empower your shell experience with AI agent capabilities.

Install the zsh-kimi-cli plugin via:

git clone https://github.com/MoonshotAI/zsh-kimi-cli.git \
  ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/kimi-cli

NOTE

If you are using a plugin manager other than Oh My Zsh, you may need to refer to the plugin's README for installation instructions.

Then add kimi-cli to your Zsh plugin list in ~/.zshrc:

plugins=(... kimi-cli)

After restarting Zsh, you can switch to agent mode by pressing Ctrl-X.

IDE integration via ACP

Kimi CLI supports Agent Client Protocol out of the box. You can use it together with any ACP-compatible editor or IDE.

To use Kimi CLI with ACP clients, make sure to run Kimi CLI in the terminal and send /setup to complete the setup first. Then, you can configure your ACP client to start Kimi CLI as an ACP agent server with command kimi --acp (or kimi --acp --thinking with thinking mode enabled).

For example, to use Kimi CLI with Zed or JetBrains, add the following configuration to your ~/.config/zed/settings.json or ~/.jetbrains/acp.json file:

{
  "agent_servers": {
    "Kimi CLI": {
      "command": "kimi",
      "args": ["--acp", "--thinking"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Then you can create Kimi CLI threads in your IDE's agent panel.

Using MCP tools

Kimi CLI supports MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools.

kimi mcp sub-command group

You can manage MCP servers with kimi mcp sub-command group. For example:

# Add streamable HTTP server:
kimi mcp add --transport http context7 https://mcp.context7.com/mcp --header "CONTEXT7_API_KEY: ctx7sk-your-key"

# Add streamable HTTP server with OAuth authorization:
kimi mcp add --transport http --auth oauth linear https://mcp.linear.app/mcp

# Add stdio server:
kimi mcp add --transport stdio chrome-devtools -- npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

# List added MCP servers:
kimi mcp list

# Remove an MCP server:
kimi mcp remove chrome-devtools

# Authorize an MCP server:
kimi mcp auth linear

Ad-hoc MCP configuration

Kimi CLI also supports ad-hoc MCP server configuration via CLI option.

Given an MCP config file in the well-known MCP config format like the following:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context7": {
      "url": "https://mcp.context7.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "CONTEXT7_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    },
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Run kimi with --mcp-config-file option to connect to the specified MCP servers:

kimi --mcp-config-file /path/to/mcp.json