Migrating from kimi-cli

INFO

Kimi Code CLI has gone through a major version upgrade — moving from Python/uv to Node.js, bringing a simpler install experience, faster startup, and a redesigned terminal UI. The legacy version will gradually be phased out, so we recommend upgrading as soon as possible.

If you are migrating from the legacy version, follow the steps below — a single command migrates your config, MCP servers, and session history to the new version.

What's new

• No more Python / uv: Rebuilt on Node.js — no Python environment needed, simpler to install
• Native binary, works out of the box: Faster startup, lighter footprint
• Redesigned terminal UI: Smoother, more responsive experience
• Full data migration: Config, MCP servers, and session history all carry over seamlessly

How to migrate

There are two ways to migrate.

The first time you run kimi after installing kimi-code, it automatically checks whether kimi-cli data exists under ~/.kimi/. If it finds any, a migration prompt appears, and you can choose to migrate now, do it later, or never be asked again.

You can also run it manually at any time:

kimi migrate

You can choose whether to migrate chat sessions as well. If you don't need the history yet, pick Config only; otherwise pick Config + N sessions to bring everything across in one go. A summary is printed at the end.

What happens during migration

What gets migrated: configuration (config.toml), MCP server configuration, input history, and whichever chat sessions you chose to migrate.

What does not get migrated: OAuth login credentials and MCP service authorizations are not copied, so you will need to run /login again and re-authorize MCP servers after migrating. kimi-cli plugins are also out of scope.

TIP

Migration never modifies or deletes any of the old data under ~/.kimi/. kimi-cli keeps working as before, and the two do not interfere with each other. Migration can also be run repeatedly — sessions that have already been migrated are not imported again.

After migration, sessions imported from kimi-cli are tagged with [imported] in the session picker so you can tell them apart from new ones.