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Kilo Code

Official

The open source, all-in-one agentic engineering platform

GitHub source repository ↗

★ 26.7k Stars Category · Dev Tools Very popular

30FMRS · D

Reliability

2/20

Security and permissions

6/20

Maintenance

10/20

Documentation

8/20

Setup experience

4/20

Kilo Code is an actively maintained, MIT-licensed open source project from Kilo-Org offering a mature multi-surface (VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, cloud) AI coding agent with multi-model switching, code generation, autocomplete, and CI/CD automation, plus an MCP marketplace for connecting external MCP servers. However, the source material provides no evidence that this repository itself implements or exposes a standard MCP server interface (tool list, transport, connectable MCP clients), so those fields are left empty and it should not be treated as a directly connectable MCP server.

Read the FMRS scoring method →

Kilo Code is an open source coding agent that works as a VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin, CLI tool, or cloud agent. It supports 500+ AI models with mid-task switching, bills at the model provider's rate with no markup, and requires no API keys to get started. The README describes a built-in "MCP marketplace" for finding and wiring up external MCP servers to extend the agent's capabilities, but there is no evidence in the source material that Kilo Code itself exposes MCP tools or acts as an MCP server that other clients connect to. Fields specific to being a connectable MCP server (transport, tool list, client compatibility, install config for an MCP host) are left empty accordingly.

Tools

The tool list has not been reviewed yet.

Setup

Choose an installation path based on where you work: install the "Kilo Code" extension from the VS Code Marketplace; install the CLI via npm (npm install -g @kilocode/cli), the curl install script, pnpm, bun, Homebrew (Kilo-Org/tap/kilo), or the Arch AUR (kilo-bin), then run kilo in a project directory; install the JetBrains plugin by searching "Kilo Code" under Settings → Plugins; or download a prebuilt binary from the GitHub Releases page for your platform (note the x64-baseline build for older CPUs without AVX, the musl build for glibc-less containers like Alpine, and that the .vsix file is the VS Code extension package, not the CLI). These steps install Kilo Code itself as a coding-agent client; the source material does not include a configuration example for adding Kilo Code as an MCP server to an MCP host.

Fit and risk

Best for

Developers who want one agent with access to 500+ switchable AI models across editor and terminal
Teams setting up automated pull request code reviews
Teams wanting an autonomous coding agent in CI/CD pipelines to fix failing tests or complete defined tasks
Users who prefer open source tooling billed at provider rates with no subscription markup

Not for

Users looking for a standard MCP server that exposes specific tools/resources to connect to (the source material does not show Kilo Code offering this)
Fully offline scenarios with no external model provider account or network access
Environments where automatic terminal command execution and browser control cannot be trusted or permitted

Required permissions

Terminal command execution, used to run and automate tasks
Browser control, used to automate web actions
Read/write access to local repository files for code generation and edits
With `--auto`, the agent can perform any action without confirmation prompts

Risks and side effects

`--auto` disables all permission prompts, letting the agent execute any action unconfirmed — the README explicitly warns to only use it in trusted environments
Granting terminal and browser control carries risk of unintended or incorrect actions being executed
The agent's "self-checking" reviews its own work but does not guarantee correctness, so human review is still warranted
The source material does not describe data handling/privacy practices for the third-party model providers it connects to; check official docs before relying on it for sensitive code

Troubleshooting

Confirm you downloaded the correct release asset for your platform (Windows, macOS Apple Silicon/Intel, Linux x64/ARM); use the x64-baseline build on older CPUs without AVX, and the musl build in glibc-less containers like Alpine
Make sure you didn't install the `.vsix` (VS Code extension package) when you intended to install the CLI binary
Model access requires creating an account first; if model calls fail, verify account setup and model selection
If an automated pipeline behaves unexpectedly, check whether `--auto` was used and is skipping confirmations you expected

Use cases

Generating and editing code from natural language across multiple files, in VS Code, JetBrains, or the terminal

Speeding up coding with inline ghost-text autocomplete suggestions

Using the built-in Plan, Ask, Debug, and Review agents for architecture design, codebase Q&A, troubleshooting, and change review

Running unattended automation in CI/CD with `kilo run --auto` (e.g., running tests and fixing failures)

Connecting external MCP servers via the built-in MCP marketplace to extend what the agent can do

Supported clients

Supported clients have not been confirmed yet.

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