Cloud Parts

Kilo Code

An open-source coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains and the terminal. It began in 2025 as a fork of Roo Code, and since 2026 every surface runs on Kilo CLI, a fork of OpenCode.

What it is
AI coding agents (terminal agents)
Part of
Fork of OpenCode
Type
Open source
Made by
Kilo Code (acquired by Anaconda in 2026)
License
MIT (the Roo Code-based legacy extensions were Apache 2.0)
Facts checked
9 October 2026
Website Source code

What it is

Kilo Code is one agent engine with several front ends. Kilo CLI, a fork of OpenCode, runs as a terminal UI, a one-shot kilo run command for scripts and CI, or a headless server; the VS Code extension and JetBrains plugin embed the same runtime, so a session started in the terminal can be picked up in the editor. Work is done by agents: built-in ones are Code, Plan, Ask, Debug and Orchestrator, which hands pieces of a task to subagents running in parallel. You can write your own agents as Markdown files in .kilo/agents/. Settings live in a kilo.jsonc file, with per-tool permission rules that use glob patterns. In VS Code an Agent Manager runs several agents at once, each in its own Git worktree if you like, and lets you leave line-level review comments on their diffs.

Kilo is free to install. Models come through the Kilo Gateway, more than 500 of them at the provider’s list price with no markup, or through your own API keys. Inline autocomplete uses Mistral’s Codestral model. The extensions and CLI are open source; the gateway and cloud backend are proprietary but their source is published. Anaconda announced in July 2026 that it was acquiring Kilo Code, and Kilo is still sold to individuals and teams alongside Anaconda’s enterprise platform.

Why teams pick it

  • The same engine and sessions in VS Code, JetBrains, the terminal and CI, so you can move a task between them
  • Parallel work: subagents run at the same time, and the Agent Manager gives each agent its own worktree and compares models on one prompt
  • Model choice without a markup: over 500 models through the gateway at list price, or your own keys
  • Open source code (MIT) for every surface a developer installs

Watch out for

  • The product has been rebuilt twice in a year: the Roo Code-based extensions reached end of life on 31 July 2026, and modes were replaced by agents, so old guides and settings often don’t apply
  • The gateway and cloud backend that most users rely on are proprietary, published for reading and auditing but not open source
  • It changed owner in July 2026: Anaconda now sells Kilo as part of its enterprise AI platform, so its direction depends on a new parent
  • Autocomplete keeps calling Codestral in the background while it is enabled, which uses credits unless you add your own Mistral key
  • kilo run --auto approves every action that a rule doesn’t explicitly deny, so it belongs in a trusted sandbox

How it fits with other technologies

Kilo CLI: list the agents, plan with one, then run unattended in CI · bash

npm install -g @kilocode/cli
kilo auth login                  # Kilo account, or another provider
kilo agent list                  # ask, code, debug, orchestrator, plan, plus subagents

kilo run --agent plan "Plan how to split the billing module into its own package"

# In CI: approve every action no rule denies (only in a trusted sandbox)
kilo run --auto "run tests and fix any failures"

Where Kilo’s code came from#

Kilo has had two code bases. This is why it is listed under OpenCode, not under Roo Code or Cline.

Built onStatus
Kilo Code extension, 2025 to 2026A fork of Roo Code, itself a fork of Cline (Apache 2.0)End of life on 31 July 2026; kept in kilocode-legacy for reference
Kilo CLI, since early 2026A fork of OpenCode (MIT)Current
VS Code extension, since April 2026Rebuilt on the OpenCode server that powers Kilo CLICurrent; Kilo CLI and Cloud Agents share the engine

See it in a real stack

No architecture uses Kilo Code yet. Drop it into the playground and wire it up yourself.Open playground →
Where it came from2025–2026

In March 2025 JP Posma and a team of ten forked the Roo Code VS Code extension, which was itself a fork of Cline, and launched Kilo Code with a free tier and its own model proxy so new users needed no API key. Its stated strategy was “don’t innovate”: copy the best ideas fast and in the open, keep merging Roo Code’s changes and port Cline’s, so that Kilo would always be a superset of both. It added a Teams plan, cloud agents, code reviews and an app builder, and in December 2025 raised $8 million in seed funding led by Cota Capital. It was co-founded by CEO Scott Breitenother and GitLab’s co-founder and former CEO.

Every Kilo surface, including the CLI, the JetBrains plugin and the cloud agents, was still running VS Code internals, even inside JetBrains IDEs. So in early 2026 Kilo rebuilt its CLI on OpenCode server, an MIT-licensed open-source agent core, then rebuilt the VS Code extension on the same engine: a pre-release in March and the default for all users on 2 April 2026. When Roo Code shut down that spring, Kilo invited its users over. The old Roo-based extensions reached end of life on 31 July 2026.

On 15 July 2026 Anaconda announced it was acquiring Kilo Code. By then Kilo said it was handling almost 10 trillion tokens a month for more than 3 million developers. Anaconda’s pitch is governance for enterprises: one place to see AI coding spend, route requests to any model and enforce policy, with Kilo as the agent developers use.

Why it’s built this way

Fork Roo Code and stay a superset of it and Cline
Building on an existing open-source agent meant shipping on day one. Copying good ideas in the open, and letting others copy back, was the plan rather than inventing new features.
Sell model access at list price, with no markup
Kilo argued that rate limits, downgraded models and opaque credit pricing in other tools slowed developers down. Passing through the provider’s price kept every model available at a predictable cost.
Replace the VS Code-based core with OpenCode’s server
Running VS Code internals inside the CLI, JetBrains and cloud agents capped what Kilo could build. A portable core shared by every surface brought parallel tool calls, subagents and sessions that move between terminal and editor.

Timeline

  1. 2025

    Launched in March as a fork of Roo Code

  2. 2025

    $8 million seed round led by Cota Capital in December

  3. 2026

    Kilo CLI rebuilt on OpenCode server early in the year

  4. 2026

    Rebuilt VS Code extension becomes the default on April 2

  5. 2026

    Anaconda announces the acquisition on July 15; legacy extensions end of life July 31

Sources11 · facts checked 9 October 2026

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