Settings

The VS Code extension can be configured through the Settings window, opened by pressing the gear icon. Both the CLI and the extension can also be configured through interactions with the agent. The current VS Code extension and CLI share the same underlying settings, so changes in one are reflected in the other.

Configuring with the Agent

The fastest way to change your Kilo configuration is to ask the agent to do it for you. The agent has a built-in skill that understands the full kilo.jsonc schema and can read, create, and update your config files directly.

Examples of things you can ask:

  • "Switch my default model to Claude Sonnet"
  • "Disable the OpenAI and Groq providers"
  • "Set up an MCP server for Figma"
  • "Auto-approve all read and glob operations"
  • "Create a custom agent for code review"

The agent will edit the appropriate config file (global or project-level) and explain what it changed. This works in both the CLI and VS Code extension.

💡Tip

This is especially useful for complex configuration like custom model definitions, MCP server setup, or permission patterns — the agent knows the correct syntax and will validate the config for you.

Managing Settings

The VS Code extension provides a Settings webview UI accessible from the extension sidebar by clicking the gear icon (). The UI is organized into tabs including Providers, Auto-Approve, Models, and more.

This UI reads and writes to the same underlying JSONC config files used by the CLI, so changes made in either place are reflected in both.

Config File Locations

There are two primary config files:

  • Global config: ~/.config/kilo/kilo.jsonc — applies to all projects. On Windows, this is C:\Users\<username>\.config\kilo\kilo.jsonc.
  • Project config: kilo.jsonc in your project root, or .kilo/kilo.jsonc for a cleaner setup. The .kilo/ version takes priority if both exist.
⚠️Warning

If you check config files into version control, make sure they do not contain API keys or other secrets (e.g., provider.*.options.apiKey). Use environment variables for credentials instead.

Export and Import

Config files are plain-text and portable — copy them between machines and you're done.

Experimental Features

The new extension exposes experimental features via the Experimental tab in Settings (click the gear icon → Experimental).

Available experimental toggles include:

  • Share mode — manual, auto, or disabled session sharing
  • LSP integration — expose language server diagnostics to the agent
  • Paste summary — summarize large clipboard pastes before including them
  • Batch tool — allow the agent to batch multiple tool calls in one step

Advanced options not exposed in the UI can be configured via the experimental key in kilo.jsonc:

{
  "experimental": {
    "codebase_search": true,
    "batch_tool": false,
    "disable_paste_summary": false,
    "mcp_timeout": 30000
  }
}

Refer to the auto-generated $schema in your kilo.jsonc for the full list of available options.