Settings

The VS Code extension can be configured through the Settings window, opened by pressing the gear icon in Kilo Code. Changes apply across extension surfaces, including the sidebar and Agent Manager. The CLI can also use the same JSONC config files when you use it directly.

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 Kilo Code 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 across extension surfaces. Changes apply to the sidebar, Agent Manager, and the CLI when used directly.

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.

Use Local Config or Global Config in the Settings header to open the matching config file from VS Code. If multiple config files are available, choose the exact file from the picker. If the recommended file does not exist yet, Kilo creates it before opening it.

⚠️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.

Reasoning Blocks

Reasoning blocks stay expanded by default in the VS Code chat UI. Enable Auto-Collapse Reasoning in the Display tab, or set auto_collapse_reasoning in kilo.jsonc, to collapse them after the agent finishes writing them:

{
  "auto_collapse_reasoning": true
}

Terminal Command Blocks

Terminal command blocks stay expanded by default in the VS Code chat UI. Choose Collapsed for Terminal Command Blocks in the Display tab, or set terminal_command_display in kilo.jsonc, to start them collapsed:

{
  "terminal_command_display": "collapsed"
}

Valid values are expanded and collapsed.

Markdown Diff Rendering

Markdown files in Kilo diff viewers can be shown as rendered Markdown instead of a raw text diff. Use the eye/code toggle in a Markdown file header, or set kilo-code.new.diff.renderMarkdown to true to render Markdown files by default.

Export and Import

You can export and import settings from the About Kilo Code tab in the Settings UI:

  • Export: Saves your global config as a kilo-settings.json file. Review it before sharing, because config values are exported as-is.
  • Import: Loads a previously exported JSON file into the settings draft. Changes are not applied immediately — you can review them and click Save or Discard, just like any manual edit.

Config files are also plain-text and portable — you can copy ~/.config/kilo/kilo.jsonc between machines directly.

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
  • Agent Manager Tool - allow agents to start Agent Manager local and worktree sessions from chat
  • OpenTelemetry — enable Kilo telemetry and optional OTLP export when configured

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

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

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