Kilo Code in NeuroSquadKilo Code,with a canvas around it
Run as many Kilo CLI sessions as you need, each in its own card with the real Kilo terminal. A NeuroSquad plugin inside Kilo reports every turn and every question, arrows hand it browsers, terminals and notes, and its sessions and costs stay in view.
Official sitekilo.ai/cli- The real
kilo, your own login - Nothing written to
~/.config/kilo - Free, for Windows 10 and 11
It knows when Kilo is done — and when it’s asking
Kilo’s CLI is a fork of OpenCode and keeps its plugin system. Every Kilo card loads a NeuroSquad plugin that relays Kilo’s own events, so a quiet terminal is never mistaken for a finished turn.
session.status: busyKilo eventThe main session goes busy. The card’s icon spins, the Squad status card counts it as working, and the toast from its last question is taken down. Subagents don’t count as your turn.
permission.askedKilo eventKilo stops at “Permission required”, asks a question, blocks on a suggestion or waits for the network. The card pulses and the toast says what it wants — Kilo needs your permission: bash — rm -rf dist.
session.status: idleKilo eventThe main session is idle again. The next queued prompt goes out, the journal gets the answer, and a toast says it’s done.
No false alarms in --auto
A permission request is reported only if it’s still open 700 ms later — in auto mode Kilo approves it within milliseconds, and the toast would be a lie.
One status everywhere
The card, the sidebar, the Squad status card, custom cards and the phone all read the same status.
Your config stays yours
The plugin and settings come in a per-card file named by KILO_CONFIG, which Kilo merges over your own configuration.
Three things you’ll do every day
Replicas of the app, played step by step. When Kilo asks for permission, the answer is yours.
Kilo fixes a failing test through a connected terminal, stops at “Permission required” before deleting a folder, and finishes — the journal writes itself.
Everything Kilo Code can do in NeuroSquad
Because Kilo’s CLI is OpenCode renamed, a Kilo card is the OpenCode integration with Kilo’s names — at the same depth. Here is all of it, and in the last group, what NeuroSquad works around.
- 01
Knows its state
A NeuroSquad plugin relays Kilo’s own events, so nothing is guessed.
Finished and waiting are different
The plugin reports
Docs: Finished and waiting are differentsession.statusbusy and idle of the main session, andpermission.asked,question.asked, a blockingsuggestion.shownandsession.network.askedas waiting on you.A notification that says what it needs
The toast leads with what Kilo wants —
Docs: A notification that says what it needsKilo needs your permission: bash — …orKilo is asking: …. One per agent; a waiting one stays until you answer; a click flies to the card.Every card is its own session
The plugin reports Kilo’s session id on every turn, and the next launch passes
Docs: Every card is its own session--sessionwith it. A deleted session is noticed and the card starts fresh. “Restart session” gives it a clean one.The Squad status card
Every AI agent of the workspace on one card, with Kilo’s model from its last request (before that, the default in your Kilo config) and the live time of its turn.
Docs: The Squad status cardCustom cards can follow it
Cards built with the Card SDK see the same statuses and turn events, and read Kilo’s last answer from its own database.
Docs: Custom cards can follow it
- 02
Works through the canvas
An arrow from the card is a set of tools. Draw it, and Kilo can use what is at the other end — on its next turn.
Arrows are tools — without a restart
An arrow to a browser, terminal, note or another agent gives Kilo
Docs: Arrows are tools — without a restartneurosquad_browser_*,terminal_*,note_*oragent_*. Kilo re-reads the list, so a new arrow works on its next turn.It can add cards itself
Docs: It can add cards itselfcanvas_spawn_cardlets it open a terminal, a browser, a note or a helper agent next to itself, joined by an arrow.Canvas mode
The card’s config denies
Docs: Canvas modebash,webfetchandwebsearch. A deny removes the tool from Kilo altogether, and--autoonly approves what isn’t denied — checked on the wire.MCP servers from the registry
Install a server from the official MCP Registry once, then give it to an agent with an arrow. Kilo asks before every call to it, and its secrets never leave NeuroSquad.
Docs: MCP servers from the registrySkills from skills.sh
An arrow to a skill card gives Kilo
Docs: Skills from skills.shskill_loadwith each skill and when to use it — live on the running card.
- 03
Built for long runs
Full contexts, limits and long queues are handled on the card.
Context meter and Compact
The ring shows the last request against the model’s window from Kilo’s own models cache. Compact sends
Docs: Context meter and Compact/compact.Continues after a limit
Kilo’s retries are relayed by the plugin; a usage limit is recognised by its message and “reset in 2h” is read, then “continue” goes out. Kilo Gateway credit errors aren’t retried by Kilo — they end the turn.
Docs: Continues after a limitPrompt queue
Line up the next messages: each goes out when the main session is idle — never mid-thought. Daily prompts too.
Docs: Prompt queueHand off to a fresh agent
When a session is full, start a new agent beside it — Kilo or any other CLI — with a summary of the work typed in, ready for you to send.
Docs: Hand off to a fresh agentJournal
Each finished answer is added to a connected note, read from Kilo’s own database.
Docs: Journal
- 04
Works in a team
Several Kilo agents — or a mix of CLIs — on one project without stepping on each other.
Isolated worktrees
Give an agent its own git worktree, so parallel agents never edit the same files. A setup command and files to copy, like
Docs: Isolated worktrees.env, prepare it before Kilo starts.Add a reviewer
One click starts an agent on a different CLI in the same worktree, with an arrow from the author and a prompt to review without editing anything.
Docs: Add a reviewerDangerous mode, per card
For a run you trust, a card starts Kilo with
Docs: Dangerous mode, per card--auto: permissions that aren’t explicitly denied are approved. Canvas mode’s denies still hold.Roles
Reviewer, tester, researcher, architect, writer or your own: the role is typed in as a first prompt you can see and edit, and never re-sent behind your back.
Docs: RolesAGENTS.md, read natively
Kilo reads AGENTS.md by itself, along with its
Docs: AGENTS.md, read natively.kilorules — the file you already keep for your agents reaches it as is.
- 05
Cost, control and access
What it spends, what it may spend, which model it runs on, and how you reach it.
Usage and cost per card
Read from Kilo’s own database: every request, with subagents folded into the session that started them. Checked to match SQL sums to the token. Free models show $0 — as Kilo recorded.
Docs: Usage and cost per cardBudget brake
A limit per workspace. Past it, each agent is stopped — Kilo with Escape twice — and automatic prompts stop. Raise the limit and it’s lifted; your own typing is never blocked.
Docs: Budget brakeOpenRouter models
Run a card on an OpenRouter model with NeuroSquad’s key. It goes only into that card’s environment, and the card’s config makes Kilo use it even over a key saved in Kilo itself.
Docs: OpenRouter modelsDictation into the prompt
Hold a hotkey and speak. Speech is recognised on your machine and typed into Kilo’s prompt.
Docs: Dictation into the promptFrom your phone
Scan a QR code and the whole canvas opens in the phone’s browser: read Kilo’s terminal, answer its question, send the next prompt.
Docs: From your phone
- 06
What NeuroSquad works around
Where Kilo’s defaults would get in a card’s way — and the two things it can’t do.
Never attached to a daemon
By default Kilo attaches to a running
Docs: Never attached to a daemonkilo daemon— with its own environment, so a card would lose its config, plugin and--auto. Every card setsKILO_NO_DAEMON=1.Waits for Kilo to be ready
Kilo shows its first frames, then stays silent for ~6 s while it loads MCP servers and plugins. A helper’s first prompt and every typed-in seed wait for the “Kilo CLI” title instead of the silence.
Docs: Waits for Kilo to be readyEscape twice, never Ctrl+C
Ctrl+C with an empty prompt quits Kilo. The budget brake presses Escape twice — Kilo’s own interrupt — so the turn stops and the session lives.
Docs: Escape twice, never Ctrl+CKilo picks its own session id
Impossible: Kilo can’t start a session with an id given to it. So the card can’t name its session up front — it captures the id Kilo reports (and the one
Docs: Kilo picks its own session id/exitprints) and resumes with that.Kilo Gateway is Kilo’s
Impossible by design: models through Kilo’s own gateway are called by Kilo’s servers under Kilo’s name. NeuroSquad credits itself on direct OpenRouter requests only.
Docs: Kilo Gateway is Kilo’s
Who’s waiting, and what it cost
Two cards that answer the questions you ask most when several Kilo sessions run at once.
The Squad status card
Every agent of the workspace with its status, model and turn time. The one waiting on you comes first, with what it asks. Tap a status to filter.
- coupon-fixKilo Codekilo-auto/freeKilo needs your permission: bash — rm -rf distNeeds you2:34
- api-migrationKilo Codeclaude-sonnet-4.6Move routes to the new clientWorking12:24
- db-indexesKilo Codekilo-auto/freeAdd the missing indexesWorking6:42
- docs-passKilo Codeclaude-sonnet-4.6Update the READMEFinished4 min. ago
Usage & cost
Read from Kilo’s own database on your disk and matched to the card by the sessions its plugin reported. The rows always add up to the total.
| Agent | Tokens | Cost | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| coupon-fix | 482,615 | $0.00 | ||
| api-migration | 903,318 | $2.14 | ||
| docs-pass | 187,204 | $0.38 | ||
| Total | 86 | 1,573,137 | $2.52 |
The real Kilo CLI, plus a few settings
NeuroSquad starts the same Kilo you run yourself — the real `kilo.exe`, not through npm’s launcher — in a terminal in the card. This is everything it adds:
Nothing written to ~/.config/kilo
The config, the plugin and the MCP entries are per-card files in NeuroSquad’s own data folder. The MCP token is read from the environment, never written in the file.
Your login, your plan
Kilo runs with the account and providers it already uses, Kilo Gateway included. Your NeuroSquad account is separate and never sees it.
Found where you installed it
kilo.exe first, then the one behind npm’s wrapper — the same AVX2 or baseline build Kilo’s own launcher would pick.
Kilo Code in NeuroSquad, answered
Give Kilo Code a canvas
Free for Windows 10 and 11. Your code, your login and your costs stay on your machine.