KALAI CLI

Terminal-first AI coding agent. KALAI CLI reuses the same Kalai Agent backend as the VS Code extension, so your wallet, history, and settings stay in one place.

Installation

npm install -g @culustech/kalai-cli

Quick Start

# Create a new Kalai account (opens browser)
kalai register

# Log in with your Kalai account
kalai login

# Ask a one-shot question
kalai ask "Explain this codebase"

# Or use the shortcut
kalai "What does package.json do?"

# Run an autonomous agent task
kalai agent "Find all TODO comments and list them"

# Start an interactive chat session
kalai chat

# Check wallet balance
kalai wallet

# Generate AGENTS.md for the current project
kalai index

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | kalai register | Open the registration page in your browser | | kalai login | Log in with email and password | | kalai logout | Clear locally stored credentials | | kalai wallet | Show wallet balance | | kalai config list | Show all configuration | | kalai config get <key> | Get a config value | | kalai config set <key> <value> | Set a config value | | kalai ask "<prompt>" | Send a one-shot prompt | | kalai ask "<prompt>" --paste | Send a prompt with the clipboard image attached | | kalai agent "<task>" | Run an autonomous agent task | | kalai agent "<task>" --paste | Run an agent task with the clipboard image attached | | kalai agent "continue" | Resume the most recent agent session in this directory | | kalai agent --continue <sessionId> | Resume a specific saved agent session | | kalai agent --new "<task>" | Force a new session even if a recent one exists | | kalai chat | Start an interactive chat session | | kalai chat --paste | Start chat with the clipboard image attached to the first message | | kalai index | Generate AGENTS.md for the current project | | kalai subagents list | List running and completed sub-agent tasks | | kalai subagents show <id> | Show a sub-agent task result | | kalai subagents show <id> --full | Dump the full sub-agent transcript | | kalai subagents stop <id> | Stop a running background sub-agent | | kalai upgrade | Upgrade to the latest CLI version | | kalai --version | Show CLI version |

Agent Mode

The agent can read files, run terminal commands, execute Python/Node.js code, and fetch web pages. By default, mutating tools prompt for approval.

# Auto-approve all tool calls (use with caution)
kalai agent "Refactor all console.log to use a logger" --yolo

# Read-only mode
kalai agent "Summarize the project structure" --readonly

# Resume the most recent agent session in the current directory
kalai agent "continue"

# Resume a specific session
kalai agent --continue abc-123

# Force a new session
kalai agent --new "Add a dark mode toggle"

Agent sessions are persisted to ~/.kalai/agent-sessions/<id>.json, so you can resume after an interruption with kalai agent "continue".

Sub-agents

The agent can dispatch focused tasks to isolated sub-agents while it continues working.

# Delegate a read-only exploration task to an explorer sub-agent
kalai agent "Explore the src folder and summarize the architecture with an explorer sub-agent"

# List running and completed sub-agent tasks
kalai subagents list

# Show the result of a completed sub-agent task
kalai subagents show sub_abc123

# Dump the full transcript
kalai subagents show sub_abc123 --full

# Stop a running background sub-agent
kalai subagents stop sub_abc123

Built-in profiles:

• coder — read/write/execute/search (default)
• explorer — read-only reconnaissance
• planner — analysis and planning without writes or shell commands

Custom profiles can be added as JSON files in .kalai/profiles/*.json in the workspace or ~/.kalai/profiles/*.json.

Chat Mode

kalai chat starts a persistent REPL with slash commands:

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | /new | Start a new session | | /sessions | List saved sessions | | /resume <id> | Resume a session | | /model <name> | Switch active model | | /paste | Attach the clipboard image to the next message | | /index | Generate AGENTS.md | | /usage | Show session info | | /wallet | Show wallet balance | | /logout | Sign out | | /exit | Quit chat |

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.kalai/config.json:

{
  "backend": {
    "baseUrl": "https://kalapi.culustech.com"
  },
  "frontend": {
    "baseUrl": "https://kalai.culustech.com"
  },
  "model": {
    "maxTokens": 4096,
    "temperature": 0.7
  },
  "agentic": {
    "enabled": true,
    "maxIterations": 50,
    "maxExecutionTimeMs": 600000
  },
  "tools": {
    "terminal": { "enabled": true, "autoApprove": false },
    "codeExecution": { "enabled": true, "autoApprove": false },
    "webSearch": { "enabled": true }
  }
}

Add "name": "<model-id>" under model to override the backend's default model.

Override via environment variables:

• KALAI_BACKEND_URL
• KALAI_FRONTEND_URL
• KALAI_MODEL

Security

• Tokens are stored in the OS credential store when possible, otherwise in an encrypted file at ~/.kalai/credentials.json.
• File-system tools are sandboxed to the current working directory unless AGENT_ALLOW_OUTSIDE_WORKING_DIRECTORY=true is set.
• Terminal and code-execution tools prompt for approval before running unless --yolo is used.

Development

cd CLI/npmjs
npm install
npm run dev

License

MIT