kit

kit [global-options] initkit [global-options] auth action provider [options]kit [global-options] tui [options]kit [global-options] prompt [options] promptkit [global-options] sessions [--root path]kit [global-options] acp [options]kit [global-options] serve [options]

kit is Speakeasy's coding agent runtime. One static binary provides a terminal client, an Agent Client Protocol (ACP) server, an A2A endpoint, and a subagent orchestrator. The model is given a single tool, compose: a short Runlet program that can run shell commands, edit files, call MCP tools, load skills, and spawn subagents in one round trip.kit tui is an interactive ACP client. kit prompt is the non-interactive counterpart for scripts. Editors and other ACP clients can attach with kit acp (stdio) or kit serve --remote-acp (HTTP/SSE or WebSocket). Kit can also drive Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or another ACP harness as a subagent.Providers are a ChatGPT subscription (openai-subscription, via kit auth login openai), OpenRouter, and the Speakeasy AI Control Plane. Sessions are append-only JSONL transcripts under ~/.kit/sessions, compacted automatically at 80% of the provider context window, and resumed from tui, prompt, or an ACP client.Kit has no permissions framework, sandbox, or web UI. --root selects the working directory and the AGENTS.md instruction chain; it does not restrict filesystem access. Treat Kit as a runtime inside a security boundary you already trust.

--root path

Working directory and project context. Defaults to root in ~/.kit/config.toml, then the current directory. The path must exist and be a directory. It supplies project context and relative paths; it does not sandbox filesystem access.

Model identifier. Defaults to model in config, then gpt-5.4. kit init writes gpt-5.6-sol.

Model provider. Defaults to config, then openai-subscription.

Reasoning effort for tui, prompt, serve, and acp. default leaves effort unset so the provider default applies.

Continue a persisted session. On prompt and tui the id is the option value. On serve and acp use --session-id together with --resume.

Reclaim a stale session lock. Accepted only together with --resume. Does not steal a lock held by a live Kit process.

Highest-precedence MCP server file. Merged after plugins, mcp_config from TOML, and .mcp.json in the project root.

Shared credential backend for OpenAI, Speakeasy, and MCP. Defaults to config, then memory. Standalone auth login rejects memory.

Directory for --credential-store file. Required with file; invalid with memory or keychain.

OTLP/gRPC collector for GenAI traces (no /v1/traces suffix). Overrides config, then OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT. Empty value disables export.

OpenRouter API key on the command line. Prefer OPENROUTER_API_KEY or stored credentials so the key is not visible in process listings.

Show command help.

Print the Kit version.

~/.kit/config.toml

User configuration loaded by every runtime and auth command. Command-line flags override this file; missing keys use built-in defaults. Unknown keys are ignored. kit init writes model = "gpt-5.6-sol", credential_store = "file", credential_dir = "~/.kit/credentials", and mcp_config = "~/.kit/mcp.json".

Default global MCP server map. Project-root .mcp.json and --mcp-config can overlay it.

File-backed credential directory when credential_store is file.

Durable JSONL transcripts and session locks, grouped by a hash of the workspace root.

Project instructions loaded from the working directory and its ancestors into the initial transcript.

Project MCP servers. Live edits are reloaded before tool search and MCP auth calls.

Agent Skills directories (SKILL.md per skill). Project skills override user skills of the same name.

init

Create ~/.kit/ and write recommended config.toml plus an empty mcp.json when those files do not exist. Leaves existing files unchanged.

Authenticate openai, openrouter, or speakeasy into the selected credential store.

Show whether stored credentials for that provider are present.

Remove stored credentials. OpenAI logout revokes the refresh token first unless --local-only is set.

Start the ACP-backed terminal client. It launches kit serve as a child and talks to it over ACP v2. --a2a addr sets the HTTP listen address (otherwise an available loopback port).

Run one persisted prompt, print the answer, then print session_id: id and exit.

List durable top-level sessions for a workspace, newest first (tab-separated UPDATED, ID, TITLE, PREVIEW). Subagent sessions are omitted from the catalog.

Serve only the Agent Client Protocol on stdio. --protocol-version {1|2} selects the wire version (default 1).

Serve ACP on stdio and optionally A2A / remote ACP over HTTP. --http / --a2a addr is the listen address. --remote-acp exposes ACP at /acp (v1 and v2) and /acp/v2 (v2 only). --no-a2a and --no-stdio require --remote-acp. --server-credential-file path requires that file's bearer token on every HTTP request.

Available in kit tui while the session is idle./new [prompt]

Close the current session and start a fresh persisted one. Optional text becomes the first prompt. The previous session remains resumable by id.

Close the current session and resume another durable session.

Open a newest-first session picker for this workspace.

Close the current session and exit the TUI.

Compact conversation history. Optional text is sent as the next user message after compaction.

Open the model selector. Tab also writes the choice to ~/.kit/config.toml.

Set reasoning effort, or open the selector with no argument.

Toggle the subagent roster.

Kit is not a security boundary. The agent can read and write files and run commands with the privileges of the Kit process. Run it in a sandbox or machine you trust.--root must be an existing directory. A bad path reports that the working directory could not be opened; a non-directory reports that the working directory is not a directory.Provider login cannot use --credential-store memory. Use keychain or file (with --credential-dir) for kit auth login, and pass the same store to later runtime commands. Memory credentials are process-local and are not shared with the TUI's kit serve child.A non-loopback kit serve HTTP listener should set --server-credential-file and appropriate network controls.The name kit is used by other software. Confirm kit --help reports "Coding agent runtime and terminal client" before relying on a distro package.The upstream install script currently publishes binaries for macOS arm64 and Linux x86-64. Docker images cover linux/amd64 and linux/arm64.

kit is an open-source (MIT) coding agent runtime written in Rust by Speakeasy. It remains a 0.1.x release as of September 2026, with production use reported on engineering tasks in mid-2026.

claude(1), codex(1), opencode(1), cline(1), aider(1), mise(1)

Source code · Documentation