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Get Started Installation Authentication Your first project Models Overview Available models Reasoning effort Features How Kiro works Specs Steering Hooks MCP Permissions Custom agents Agent Skills Powers Cloud sessions Compaction Kiroignore Checkpoints and rewind Built-in tools Configuration scopes IDE 1.x What's new in 1.0 Setup & First Run Editor Chat Experimental Troubleshooting 0.x reference CLI What's new in 3.0 Setup & First Run Terminal UI Chat Session management Goal Queue steering In-session settings Prompts File references Context management Responding to messages Working with Git Images Custom diff tools Voice mode Headless mode ACP Auto complete Experimental 2.x reference Crew Quick start Installation Running 24/7 Chat Agent Capabilities Features Interfaces Apps System & storage Configuration Security Troubleshooting Web Setup & First Run Identity Center Connect your repositories Working with the agent Autonomous mode Automations Memory Configuration Sync Sandbox Mobile - Preview Overview Commands and Reference CLI commands Slash commands Built-in tools Exit codes Settings Billing Overview Managing your subscription Upgrading your plan Downgrading your plan Cancelling your plan Purchasing add-on credits Managing your payments Managing usage notifications Managing your taxes Contacting billing support Deleting your account Related questions Enterprise Concepts Onboarding quickstart Connecting your identity provider Deployment options Subscribe your team Manage subscriptions Governance Monitor and track Settings Managed updates Billing IAM Supported regions Privacy and Security Overview Data protection Code references Compliance validation Infrastructure security IAM permissions Firewalls, proxies, and data perimeters VPC endpoints (AWS PrivateLink) Guides Overview Language support Learn by playing Migration Migrating from Q Developer Migrating from VSCode Upgrading from Q CLI * Docs * * CLI * * Chat Copy page View as Markdown Chat Copy page View as Markdown The Kiro CLI provides an interactive chat mode that lets you have natural conversations with AI directly in your terminal. The default experience uses a rich terminal UI with syntax-highlighted code, interactive panels, and visual tool progress. Starting a session To start a chat session: bash kiro-cli Or start a chat with a specific context: bash kiro-cli --agent myagent To run the session in a managed cloud sandbox instead of on your machine, add --cloud , optionally binding repositories with --repo — see Cloud sessions : bash kiro-cli --cloud --repo owner/repository Entering multi-line statements Insert a newline in your prompt using any of these methods: * Shift+Enter — works in iTerm2, Ghostty, Kitty, Warp, and Zed * Ctrl+J — works in all terminals including tmux * Alt+Enter — works in Terminal.app and Ghostty * /editor — opens your default editor (defaults to vi) for composing longer prompts If Shift+Enter doesn't work in your terminal, run /settings terminal to auto-configure it. See In-session settings for details. You can also use the /reply command to open your editor with the most recent assistant message quoted for reply. Running shell commands inline Run shell commands without going through the AI by prefixing with ! : bash ! npm run build Output streams in real time. TTY commands like vim , ssh , and top get full terminal access. Long output collapses to a head + tail view — press Ctrl+O to expand. Managing context Use /context to view and manage what files are included in your session: bash /context show # View context breakdown with per-file token usage /context add "src/**/*.ts" # Add files by glob pattern /context remove src/app.js # Remove a context rule /context clear # Remove all rules See Context Management for detailed documentation. Conversation persistence Kiro can remember your conversations based on the folder where you started them. When you start a session where you previously chatted with Kiro, you can tell Kiro to automatically load that conversation history, allowing you to seamlessly continue your discussion. Directory-based persistence If it's your first time chatting in that directory, Kiro will start a new conversation (taking into consideration any designated context). To explicitly resume a conversation in the current directory, use: bash $ kiro-cli chat --resume To resume a specific session by ID: bash $ kiro-cli chat --resume-id < SESSION_ID > To open an interactive session picker to choose from previous sessions: bash $ kiro-cli chat --resume-picker Starting a fresh conversation You can start a fresh conversation without restarting the CLI using the /chat new command. This saves your current session to the database and begins a new one in place. bash # Start a fresh conversation /chat new # Start a fresh conversation with an initial prompt /chat new how do I set up a React project Use /chat resume to return to any previous session. Manually saving and loading conversations You can also manually save and load conversations using the following commands while in a chat session: bash /chat save [ path ] – Saves your current conversation to a JSON file. Add -f or --force to overwrite an existing file Examples: /chat save ./my-project-conversation -f /chat save /home/user/project/my-project-conversation.json You cannot use ~ to denote your home directory. /chat load [ path ] – Loads a conversation from a previously saved JSON file Example: /chat load ./my-project-conversation.json Info The /chat save and /chat load commands operate independently of the directory where the conversation was originally created. When loading a conversation, be mindful that it will replace your current conversation regardless of which directory it was saved from. Page updated: August 4, 2026 Comparison Session management