Chapter 1: Getting Started

Welcome to Chapter 1: Getting Started. In this part of Kimi CLI Tutorial: Multi-Mode Terminal Agent with MCP and ACP, you will build an intuitive mental model first, then move into concrete implementation details and practical production tradeoffs.

This chapter gets Kimi CLI installed, configured, and running in a project directory.

Quick Install

# Linux / macOS
curl -LsSf https://code.kimi.com/install.sh | bash

# Verify
kimi --version

Alternative install with uv:

uv tool install --python 3.13 kimi-cli

First Run

cd your-project
kimi

Then run /login to configure provider access.

Source References

• Kimi Getting Started

Summary

You now have Kimi CLI running with authenticated provider access.

Next: Chapter 2: Command Surface and Session Controls

Source Code Walkthrough

scripts/cleanup_tmp_sessions.py

The is_tmp_path function in scripts/cleanup_tmp_sessions.py handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

def is_tmp_path(path: str) -> bool:
    """Return True if *path* looks like a temporary directory."""
    if path in ("/tmp", "/private/tmp"):
        return True
    return any(path.startswith(p) for p in TMP_PREFIXES)


def work_dir_hash(path: str, kaos: str = "local") -> str:
    h = md5(path.encode("utf-8")).hexdigest()
    return h if kaos == "local" else f"{kaos}_{h}"


def dir_total_size(d: Path) -> int:
    return sum(f.stat().st_size for f in d.rglob("*") if f.is_file())


def main() -> None:
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description=__doc__,
        formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
    )
    parser.add_argument("--apply", action="store_true", help="Actually delete (default is dry-run)")
    args = parser.parse_args()

    if not METADATA_FILE.exists():
        print(f"Metadata file not found: {METADATA_FILE}")
        sys.exit(1)

    with open(METADATA_FILE, encoding="utf-8") as f:
        metadata = json.load(f)

This function is important because it defines how Kimi CLI Tutorial: Multi-Mode Terminal Agent with MCP and ACP implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

scripts/cleanup_tmp_sessions.py

The work_dir_hash function in scripts/cleanup_tmp_sessions.py handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

def work_dir_hash(path: str, kaos: str = "local") -> str:
    h = md5(path.encode("utf-8")).hexdigest()
    return h if kaos == "local" else f"{kaos}_{h}"


def dir_total_size(d: Path) -> int:
    return sum(f.stat().st_size for f in d.rglob("*") if f.is_file())


def main() -> None:
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description=__doc__,
        formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
    )
    parser.add_argument("--apply", action="store_true", help="Actually delete (default is dry-run)")
    args = parser.parse_args()

    if not METADATA_FILE.exists():
        print(f"Metadata file not found: {METADATA_FILE}")
        sys.exit(1)

    with open(METADATA_FILE, encoding="utf-8") as f:
        metadata = json.load(f)

    work_dirs: list[dict] = metadata.get("work_dirs", [])

    # --- Phase 1: tmp entries in kimi.json ---
    tmp_entries: list[dict] = []
    keep_entries: list[dict] = []
    keep_hashes: set[str] = set()

This function is important because it defines how Kimi CLI Tutorial: Multi-Mode Terminal Agent with MCP and ACP implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

scripts/cleanup_tmp_sessions.py

The dir_total_size function in scripts/cleanup_tmp_sessions.py handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

def dir_total_size(d: Path) -> int:
    return sum(f.stat().st_size for f in d.rglob("*") if f.is_file())


def main() -> None:
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description=__doc__,
        formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
    )
    parser.add_argument("--apply", action="store_true", help="Actually delete (default is dry-run)")
    args = parser.parse_args()

    if not METADATA_FILE.exists():
        print(f"Metadata file not found: {METADATA_FILE}")
        sys.exit(1)

    with open(METADATA_FILE, encoding="utf-8") as f:
        metadata = json.load(f)

    work_dirs: list[dict] = metadata.get("work_dirs", [])

    # --- Phase 1: tmp entries in kimi.json ---
    tmp_entries: list[dict] = []
    keep_entries: list[dict] = []
    keep_hashes: set[str] = set()
    for wd in work_dirs:
        if is_tmp_path(wd.get("path", "")):
            tmp_entries.append(wd)
        else:
            keep_entries.append(wd)

This function is important because it defines how Kimi CLI Tutorial: Multi-Mode Terminal Agent with MCP and ACP implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

How These Components Connect

flowchart TD
    A[is_tmp_path]
    B[work_dir_hash]
    C[dir_total_size]
    A --> B
    B --> C