Config Files

Kimi CLI uses configuration files to manage API providers, models, services, and runtime parameters, supporting both TOML and JSON formats.

Config file location

The default configuration file is located at ~/.kimi/config.toml. On first run, if the configuration file doesn't exist, Kimi CLI will automatically create a default configuration file.

You can specify a different configuration file (TOML or JSON format) with the --config-file flag:

kimi --config-file /path/to/config.toml

When calling Kimi CLI programmatically, you can also pass the complete configuration content directly via the --config flag:

kimi --config '{"default_model": "kimi-for-coding", "providers": {...}, "models": {...}}'

Config items

The configuration file contains the following top-level configuration items:

Item	Type	Description
default_model	string	Default model name, must be a model defined in models
providers	table	API provider configuration
models	table	Model configuration
loop_control	table	Agent loop control parameters
services	table	External service configuration (search, fetch)
mcp	table	MCP client configuration

Complete configuration example

default_model = "kimi-for-coding"

[providers.kimi-for-coding]
type = "kimi"
base_url = "https://api.kimi.com/coding/v1"
api_key = "sk-xxx"

[models.kimi-for-coding]
provider = "kimi-for-coding"
model = "kimi-for-coding"
max_context_size = 262144

[loop_control]
max_steps_per_turn = 100
max_retries_per_step = 3
max_ralph_iterations = 0

[services.moonshot_search]
base_url = "https://api.kimi.com/coding/v1/search"
api_key = "sk-xxx"

[services.moonshot_fetch]
base_url = "https://api.kimi.com/coding/v1/fetch"
api_key = "sk-xxx"

[mcp.client]
tool_call_timeout_ms = 60000

providers

providers defines API provider connection information. Each provider uses a unique name as key.

Field	Type	Required	Description
type	string	Yes	Provider type, see Providers for details
base_url	string	Yes	API base URL
api_key	string	Yes	API key
env	table	No	Environment variables to set before creating provider instance
custom_headers	table	No	Custom HTTP headers to attach to requests

Example:

[providers.moonshot-cn]
type = "kimi"
base_url = "https://api.moonshot.cn/v1"
api_key = "sk-xxx"
custom_headers = { "X-Custom-Header" = "value" }

models

models defines available models. Each model uses a unique name as key.

Field	Type	Required	Description
provider	string	Yes	Provider name to use, must be defined in providers
model	string	Yes	Model identifier (model name used in API)
max_context_size	integer	Yes	Maximum context length (in tokens)
capabilities	array	No	Model capability list, see Providers for details

Example:

[models.kimi-k2-thinking-turbo]
provider = "moonshot-cn"
model = "kimi-k2-thinking-turbo"
max_context_size = 262144
capabilities = ["thinking", "image_in"]

loop_control

loop_control controls agent execution loop behavior.

Field	Type	Default	Description
max_steps_per_turn	integer	100	Maximum steps per turn (alias: max_steps_per_run)
max_retries_per_step	integer	3	Maximum retries per step
max_ralph_iterations	integer	0	Extra iterations after each user message; 0 disables; -1 is unlimited

services

services configures external services used by Kimi CLI.

moonshot_search

Configures web search service. When enabled, the SearchWeb tool becomes available.

Field	Type	Required	Description
base_url	string	Yes	Search service API URL
api_key	string	Yes	API key
custom_headers	table	No	Custom HTTP headers to attach to requests

moonshot_fetch

Configures web fetch service. When enabled, the FetchURL tool prioritizes using this service to fetch webpage content.

Field	Type	Required	Description
base_url	string	Yes	Fetch service API URL
api_key	string	Yes	API key
custom_headers	table	No	Custom HTTP headers to attach to requests

TIP

When configuring the Kimi Code platform using the /setup command, search and fetch services are automatically configured.

mcp

mcp configures MCP client behavior.

Field	Type	Default	Description
client.tool_call_timeout_ms	integer	60000	MCP tool call timeout (milliseconds)

JSON configuration migration

If ~/.kimi/config.toml doesn't exist but ~/.kimi/config.json exists, Kimi CLI will automatically migrate the JSON configuration to TOML format and backup the original file as config.json.bak.

Configuration files specified via --config-file are parsed based on file extension. Configuration content passed via --config is first attempted as JSON, then falls back to TOML if that fails.