Sessions and context

Kimi Code CLI persists every conversation as a "session", preserving message history and metadata so you can close the terminal and resume later. This page covers resuming sessions, context compaction, and managing sessions from inside the TUI.

Session storage

All sessions are stored under $KIMI_CODE_HOME/sessions/ (default ~/.kimi-code/sessions/), bucketed by working directory:

~/.kimi-code/
├── config.toml
├── session_index.jsonl
└── sessions/
    └── <workDirKey>/
        └── <sessionId>/
            ├── state.json
            └── agents/
                ├── main/
                │   └── wire.jsonl
                └── <subagentId>/
                    └── wire.jsonl

• state.json — session title and metadata.
• agents/*/wire.jsonl — agent event stream.

Note

Manually editing files under sessions/ can leave a session unrecoverable due to ordering constraints in state.json and wire.jsonl.

Starting and resuming sessions

By default, kimi creates a new session each time. To continue where you left off:

Resume the most recent session in the current directory:

kimi --continue

Resume a specific session:

kimi --session abc123

-r / --resume are equivalent aliases.

Pick interactively:

kimi --session

Note

--continue and --session are mutually exclusive; --yolo and --plan also cannot be combined with them.

Switching sessions inside the TUI

• /new (/clear): switch to a new session.
• /sessions (/resume): browse and resume past sessions.
• /fork: fork the current session (see below).
• /title <text> (/rename): set a session title for easier recognition. Without an argument, shows the current title.

/sessions works even while streaming, but switching requires interrupting the turn first with Esc or Ctrl-C. /new, /fork, and /compact are only available while idle.

Context compaction

Kimi Code CLI automatically compresses message history when context approaches the window limit. You can also trigger it manually:

/compact

Pass a custom hint to tell the model what to preserve:

/compact Keep the discussion related to database migrations

Forking sessions

To try a new line of thinking without disrupting the current conversation, use /fork:

/fork

The forked session is fully independent; you can switch back to the original at any time.

Exporting sessions

Package a session into a ZIP:

kimi export <sessionId>

Without a sessionId, it exports the most recent session (interactively asks for confirmation; pass -y to skip). Use -o to set the output path:

kimi export <sessionId> -o ~/Desktop/my-session.zip

The ZIP is written to the current working directory by default. The session's own diagnostic log is always bundled along with the session directory. The global diagnostic log at $KIMI_CODE_HOME/logs/kimi-code.log — which captures events that do not belong to a session, such as TUI startup and login — is also bundled by default; pass --no-include-global-log to skip it.

Tip

Exported files may contain sensitive information. Review the contents before sharing.