Kilo Code Review 2026

Open-source VS Code coding agent forked from Cline and Roo Code, with multi-mode workflows, MCP support, and direct access to frontier models without provider markup.

Kilo Code is an open-source AI coding extension for VS Code that merges the best ideas from Cline and Roo Code into a single, opinionated agent. It ships several built-in 'modes' — Architect (planning), Code (implementation), Ask (Q&A), Debug, and Orchestrator — that let users choose how aggressive the agent should be at each step, with custom modes for specialized workflows like security review or migration. Like Cline, it is bring-your-own-key and supports a large spread of providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Mistral, local models via Ollama/LM Studio) so users pay raw model costs. It is also a full MCP client, so any MCP server can be attached and used as a tool inside the agent loop. Kilo positions itself for developers who want the autonomy of Cline with the multi-mode discipline of Roo Code and the speed of frontier reasoning models priced at roughly $1 per 1M input tokens and $2 per 1M output (on supported routes). The project is fully open-source and free to install. There is an optional Kilo cloud offering that resells frontier model access with $0.08 promotional credits and managed billing for users who prefer not to manage provider keys themselves. Verify current pricing and routing terms on the live site.