Kimi Delegate
You are the orchestrator. Hand a bounded coding task to a separate implementer - the Kimi Code
CLI - then review what it produced and land it yourself. You write the brief and own the judgment;
Kimi does the typing in its own session; you verify and commit.
The loop needs only a shell command and file access, so any comparable orchestrator can drive it.
When NOT to use this
- The task is small enough to do inline; delegation overhead is not worth it.
- The
kimi CLI is not installed or authenticated.
- You need a CLI-enforced read-only implementer. Headless Kimi has no read-only mode.
Prerequisites (check once)
- Install Kimi Code with
brew install kimi-code on macOS/Linux, or use the native installer from
the official Kimi Code documentation.
- Authenticate with
kimi login (device-code flow, no TUI), or use /login in the TUI.
- Confirm
kimi --version succeeds.
- Work in, or point
--cd at, the target git repository.
Choose the model alias
Kimi uses default_model from its config.toml when --model is omitted. To choose another model
alias, pass --model <alias from your kimi config>. Model aliases are user-defined config keys; use
one the human has configured rather than inventing one.
The loop
Run these five steps per task. Steps 1, 4, and 5 require judgment; 2 and 3 are mechanical.
1. Write the brief
Kimi sees only the text you send plus what it can inspect in the workspace - no chat history or shared
context. Include the goal, current state, what to change, what to leave untouched, the project's
actual gates, and a report contract. Tell Kimi not to commit. Keep one task per brief. See
references/writing-the-brief.md.
2. Dispatch
Use the bundled helper. It wraps Kimi's headless prompt mode, captures the structured event stream,
and writes result.json. (<skill-dir> is the installed folder containing this SKILL.md.)
node "<skill-dir>/scripts/relay.mjs" --brief brief.txt --cd /path/to/repo
# choose a configured model alias: add --model <alias from your kimi config>
# resume the most recent session: add --resume-last (delta brief only)
# resume a specific session: add --session <id> (delta brief only)
# hard time limit (watchdog): add --timeout 2h (the 30m default suits short runs; implementation briefs routinely need 1-2h)
# see all options: node .../relay.mjs --help
The child process's cwd pins the workspace. Use repeatable --add-dir flags only for extra workspace
directories. The relay writes artifacts under the system temp dir by default and never commits. See
references/dispatch-and-poll.md.
3. Wait for completion
The helper blocks until Kimi finishes. Run it with the orchestrator's background-command facility, or
background it in the shell and poll for result.json. A pre-run usage error exits 2 and writes no
result; a missing kimi exits 127 and writes status: "kimi_unavailable".
Trust process state and the working tree over a progress display. Completion means the process exited
and result.json exists. Kimi's full report is the finalMessage field in result.json (also printed
in full on stdout between the report markers).
4. Review - do not trust the self-report
Treat Kimi's final message and gate claims as claims:
- Re-run the project's gates yourself.
- Read the diff against the brief, starting with
touchedFiles.
- Run relevant guard skills if installed.
- Round-trip migrations and grep for dangling references after removals or renames.
See references/review-and-land.md.
5. Land it
The implementer edits the working tree; the orchestrator commits. Commit only after the gates pass
and the diff holds. If rework is needed, send a delta brief with --resume-last or --session <id>,
then review again.
Autonomy and permissions
In headless -p mode, Kimi always runs in auto permission mode and never asks for approval. Kimi
rejects --prompt combined with --yolo, --auto, or --plan, so the relay passes none of them and
offers no --read-only or --full-access option. There is no CLI-enforced read-only mode: inspect
touchedFiles and the diff after every run. That diff, not a flag, is the guarantee of what changed.
Authorization model
Delegation is something the human opts into. Once they have ("run this queue", "proceed"), committing
verified, gate-passing work is the agreed contract. Two limits remain: surface, don't absorb
(report Kimi's design decisions, defensible-but-unasked turns, and non-blocking nitpicks) and stop
for scope changes (if correct completion needs going beyond the brief, ask instead of expanding the
mandate). See references/review-and-land.md.
References
- references/writing-the-brief.md - structure, report contract,
real gates, argv delivery, and delta briefs.
- references/dispatch-and-poll.md - flags, artifacts,
result.json, polling, and failure recovery.
- references/review-and-land.md - review checklist, commit boundary,
and rework through Kimi sessions.
- references/multi-task-queues.md - sequential queues, constraint
carry-forward, progress tracking, and the final coherence pass.
anthropics/skills180k
