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Kiehl is a coding agent that runs in your terminal. You describe a change, it reads your code, edits files, runs commands, and shows you every step. The router picks the model for each request, so there is nothing to configure.

Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://kiehl.ai/install.sh | bash

The installer checks a SHA-256 checksum and puts kiehl in ~/.local/bin. If it tells you to, add that folder to your PATH. Set KIEHL_INSTALL_DIR to install somewhere else.

Go to your project folder and run:

Terminal window
kiehl

The first time, kiehl prints a link and a code and opens the link in your browser. Sign in there (this creates your account if you don’t have one) and kiehl carries on.

You also need a plan. Pick one at kiehl.ai/subscribe before your first task, or kiehl will stop with “a subscription is required”. See Plans and usage.

On a server or in CI there is no browser. Set KIEHL_API_KEY instead and kiehl skips the sign-in.

Type what you want in plain language, for example “add a --json flag to the export command and update the tests.”

  • Kiehl shows each edit and command as it happens. By default it doesn’t stop to ask; see what it can do without asking.
  • The sidebar lists every changed file. Open the diff viewer to review the full change.
  • Nothing is committed for you. You decide what to keep.
Terminal window
kiehl upgrade
kiehl uninstall

Next: how a task runs.