Kilo Code Weekly Product Roundup | Jan. 17, 2025
App Builder Image Support, Syntax-Highlighted Diffs, and a Massive Upstream Sync
Welcome back to the weekly product roundup! This week brings image support across interfaces, syntax-highlighted diffs in the CLI, model selection for Agent Manager sessions, and a substantial upstream sync with native tool calling improvements across dozens of providers.
VS Code
Agent Manager Image Support
You can now paste images directly into Agent Manager using Ctrl/Cmd+V or select them via the file browser. This works for new agent prompts, follow-up messages, and resumed sessions. Support includes PNG, JPEG, WebP, and GIF formats with up to 4 images per message. Click thumbnails to preview or hover to remove.
Model Selection in Agent Manager
Agent Manager now lets you choose which AI model to use when starting a new session. Your selection is remembered across panel reopens, and active sessions display the model being used.
GitHub-Style Diff Stats
Task headers now display GitHub-style diff stats showing lines added and removed in real-time, giving you instant visibility into the scope of changes.
Skills Notifications
You’ll now see notifications when skills are added or removed from your project or global config.
Kilo CLI
Install & Update
npm install -g @kilocode/cliSyntax-Highlighted Diffs
Diffs now display with language-aware syntax coloring using Shiki, making code changes significantly easier to read. Includes support for 60+ languages, automatic language detection from file extensions, and theme-aware highlighting that adapts to your terminal theme. The diff display limit has also increased from 20 to 50 lines with smart context collapsing around changes.
Post-Task Automation
The new --on-task-completed <prompt> flag lets you send a custom prompt to the agent when the task completes. This enables flexible post-task automation like creating PRs, running tests, or generating documentation. Requires --auto mode.
Image Support
Paste images from clipboard or attach them via the new --attach flag for file attachments. Image paste also works in follow-up messages.
Interactive Model Selection
The welcome flow now features an interactive model selection list with a scrollable provider selection interface, making initial setup more intuitive.
Custom Commands
Custom commands are now supported in the CLI.
Word-by-Word Cursor Navigation
New Emacs-style keybindings for word navigation: Meta+b/Meta+Left to move to the previous word, Meta+f/Meta+Right to move to the next word.
Mode Cycling with Shift+Tab
Quickly cycle through agent modes using Shift+Tab.
Colorblind Theme
A new colorblind-friendly theme with high contrast colors improves accessibility.
App Builder
Database Support
Most real apps require a backend. If you give App Builder a prompt for a site or app that deserves a backend, it’ll generate a db for things like user management, admin dashboards, and persistent storage
Image Support
Paste images in the App Builder chat to give visual direction, or to include in the site/app.
Password Protection (Teams/Enterprise only)
Deployments can now be password protection when using App Builder within a Kilo Organization
Cloud Agents
Improved Fork & Share Flow
One-click session sharing for Cloud Agents sessions, so that your teammates can fork and resume the session in the browser, Kilo CLI, or IDE.
Upstream Sync (Roo Code v3.36.7-v3.38.3)
This release includes a substantial sync bringing native tool calling improvements and numerous fixes:
Native Tool Calling Expansion
Native tools are now enabled by default across most major providers including Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure, Google, Vertex, Bedrock, and many more. This shift from XML to native tool protocol improves reliability and performance.
New Capabilities
Recursive loading of .kilocode/rules and AGENTS.md from subdirectories
Custom tool calling with npm package and .env file support
Interleaved thinking mode for DeepSeek Reasoner
1M context window beta for Claude Sonnet 4 on Vertex AI
Incremental token-budgeted file reading for smarter file retrieval
Downloadable error diagnostics from chat errors
MiniMax M2.1 and GLM-4.7 model support
Provider Improvements
Native tool calling for Claude Code Provider, VS Code Language Model API, and OVHcloud
Bedrock service tier support
Amazon Nova 2 Lite model added
Stability & Fixes
Hardened OAuth refresh token handling to prevent frequent sign-ins
Grace retry for empty assistant messages
Better error handling with clearer messages and user feedback
Tool call ID normalization for cross-provider compatibility via OpenRouter
Partial reads now allowed by default to prevent context growth
Improved read_file tool reliability with Claude models
Community Contributions
Thanks to our community contributors this week:
#4936 - @idreesmuhammadqazi-create (Colorblind theme support)
#5183 - @alexandrevilain (Custom commands support)
#5141 - @PeterDaveHello (--continue flag reliability)
#5116 - @PeterDaveHello (Optional .env file in CLI)
#5173 - @PeterDaveHello (Zod function API fix)
#5084 - @montanaflynn (Interactive model selection)
#4793 - @mcowger (Restore providers to modelCache)
#5060 - @DoubleDoubleBonus (GPT-5.2-codex model)
#4686 - @Ashwinhegde19 (BrowserSessionRow crash fix)
#4381 - @inj-src (Chat view max width)
#4406 - @Secsys-FDU (Windows CMD injection fix)
#4445 - @chriscool (Husky hooks fix)