docs/en/reference/kimi-acp.md

kimi acp Subcommand

kimi acp switches Kimi Code CLI to ACP (Agent Client Protocol) mode: it communicates with an ACP client (such as Zed, JetBrains AI Chat, etc.) via JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout, letting the IDE directly drive kimi's sessions, prompts, and tool calls.

kimi acp

Once started, the command prints no banner and immediately waits for the ACP client to send an initialize request on stdin. Logs are written to stderr (as well as the diagnostic log under ~/.kimi-code/logs/), so the ACP channel itself stays clean.

::: tip Who calls this? You typically do not need to run kimi acp manually — this command is the subprocess entry point for IDEs. For IDE-side configuration, see Using in IDEs. :::

Capability matrix

The table below lists the capabilities declared by the ACP server. The agentCapabilities field is returned in full in the initialize response, so the IDE can adjust its UI accordingly.

Capability	Value	Description
loadSession	true	Supports session/load to resume an existing session, replaying history on load
promptCapabilities.image	true	Supports ACP image content blocks (base64 + mimeType)
promptCapabilities.audio	false	Audio prompts not yet supported
promptCapabilities.embeddedContext	true	Client may send resource/resource_link embedded resource blocks; text content is injected into the prompt as <resource uri="...">...</resource>; blob resources are dropped with a warn
sessionCapabilities.list	{}	Supports session/list to enumerate the current user's sessions
sessionCapabilities.resume	{}	Supports session/resume to reattach to a session without history replay
sessionCapabilities.close	{}	Supports session/close to tear down a live session
sessionCapabilities.delete	{}	Supports session/delete to permanently remove a session
sessionCapabilities.fork	{}	Supports session/fork to branch an existing session
sessionCapabilities.additionalDirectories	{}	Extra working directories; honored on session/new only
mcpCapabilities.http	true	Forwards HTTP MCP services configured by the IDE
mcpCapabilities.sse	true	Forwards legacy SSE MCP services configured by the IDE
auth.logout	{}	Supports ACP logout to drop the managed provider's token

ACP method coverage

With @agentclientprotocol/sdk@1.x, the ACP method set is organized by namespace: core and session cover the main agent flow, while providers, nes (inline-edit prediction), and document (buffer sync) are optional extension surfaces. On the client side, reverse-RPC methods are grouped under session, fs, terminal, and elicitation.

Summary: the ACP server implements the full core (3/3) and session (11/11) agent-side surface, 10/11 client reverse-RPC methods, and the session/set_model extension. Not implemented: providers/*, nes/*, document/*, and elicitation/complete — requests for them return methodNotFound.

Core agent-side — IDE → agent (3 / 3)

Method	Implemented	Description
initialize	Yes	Version negotiation; returns agentInfo: { name: 'Kimi Code CLI', version }, capability matrix, and authMethods (first-class type:'terminal' plus the legacy _meta['terminal-auth'] fallback)
authenticate	Yes	Validates method_id='login'; returns authRequired (-32000) if the token is missing, invalidParams (-32602) for an unknown ID
logout	Yes	Drops the managed provider's token; subsequent gated calls return auth_required again

Session agent-side — IDE → agent (11 / 11)

Method	Implemented	Description
session/new	Yes	Accepts cwd / mcpServers / additionalDirectories; returns sessionId + configOptions[] + modes
session/load	Yes	Restores a session from disk and replays history via session/update before the response settles
session/resume	Yes	Lightweight sibling of session/load; skips history replay
session/list	Yes	Enumerates sessions on disk, filterable by cwd
session/fork	Yes	Branches a source session; cwd / additionalDirectories / mcpServers on the request are ignored with a warning
session/close	Yes	Best-effort teardown: cancels any in-flight turn, disposes per-session resources, and closes the live session; an unknown id is not an error
session/delete	Yes	Permanently removes a session and its persisted data; an unknown id returns invalidParams (-32602)
session/prompt	Yes	Accepts text / image / resource / resource_link content blocks; streams agent_message_chunk
session/cancel	Yes	Interrupts the current turn (a JSON-RPC $/cancel_request for a prompt lands in the same cancel path)
session/set_mode	Yes	Validates modeId; the same underlying mode switch as set_config_option({configId:'mode'})
session/set_config_option	Yes	Unified model / thinking / mode picker dispatcher

Client-side reverse-RPC — agent → IDE (10 / 11)

Method	Implemented	Description
session/update	Yes	Streams agent_message_chunk / tool_call* / plan / config_option_update / available_commands_update
session/request_permission	Yes	Shared channel for tool approval and question prompts
fs/read_text_file	Yes	Engine file reads are routed to the client when it advertises fsCapabilities
fs/write_text_file	Yes	Engine file writes are routed to the client
terminal/create · output · release · kill · wait_for_exit	Yes	Shell executions reverse-RPC to the client when it advertises clientCapabilities.terminal
elicitation/create	Yes	Ask-user questions go through the native form when the client advertises elicitation.form; RPC failures fall back to session/request_permission
elicitation/complete	No

Extension methods

Method	Implemented	Description
session/set_model	Yes	Carried over from the ACP 0.23 unstable surface as an extension method; equivalent to set_config_option({configId:'model'})

All methods not listed above return methodNotFound.

MCP forwarding

When an ACP client provides mcpServers in session/new or session/load, the ACP server performs the following conversions:

• http → kimi's transport: 'http' configuration
• stdio → kimi's transport: 'stdio' configuration
• sse → kimi's transport: 'sse' configuration
• acp → discarded with a warn log entry

Next steps

• Using in IDEs — Zed / JetBrains configuration steps and troubleshooting
• kimi Command Reference — Complete subcommand list