General settings

Open settings from the gear at the bottom of the sidebar, and use the search box at the top to filter them. The General settings cover the app version and logs, your accounts, appearance, notifications, conda environments, notebooks, privacy, and keyboard shortcuts.

About

The About section shows the app's version and manages updates:

  • Version — the build you're running and its update status. On macOS and Windows, when a newer build has downloaded, it reads Version X is ready to install. On Linux, when one is available, it reads Version X is available to download and shows a Download button that opens the new .deb package in your browser. Otherwise use Check for updates to look for one.
  • Support — information to include when you contact support:
    • Application logs — shows the path to the app's log file. Select Show in Finder (macOS), Show in File Explorer (Windows), or Show in File Manager (Linux) to find it.
    • Kilo config — shows the path to your global Kilo config file (for example ~/.config/kilo/kilo.json), with the same button. If you haven't created one, it reads No global config file has been created yet.
  • Legal — select View next to Third-party notices to read the licenses of the third-party software Kilo Desktop includes. Next to Chromium, select Show in Finder (macOS), Show in File Explorer (Windows), or Show in File Manager (Linux) to find Chromium's notices.

When an update is ready, select Restart to update, then Install and restart, to relaunch and apply it. The sidebar also shows Restart to update (on Linux, Update available, which opens About). When release notes are available, the About section also shows a What's changed section for the update; notes from earlier versions are labeled with their version. See Updates.

Account

The Account section manages the accounts Kilo Desktop signs in to.

Kilo — when you're signed in, it shows your account email, your Available balance (with a refresh), an Organization selector if you belong to an organization, and Top up and Kilo Dashboard links. Personal accounts also see Kilo Pass usage or a Get Kilo Pass link. See Usage & Billing for how organizations and balances work.

Anaconda — sign in to browse and download models from the Anaconda model catalog, and to install packages from authenticated channels like main-x. The row reads Not signed in. or Signed in as followed by your email. Select Sign in and complete the sign-in in your browser; the button reads Waiting for browser… until you do, and Cancel stops the sign-in. Select Sign out to sign out.

Your Anaconda account is separate from your Kilo account. Kilo Desktop stores your Anaconda credentials where conda and the Anaconda CLI read them, so signing in with anaconda login also signs you in here, and signing out here also signs out those tools.

Appearance

The Appearance section controls how the app looks:

  • Theme — switch between Light, Dark, or System. Kilo Desktop starts in Dark until you choose a theme.
  • Color theme — choose the app's color theme from the dropdown, such as Kilo.
  • Accent color — use the theme's accent (the Theme option) or pick your own from the color swatches.
  • Sidebar vibrancy — toggle a translucent sidebar background on or off.
  • Interface text size — adjust the text size in the sidebar, menus, and settings.
  • Chat text size — adjust the text size of chat messages, the input, and tool output.

Notifications

The Notifications section controls when Kilo plays a sound to get your attention. While Kilo is in the background, it also shows a system notification. Set each of these:

  • When Kilo finishes — Kilo completed its turn, including any background subagents.
  • When Kilo needs you — an approval, a question, or an error. Requests answered by Automatically approve don't play a sound.

For each, choose Never, When I'm not looking (skips the session you have open), or Always. Select the speaker button to preview the sound. To silence the system notifications entirely, use your operating system's notification settings.

Conda Environments

Create and manage conda environments and their packages. See Conda environments for what you can do here. Requires a Kilo account.

Notebooks

The Notebooks section has two settings:

  • Automatically create environment.yml — give new notebooks a shared conda environment in their workspace.
  • Trust new notebooks — skip the dependency approval prompt for new notebooks.

See Notebooks for working with notebooks in a chat. Requires a Kilo account; if you're signed out, the section shows a Sign in to Kilo prompt, the same as Conda Environments.

Privacy

The Privacy section has a single Share usage analytics and crash reports toggle. When on, it shares usage analytics and crash reports with Kilo — including from the embedded Kilo service and conda environment manager.

It also explains data handling for free models: because they may route your requests to providers that log prompts and outputs, don't submit personal or confidential data when using them. See Using Kilo for Free for details, and use the chat model picker's filter to exclude free models.

Shortcuts

The Shortcuts section lets you see, change, or turn off the app's keyboard shortcuts.

  • Tabs and Sessions include numbered shortcuts: Go to tab 1–8 (⌘1–8 on macOS, Ctrl+1–8 on Windows/Linux) and Go to last tab (⌘9 / Ctrl+9); Go to session 1–8 (⌃1–8 on macOS, Alt+1–8 on Windows/Linux) and Go to last session (⌃9 / Alt+9). Change or turn off each one like any other shortcut.
  • All shortcuts — select a shortcut and press the new keys to change it (Esc cancels). Hover a shortcut and select × to turn it off. A new shortcut must include ⌘, ⌃, or ⌥ (Ctrl or Alt on Windows/Linux). Kilo tells you if a shortcut is reserved by the system or already used by another action. Select ↺ next to a changed shortcut to restore its default. Shortcuts you can't change, like Enter to send, are in the full list.
  • Reset all restores every default.

Press ⌘/ (macOS) or Ctrl+/ (Windows/Linux) anywhere to open the searchable Keyboard shortcuts reference.