The IDE for the age of AI-generated code
Understand, direct, and ship the code you didn't write.
Kiln ships with hosted AI agents on a free tier — no key required. Bring your own Claude or OpenAI key when you want more, or upgrade for higher limits.
A Mac app, installed with Homebrew. No key to start.
Why Kiln
You write less code now. You read a lot more.
Agents handle more of the typing every month. That doesn't make the code matter less, it changes the work. Most of your day is reading, deciding, and checking, not writing from scratch.
When you're not the author, you're always onboarding. Unfamiliar code, unfamiliar changes, even your own. A local diff reads like someone else's pull request. So Kiln is built around reading first, with notes that sit next to the code and three ways to read any file.
What it feels like
An editor that reads with you, not at you.
The same calm surface whether you're skimming, writing, or handing work to an agent.
Read
Three ways to read the same file
Open code as a plain editor, a sectioned read, or a flowing document. Switch with ⌘1–⌘3 — whichever way helps you understand what's in front of you.
- Inline notes and docs beside the code
- Plain-language summaries on demand
- Tighter comments suggested as you write
Run the squad
Agents that do the legwork
Point a squad at a file, ask it to run, or just think out loud. Workers pick up tasks, finish, and report back — Claude Code, Codex, and your own terminal riding along.
- Pair on a file or run the whole squad
- Workers report what they finished
- Your real shell, your real agents
On device
Private and instant, right on your Mac
Potter, the resident assistant, can think entirely on-device — free, private, and instant. Bring a hosted agent in when you want more reach.
- Free, private, on-device by default
- Hosted cloud agents one click away
- Light and dark, follows your system
How work ships
Help at every step, not just the typing.
Shipping has the same shape it always did: a problem, a proposal, the work, a review, and the merge. Kiln adds context, validation, and a willing agent at each step, and keeps a person in charge, whether that's a staff engineer or a product manager.
- 01
Problem
Start from a tracked spec, usually a GitHub issue, not a vibe. Or let an agent spot what needs doing and raise it.
- 02
Proposal
Agree on the intent before any code moves. The agent drafts, you decide what's worth building.
- 03
Execution
The squad does the legwork from the spec. You pair on the parts that need a human.
- 04
Review
Check your own work before it reaches anyone else. Reviewers are the bottleneck, so don't hand them anything unvalidated.
- 05
Merge
Ship it. The git steps stay simple enough for a newcomer, without getting in an expert's way.
Download
Start reading code the calm way.
Kiln is a Mac app. Install it with Homebrew and you're ready in one command — no key needed to try the free tier.
brew install --cask kilnRequires macOS 13 Ventura or later