using-agents

A guide to switching between specialized coding agents in Kilo Code, an AI coding tool. Each agent is a different working mode suited to tasks such as planning, implementation, debugging, or learning.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to select or cycle through agents in the Kilo Code interface, command line, or keyboard shortcuts.
Why use it?
It helps you choose an agent with the right focus and safety controls for the job. Switching modes can keep planning, coding, and investigation work separate.

Agent

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add agents/kilo-org/kilocode/using-agents
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Kilo-Org/kilocode
Per session 9 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 1,766 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00009 $0.01766
Opus 5 $0.00005 $0.00883
Sonnet 5 $0.00002 $0.00353
Haiku 4.5 $0.00001 $0.00177

Measured yesterday against content hash 6a8d75c4ea6f, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

using-agents scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured yesterday.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

packages/kilo-docs/pages/code-with-ai/agents/using-agents.md · 161 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 161 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Using Agents

Agents in Kilo Code are specialized personas that tailor the assistant's behavior to your current task. Each agent offers different capabilities, expertise, and access levels to help you accomplish specific goals.

Why Use Different Agents?

  • Task specialization: Get precisely the type of assistance you need for your current task
  • Safety controls: Prevent unintended file modifications when focusing on planning or learning
  • Focused interactions: Receive responses optimized for your current activity
  • Workflow optimization: Seamlessly transition between planning, implementing, debugging, and learning

Switching Agents

{% tabs %} {% tab label="VSCode" %}

There are several ways to switch agents:

  • Dropdown menu: Click the agent selector in the sidebar to switch between agents.
  • Slash commands: Type /agents in the chat input to open the agent picker.
  • Keyboard shortcut: Press Cmd+. (macOS) or Ctrl+. (Windows/Linux) to cycle through available agents. Add Shift to cycle in reverse.

{% /tab %} {% tab label="CLI" %}

There are several ways to switch agents:

  • Cycle agents: Press Tab to cycle forward through agents, or Shift+Tab to cycle backward.
  • Agent picker: Press Ctrl+X a (leader key + a) to open the full agent list.
  • Slash commands: Type /agents in the chat input to open the agent picker.
  • Config file: Set the default_agent key in your configuration to change the default agent on startup.

{% /tab %} {% /tabs %}

Built-in Agents

{% tabs %} {% tab label="VSCode" %}

code (Default)

Aspect Details
Description A skilled software engineer with expertise in programming languages, design patterns, and best practices
Tool Access Full access to all tools: read, edit, glob, grep, bash, task, webfetch, plus tools from MCP servers
Ideal For Writing code, implementing features, debugging, and general development
Special Features No tool restrictions — full flexibility for all coding tasks

Read the full file on GitHub · 161 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. yesterday First seen · 161 lines · 9 tokens per session scan A 6a8d75c4ea6f

Subscribe to this mod's changes

using-agents is an agent published in the GitHub repository Kilo-Org/kilocode (27,081 stars, last pushed 2d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 9 tokens to every session and 1,766 once invoked, about $0.0000 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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