Experimental features

Kiro CLI includes experimental features that provide advanced functionality. These features are in active development and can be toggled on/off using the /experiment command.

Important notes

⚠️ Experimental features may change or be removed at any time

⚠️ Experience might not be perfect

⚠️ Use at your own discretion in production workflows

These features are provided to gather feedback and test new capabilities. Please report issues through the kiro issue command.

Managing experiments

Use the /experiment command to toggle experimental features:

/experiment

This shows an interactive menu where you can:

• See current status of each experiment (ON/OFF)
• Toggle experiments by selecting them
• View descriptions of what each experiment does

Available experiments

Knowledge management

Command: /knowledge

Enables persistent context storage and retrieval across chat sessions with semantic search capabilities.

Features:

• Store and search through files, directories, and text content
• Semantic search for better context retrieval
• Persistent knowledge base across sessions
• Agent-specific knowledge isolation

Enable:

kiro-cli settings chat.enableKnowledge true

Learn more about Knowledge Management →

Tangent mode

Command: /tangent or Ctrl+T

Create conversation checkpoints to explore side topics without disrupting your main conversation flow.

Features:

• Create conversation checkpoints
• Explore tangential topics
• Return to main conversation thread
• Preserve conversation context

Enable:

kiro-cli settings chat.enableTangentMode true

Learn more about Tangent Mode →

TODO lists

Tool: todo_list | Command: /todos

Enables Kiro to create and modify TODO lists automatically, with commands for you to view and manage them.

Features:

• Kiro automatically creates TODO lists when appropriate
• View, manage, and delete TODOs
• Resume existing TODO lists
• Persistent storage in .kiro/cli-todo-lists

Enable:

kiro-cli settings chat.enableTodoList true

Learn more about TODO Lists →

Thinking tool

Shows AI reasoning process for complex problems with step-by-step thought processes.

Features:

• Transparent decision-making process
• Step-by-step reasoning display
• Useful for debugging and learning
• Better understanding of conclusions

Enable:

kiro-cli settings chat.enableThinking true

Learn more about Thinking Tool →

Checkpointing

Command: /checkpoint

Enables session-scoped checkpoints for tracking file changes using Git-like commands.

Features:

• Snapshots file changes into shadow git repo
• List, expand, diff, and restore checkpoints
• Conversation history unwinds when restoring
• Auto-enables in git repositories
• Manual initialization for non-git directories

Enable:

kiro-cli settings chat.enableCheckpoint true

Basic Usage:

/checkpoint list                    # Show checkpoints
/checkpoint expand <tag>            # Show detailed checkpoint info
/checkpoint diff <tag1> [tag2]      # Compare checkpoints
/checkpoint restore [<tag>]         # Restore to checkpoint
/checkpoint clean                   # Delete session shadow repo

Learn more about Checkpointing →

Context usage percentage

Shows context window usage as a percentage in the chat prompt with color-coded indicators.

Features:

• Displays percentage in prompt (e.g., "[rust-agent] 6% >")
• Color-coded indicators:
  • Green: Less than 50% usage
  • Yellow: 50-89% usage
  • Red: 90-100% usage
• Helps monitor context consumption

Enable:

kiro-cli settings chat.enableContextUsageIndicator true

Delegate

Launch and manage asynchronous task processes, running Kiro chat sessions with specific agents in parallel.

Features:

• Launch background tasks using natural language
• Run parallel chat sessions with specific agents
• Monitor task progress independently
• Agent approval flow for security

Enable:

kiro-cli settings chat.enableDelegate true

Usage: Use natural language to ask Kiro to launch a background task:

Can you create a background task to analyze the performance of our API endpoints?

Then check on results:

Check the status of my API analysis task
Show me the results from the background analysis

Learn more about Delegate →

Settings integration

Experiments are stored as settings and persist across sessions:

# View all experimental settings
kiro-cli settings list | grep -i enable

# Enable/disable specific experiments
kiro-cli settings chat.enableKnowledge true
kiro-cli settings chat.enableTangentMode true
kiro-cli settings chat.enableTodoList true
kiro-cli settings chat.enableThinking true
kiro-cli settings chat.enableCheckpoint true
kiro-cli settings chat.enableContextUsageIndicator true
kiro-cli settings chat.enableDelegate true

Fuzzy search support

All experimental commands are available in fuzzy search (Ctrl+S):

• /experiment - Manage experimental features
• /knowledge - Knowledge base commands (when enabled)
• /todos - TODO list commands (when enabled)
• /tangent - Tangent mode toggle (when enabled)
• /checkpoint - Checkpoint commands (when enabled)

Best practices

1. Test in safe environments: Try experimental features on non-critical projects first
2. Provide feedback: Report issues and suggestions using kiro issue
3. Stay updated: Check release notes for changes to experimental features
4. Understand limitations: Read individual feature documentation for known issues
5. Have backups: Some features modify files (checkpointing, TODO lists)

Troubleshooting

Feature not working

1. Verify feature is enabled:

   bash

   kiro-cli settings list | grep -i enable
   

2. Check for error messages in chat

3. Try disabling and re-enabling:

   bash

   kiro-cli settings chat.enableFeatureName false
   kiro-cli settings chat.enableFeatureName true
   

4. Restart Kiro CLI

Commands not available

Ensure the feature is enabled before using its commands. For example, /knowledge only works when knowledge management is enabled.

Next steps

• Knowledge Management
• Tangent Mode
• TODO Lists
• Settings Configuration