Exit codes

Kiro CLI returns specific exit codes to indicate operation status. Use these in scripts and CI/CD pipelines to detect success, failures, and specific error conditions.

Exit code reference

Requiring MCP servers

By default, MCP server failures are logged as warnings but don't affect the exit code. Use --require-mcp-startup to fail fast when MCP servers are critical to your workflow:

kiro-cli chat --require-mcp-startup --no-interactive "Run task"

If any configured MCP server fails to start, the CLI exits immediately with code 3.

Scripting examples

Handle different exit codes to take appropriate action in your automation:

Bash script

#!/bin/bash
kiro-cli chat --require-mcp-startup --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "Run analysis"
exit_code=$?

case $exit_code in
    0) echo "Success" ;;
    3) echo "MCP servers failed to start"; exit 1 ;;
    *) echo "Failed with code $exit_code"; exit $exit_code ;;
esac

CI/CD pipeline

- name: Run Kiro task
  run: |
    kiro-cli chat --require-mcp-startup --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "Analyze code"
  continue-on-error: false

Hook exit codes

Hooks use a separate set of exit codes to control tool execution:

Best practices

• Use --require-mcp-startup in CI/CD when your tasks depend on MCP tools
• Add verbose logging (-v or -vv) when debugging exit code issues
• Check exit codes explicitly rather than relying on implicit shell behavior
• Separate MCP failures from general failures to provide better error messages to users