Configuration

Most configuration is managed from Settings in the dashboard. The Gateway watches config.json and config.local.json, so most changes take effect as soon as they are saved. Fields such as the Slack slash command and mcp.honour_auto_approve carry a Changes need a restart badge. Credential changes also require a restart before the affected integration reconnects.

Agent and crewmate configuration lives outside Settings, under Customize in the sidebar (labeled Agent Capabilities before 0.9). Subagent Settings and the Pre-started Sessions card (formerly Warm Pool) moved to Settings → Agent Harness.

Settings → Import / Export backs up Kiro Crew configuration to an archive and restores it. Check Include chat history to add every chat in your Sessions list to the export. Incognito and Temporary chats are never included. Chats keep anything pasted into them, such as passwords or keys, so keep the archive private.

Older chats that do not fit in the archive are left out, and the export names them. On import, chats that are Incognito, Temporary, or unreadable are withheld and named.

• Settings → Chat → Transcript → Response Verbosity sets how terse the agent's prose is. A new install starts at Answer only; an existing config keeps its stored level. The former Ultra level is retired, and a config that stored it behaves as Answer only. At every level, code, commands, and error strings stay verbatim.
• Settings → Chat → Advanced → Compaction Time Limit (seconds) (session.compact_wait_secs) is the longest a compaction may run. 0 means the default of 300 seconds; otherwise 60 to 3,600 seconds, and a value outside that range is clamped. What happens past the limit depends on who started the compaction: automatic compaction and the task runner's compaction restart the session, a chat channel's near-limit compaction gives up and keeps the session, and a manual /compact reports that it timed out.
• Settings → Chat → Sessions → Dim Inactive Panes fades split-view panes without keyboard focus. Turn it off to keep every pane at full brightness; the accent border still marks the focused pane.

The WakaTime integration is off by default. When enabled, Kiro Crew sends coding-activity heartbeats to WakaTime and reads the account's statistics.

1. Set wakatime.enabled to true in $KIROCREW_HOME/config.json (by default ~/.kiro/crew/config.json).
2. Open Settings → Secrets and save the WakaTime API key under Used automatically by Kiro Crew. The WAKATIME_API_KEY credential is vault-only; Kiro Crew does not read it from .env or config.json.
3. Open Settings → Overview.

The card defaults to Last 7 days. Choose Today, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, or Last 6 months to see total coding time, daily average, active projects, and language and project breakdowns. Export hours (CSV) and Export hours (JSON) download project-grouped hours for the selected date range.

Get an API key from WakaTime account settings.

kirocrew config get
kirocrew config get agent.sandbox
kirocrew config set dashboard.bot_name "X"
kirocrew config set --local dashboard.bot_name "X"
kirocrew config edit

--local writes config.local.json, whose values override config.json and survive an update. Both files use standard JSON; omitted keys use the current shipped defaults. The live loader applies ordinary changes without restarting sessions. When a field is marked restart-required, restart after saving it.

{
  "agent": {
    "approval_mode": "auto",
    "sandbox": "auto"
  },
  "session": {
    "timeout_secs": 3600,
    "autocompact_pct": 70
  },
  "dashboard": {
    "default_memory_mode": "persistent"
  },
  "skills": {
    "max_triggered": 0
  }
}

Enable Settings → Developer → Feature Previews → Decisions (Jev) only after reviewing the destination and data categories shown on the card. Consent is stored outside config.json, so an agent cannot enable the transfer by editing settings.

Turning on the main switch does not arm every behavior. Choose Auto (Jev) in a chat's model picker for per-turn model routing and Auto (Jev) on the busy send button for Steer-or-Queue decisions. Automatic skill selection also requires skills.max_triggered above zero; that setting globally enables per-message trigger injection, not only Jev. Recalled-memory filtering and the optional tool-risk and compaction measurements each have their own consent switch.

Relevant settings:

A concrete model selection always wins over Auto (Jev). Scheduled jobs, subagents, app requests, and remote-crew turns keep their own model settings.

Choose a theme, typography, and interface language under Settings → Display. The interface ships in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Hindi, Bengali, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. The agent's response language follows your conversation rather than this display setting.

In the desktop app, Settings → Display → Zoom Level accepts a typed exact percent, clamped to 50 to 300 percent. A browser tab cannot set the browser's own zoom, so the setting shows the keyboard shortcut hint instead.

Channel credentials live in the encrypted secrets vault or ~/.kiro/crew/.env, not in config.json. Configure them under Settings → Messaging Channels. The .env file is owner-readable and owner-writable only.

Set these before starting the Gateway. Use --port to override KIROCREW_PORT for one invocation.

Persistent state lives under ~/.kiro/crew/, unless KIROCREW_HOME points elsewhere. See Installation for the directory layout.