Kilo Code on Codex Pooler

Kilo Code is an open-source coding agent for exploring projects, writing code and completing development tasks. This guide connects its CLI to Codex Pooler, giving your terminal sessions access to your Pool’s models while Kilo handles the work in your project.

Codex Pooler Kilo Code integration

Before you start

Install Kilo Code CLI using the official instructions for your operating system.
Have a Codex Pooler URL reachable from the client.
Create a Pool API key and choose a model available to that Pool.

Configure the connection

Use the commands for the terminal that starts the client. Environment-variable assignments below apply to that terminal; desktop apps and services need the variables in their own launch environment.

Config file paths

OS	Default config file
macOS	`~/.config/kilo/kilo.jsonc`
Linux	`~/.config/kilo/kilo.jsonc`
Windows	`%USERPROFILE%\.config\kilo\kilo.jsonc`

If you set XDG_CONFIG_HOME or a client-specific config override, use that location instead.

These are the default locations. On Windows, paste the %USERPROFILE%, %APPDATA% or %LOCALAPPDATA% path into File Explorer’s address bar. For a client installed inside WSL, use the Linux paths and commands inside WSL. Keep any custom configuration folder or profile you already use.

Set the Pool API key in the shell that starts the client:

macOS / Linux / WSL

export CODEX_POOLER_API_KEY="<pool-api-key>"

Windows PowerShell

$env:CODEX_POOLER_API_KEY = "<pool-api-key>"

For a deployed instance, add these settings to kilo.jsonc at the path for your system:

{
  "$schema": "https://app.kilo.ai/config.json",
  "model": "codex-pooler/gpt-6-sol",
  "enabled_providers": ["codex-pooler"],
  "provider": {
    "codex-pooler": {
      "options": {
        "apiKey": "{env:CODEX_POOLER_API_KEY}",
        "baseURL": "https://codex-pooler.example.com/v1"
      },
      "models": {
        "gpt-6-luna": {
          "name": "GPT-6 Luna via Codex Pooler",
          "tool_call": true,
          "reasoning": true,
          "temperature": false,
          "attachment": true,
          "modalities": {
            "input": ["text", "image"],
            "output": ["text"]
          },
          "limit": {
            "context": 828400,
            "input": 828400,
            "output": 64000
          }
        },
        "gpt-6-sol": {
          "name": "GPT-6 Sol via Codex Pooler",
          "tool_call": true,
          "reasoning": true,
          "temperature": false,
          "attachment": true,
          "modalities": {
            "input": ["text", "image"],
            "output": ["text"]
          },
          "limit": {
            "context": 828400,
            "input": 828400,
            "output": 64000
          }
        },
        "gpt-6-astra": {
          "name": "GPT-6 Astra via Codex Pooler",
          "tool_call": true,
          "reasoning": true,
          "temperature": false,
          "attachment": true,
          "modalities": {
            "input": ["text", "image"],
            "output": ["text"]
          },
          "limit": {
            "context": 828400,
            "input": 828400,
            "output": 64000
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "compaction": {
    "reserved": 41420,
    "threshold_percent": 95
  }
}

For local setup, change baseURL to http://localhost:4000/v1.

{env:CODEX_POOLER_API_KEY} keeps the Pool API key outside the config file. Define only model ids your assigned Pool can serve. If you add Kilo Code permissions, use the object form such as "permission": {"bash": "allow"}; do not set "permission": "ask", which is not a valid Kilo Code config shape.

Choose a model

Set the top-level model to codex-pooler/ followed by a model ID available to your Pool.

Kilo Code uses OpenCode-style limit.{context,input,output} fields but includes reasoning tokens in overflow accounting and supports compaction.threshold_percent for preflight compaction. The 828400 values above are long-profile examples for models whose selected Pool catalog source reports an 872000-token raw ceiling. Provider accounts can temporarily report different ceilings for the same model; a selected 272000-token profile exposes 258400 instead. Use each model’s /v1/models.context_length for limit.context and limit.input, not the raw ceiling. For the long-profile example, compaction.reserved: 41420 and threshold_percent: 95 make both safety checks meet at 786980 tokens. limit.input is the local pre-compaction boundary, not a simultaneous input-plus-output envelope.

For GPT-5 OpenAI-compatible models, Kilo Code suppresses the outgoing max-token request field to avoid incompatible max_tokens, so limit.output is still important for local context math and UI even when it is not forwarded.

Verify the connection

Run a tool-using prompt from an isolated directory:

macOS / Linux / WSL

validation_dir="$(mktemp -d)"
cd "$validation_dir"

kilo run \
  --model codex-pooler/gpt-6-sol \
  --pure \
  --auto \
  --format json \
  --dir "$PWD" \
  'Use your tools to create kilo-ok.txt containing exactly: kilo ok. After the file exists, reply with exactly: kilo ok'

Windows PowerShell

$validationDir = Join-Path ([System.IO.Path]::GetTempPath()) ("kilo-check-" + [guid]::NewGuid().ToString("N"))
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $validationDir | Out-Null
Set-Location $validationDir

kilo run --model codex-pooler/gpt-6-sol --pure --auto --format json --dir "$validationDir" 'Use your tools to create kilo-ok.txt containing exactly: kilo ok. After the file exists, reply with exactly: kilo ok'

--pure keeps external plugins out of the check. --auto is only for trusted isolated automation, because it lets Kilo Code approve tool permissions automatically.

Confirm that kilo-ok.txt contains the expected text. In Codex Pooler’s request logs, match the request time, API key, model, and final status to your test. A reply alone does not confirm that the client used your Pooler instance.

Compatibility notes

Route shape

Kilo Code is a chat-completions client. It sends model requests to POST /v1/chat/completions, and Codex Pooler translates supported chat-completions requests into Codex Responses work internally. Do not point Kilo Code at /backend-api/codex, /v1/responses, or /v1/chat/completions as the configured base URL.

MCP boundary

Kilo Code model requests use Codex Pooler’s narrow OpenAI-compatible /v1 support for selected SDK routes. Codex Pooler doesn’t provide full OpenAI API parity.

Codex Pooler model use does not require MCP. If you need operator metadata from /mcp, use a separate MCP-capable host and authenticate it with an operator-owned MCP token, not the Pool API key.