CLI

The packaged kandev executable is a single native Go binary with the compiled web frontend embedded. It starts the backend and serves the web UI, HTTP API, WebSocket API, and MCP endpoint from one listener. Use it for a browser-based installation or a headless/service process. For a packaged system WebView and desktop updates, use the desktop app instead.

Quick path

1. Install with Homebrew or npm.
2. Run kandev and open the printed URL.
3. Use --headless for a server or SSH session.
4. Keep the backend on loopback unless a trusted proxy and authentication protect it.

Supported release targets

The kandev binary contains the backend and compiled web application. A Stable standard runtime contains the host agentctl and a manifest for Linux and macOS remote helpers. Kandev downloads a selected helper when a remote executor needs it and no verified copy is cached. Full Stable archives and npm Nightlies contain all remote helpers. These helpers do not serve the web app.

The npm package is a small Node.js shim. It selects an exact, same-version native runtime package for process.platform and process.arch, then starts its kandev binary. npm 7 or later is required because the native packages are platform-specific optional dependencies. Node.js is not needed to serve the Kandev web application. There is no native Windows ARM64 npm package. Running the x64 package under Windows emulation is OS-dependent and is not a tested release target.

Install

Homebrew

Homebrew is available on macOS and Linux:

brew install kdlbs/kandev/kandev
kandev --version

Scoop

Scoop is available on Windows:

scoop bucket add kandev https://github.com/kdlbs/scoop-kandev
scoop install kandev
kandev --version

The bucket installs the native runtime bundle, so Node.js is not required to install or start Kandev. Node.js is still needed for the agent CLIs Kandev installs through its own interface.

npm or npx

Use a global install for a persistent command:

npm install -g kandev@latest
kandev --version

Or run the release selected by npm's latest tag without a global install:

npx -y kandev@latest

If an npm policy such as --omit=optional prevents optional dependencies from being installed, Kandev cannot find its native runtime.

Release archive

Every release publishes a runtime archive per platform, named kandev-<platform>.tar.gz, where <platform> is one of linux-x64, linux-arm64, macos-x64, macos-arm64, or windows-x64. Pick the archive matching the machine, verify it against the .sha256 published beside it, extract it, and run the launcher from the extracted tree:

curl -fsSLO https://github.com/kdlbs/kandev/releases/latest/download/kandev-linux-x64.tar.gz
curl -fsSLO https://github.com/kdlbs/kandev/releases/latest/download/kandev-linux-x64.tar.gz.sha256
shasum -a 256 -c kandev-linux-x64.tar.gz.sha256
tar -xzf kandev-linux-x64.tar.gz
./kandev/bin/kandev --version

Verifying the checksum matters more here than with the package managers, which do that themselves.

The default Stable archive is the standard runtime. It contains kandev, the host agentctl, and remote-helpers.json. A remote task can need an HTTPS download the first time it selects a platform. The download comes from that Stable release and Kandev checks its SHA-256 digest before use. Allow outbound HTTPS to github.com and release-assets.githubusercontent.com; GitHub redirects release asset downloads to the second host.

For an offline CLI install, add -full before the archive extension, as in kandev-linux-x64-full.tar.gz. This archive also contains all four remote helpers. Windows users can use kandev-windows-x64-full.zip. Stable Desktop has no full offline installer or updater. Containers and npm Nightlies retain all helpers. See the release size report for the current archive and helper sizes.

The archive extracts to a kandev/ directory containing bin/, and the launcher finds the rest of the bundle relative to itself. The extracted directory can be moved anywhere; add kandev/bin to PATH for a persistent command. Set KANDEV_BUNDLE_DIR only to point the launcher at a bundle it is not part of.

npm nightly

Stable remains npm's default latest tag. To opt into the current prerelease from main, install or run the nightly tag explicitly:

npm install -g kandev@nightly
kandev --version

# One-off launch
npx -y kandev@nightly

A nightly version has the form X.Y.(Z+1)-nightly.sha<12-hex-character SHA prefix>, based on the latest stable X.Y.Z. The launcher and all five platform runtime packages use that same immutable version. Nightlies are best-effort daily snapshots. A new one appears only when main has changed since the latest Stable release, so some days may have no new Nightly.

Nightly does not move latest and does not publish a Homebrew formula, Desktop updater feed, container tag, Git tag, or GitHub Release. Use it for prerelease testing, not unattended production rollout.

Start and stop

run is the default command. These are equivalent:

kandev
kandev run

On a normal start, the launcher:

1. validates the installed runtime bundle;
2. creates the Kandev data directory with owner-only permissions where the platform supports Unix modes;
3. selects backend and agentctl ports;
4. starts and supervises the backend;
5. derives one or more /health targets from the effective server binds;
6. waits up to 45 seconds for any target to return the launcher's health token (the backend is alive and its socket is bound);
7. waits for /ready (the backend has finished startup recovery and can serve real requests); this wait is unbounded by design, since recovery can legitimately take much longer than 45 seconds; and
8. opens the reachable access URL in the default browser.

While /ready returns 503, it reports the current startup phase and elapsed time. The launcher prints phase changes and periodic status, so a long backup, migration, or recovery can be distinguished from an unreachable backend. These values describe elapsed work and do not estimate completion.

The launcher remains in the foreground. Press Ctrl+C or terminate it to stop the backend and its managed children cleanly. A force-kill can leave worktree processes or containers running; inspect them before deleting data.

On macOS and Linux, Kandev includes the runtime user's ~/.local/bin in its backend and local agent process PATH when that home resolves to a usable absolute path. Otherwise, the inherited PATH remains unchanged. System services use the effective service account's home, even if inherited HOME names another user. This applies to regular launches and OS services, including agent CLIs installed after Kandev starts. Existing PATH entries take precedence. After installing an agent such as Cursor, its post-install refresh or a manual rescan can discover it without restarting to reload shell configuration. The runtime user's home is separate from Kandev's configured data directory.

Use headless mode for SSH sessions, containers, or an external reverse proxy:

kandev --headless
# Alias:
kandev --no-browser

The URL is still printed. KANDEV_NO_BROWSER=1 also suppresses browser launch.

Commands and options

kandev [run] [options]
kandev start [options]
kandev service <action> [service options]

These commands and options describe the installed native launcher. Unknown arguments fail with exit status 2. In particular, the npm and Homebrew release entrypoints currently invoke that native launcher, which does not support dev, --dev, --runtime-version, --web-internal-port, or the removed --web-port spelling. The source-checkout development launcher has a separate contract described below.

dev and the internal web port are source-checkout options

The native launcher supports hot-reload development with this CLI syntax:

kandev dev [--port <backend-port>] [--web-internal-port <web-port>]
kandev --dev [--port <backend-port>] [--web-internal-port <web-port>]

Run its normal setup path from the repository root with make dev. To pass the internal-port override directly, invoke the launcher binary:

make dev WEB_PORT=37430
# or, after `make -C apps/backend build`:
apps/backend/bin/kandev dev --web-internal-port 37430

--web-internal-port accepts an integer from 1 through 65535, including the --web-internal-port=<port> form. It controls the Vite development server that the Go backend reverse-proxies to; --port continues to control the backend URL. The flag is valid only with dev or --dev. KANDEV_WEB_PORT is its environment equivalent in dev mode and is ignored by run and start. Without either override, the launcher prefers web port 37429 and selects a fallback if that port is unavailable.

The old --web-port spelling has been removed, not retained as an alias. The launcher rejects both --web-port <port> and --web-port=<port> and directs callers to --web-internal-port; outside dev mode the release launcher rejects both web-port spellings because it serves embedded web assets and has no separate web process.

start is for a source build

kandev start uses the embedded web assets and backend in the executable. It is a contributor/local-production-build path, not a second installation channel. From a checkout, run the Make targets to build the correct binary and embedded web assets:

make build
make start

Development hot reload is also checkout-only:

make dev

make dev builds the launcher plus the host agentctl and, on hosts other than Linux/amd64, one Linux/amd64 helper. It then invokes the repository's native Go launcher. The kandev dev syntax above belongs to that source launcher; installing the npm or Homebrew release does not install it as a second runtime mode.

OS service commands

The native CLI can install and manage a systemd user/system unit on Linux or a launchd agent/daemon on macOS:

kandev service install
kandev service status
kandev service logs --follow

Supported actions are install, uninstall, start, stop, restart, status, logs, and config. Installation accepts --system, --run-as <user> (only with --system), --port, --home-dir, and --no-boot-start. Reinstalling an existing Kandev-managed system service preserves its account unless --run-as is supplied explicitly. A first system install from a root login requires --run-as, including --run-as root when root is intentional. In the current native installer, --port is written as KANDEV_SERVER_PORT, but the supervising launcher overwrites that value with its own automatic port selection; the option therefore does not reliably pin a service listener today. The service normally prefers 38429 and falls back when it is busy. Windows service installation is not implemented. Managed user services write owner-only install metadata so Settings > System > Updates can offer the guarded Apply action; system services and failed guarded updates use the package manager followed by kandev service install and kandev service restart. See Run as a service for privileges, paths, upgrades, and recovery.

Database maintenance

kandev maintenance database is an offline SQLite retention and compaction command for the same file the backend uses (--home-dir, database.path, KANDEV_HOME_DIR, and KANDEV_DATABASE_PATH resolve identically to the normal launcher):

kandev maintenance database [--execute] [--compact]
    [--keep-plan-revisions <n>] [--candidate-limit <n>] [--home-dir <path>]

Dry run (default). Without --execute, the command never acquires a lock, takes a backup, or changes anything; it is always safe to run alongside a live kandev process. It reports a row count and estimated byte size for each retention category: duplicate git snapshots (content- identical repository-state polls for the same session), obsolete plan revisions (superseded, non-HEAD plan history beyond --keep-plan-revisions), and orphaned message payloads (externalized tool output no message still references). Normal conversation rows, the current plan HEAD, revert ancestry, and any protected snapshot are never candidates.

Delivery categories include eligible projected payloads, fully settled prompts, expired event receipts, retired-session evidence, and attributable orphan identities. Their samples use the same safety predicates as automatic cleanup. The report marks sample limits and unavailable retention schemas. A legacy-schema dry run does not migrate the database. Delivery samples default to at most 200 candidates, even without --candidate-limit. They are not exact database-wide totals. Retired-session evidence shares the candidate row budget across its sampled tables.

Execute. --execute requires exclusive access to the database: it takes the same ownership lock a live backend takes at boot, so it refuses to run while kandev is already running against the same home/database. It always takes and verifies a fresh backup before deleting anything, written to <database-dir>/backups/kandev-pre-maintenance-<timestamp>.db; a failed or unverified backup aborts before any delete. The three legacy categories use one transaction. Delivery cleanup uses separate bounded transactions with fresh eligibility checks. A run can finish partially and reports committed counts plus the backup path. Pending deletion jobs also produce the partial-progress notice, even when the current job removed few rows. Repeat the command to continue delivery cleanup. The configured delivery policy applies to both analysis and execution. This command remains SQLite-only. PostgreSQL uses automatic cleanup and operator database tools.

Compaction and rollback. --compact (with --execute) stages a VACUUM INTO compacted copy after retention deletes commit, verifies it with an integrity check, requires enough free disk for the staged copy, and atomically replaces the live database file. The pre-compaction file is kept alongside the live database as <database-path>.pre-compact-<timestamp>.bak for manual rollback: stop kandev if it is running, then move that file back over the live database path. If compaction fails after retention deletes already committed, the command still reports the completed backup path and deleted-row counts; only the optional compaction step is aborted.

See delivery retention operations for the supported rollback boundary and backup requirements.

PR-watch and bounded-storage diagnostics

Kandev publishes aggregate operational counters through Go's /debug/vars endpoint when diagnostics are enabled with --debug, KANDEV_DEBUG_DEV_MODE=true, or KANDEV_DEBUG_PPROF_ENABLED=true. Bind the backend to loopback while diagnostics are enabled and treat the complete response as sensitive process data. The counters below never use task, workspace, repository, branch, session, or execution identifiers as labels.

GET /api/v1/system/database returns live database metadata and the latest complete logical storage snapshot. Metadata fields include size_bytes, wal_size_bytes, backup_directory, schema_version, and last_backup_at. message_content_bytes, message_metadata_bytes, message_payload_bytes, and git_snapshot_bytes are null until the first scan completes. logical_stats_state reports pending, ready, refreshing, stale, or unavailable, and logical_stats_measured_at identifies the snapshot time. A request does not wait for a logical scan. The backend builds snapshots in bounded batches and keeps one process-local result for 15 minutes. If a refresh fails, the endpoint keeps the previous values and their timestamp; a backend restart starts a new cold scan. metadata_stale and metadata_measured_at describe freshness of the live metadata separately. logical_stats_error contains a stable error code when a scan fails. Storage categories use portable logical byte aggregates, so they remain available when SQLite dbstat or PostgreSQL relation-size facilities are unavailable. Use them for trends and retention decisions; use filesystem or database-provider metrics for physical quota and capacity alerts.

POST /api/v1/system/database/refresh requests an immediate background retry and bypasses any remaining automatic retry backoff. It returns 204 without waiting for the scan, or 503 while persistence is known to be unavailable.

Ports and network exposure

There is no separate web-server port in an installed release: the backend serves embedded assets. For the run, start, and development launcher flows, if --port, KANDEV_BACKEND_PORT, or KANDEV_PORT specifies a port, the launcher checks it before declaring the backend ready, does not substitute another one, and fails startup if the configured listen address cannot bind it. kandev service install --port remains the separate installer behavior described above.

The launcher derives readiness targets and the access URL from the effective server.host or server.hosts values. A specific IP or hostname is probed directly. An IPv4 wildcard is probed through 127.0.0.1, while the default local browser/access URL remains http://localhost:<port> to preserve the established browser origin. An IPv6 wildcard is probed and accessed through [::1]. With multiple binds, the launcher probes all targets concurrently but preserves target priority: a lower-priority success is selected only after higher-priority targets complete without the launcher's health token. It prefers a loopback target for the printed or opened access URL.

When it can enumerate non-loopback interfaces, the launcher also prints network: URLs for each unique non-loopback, non-link-local address on the same port, including local-network and Tailscale addresses. IPv6 addresses are shown in brackets. If the effective bind restricts the listener, the launcher only prints matching addresses. These lines are informational and are omitted if interface discovery is unavailable.

The dev, start, and run startup banners also print a version: line. Its value matches kandev --version; an unstamped local build reports dev.

The backend's default server.host is 0.0.0.0. That can expose Kandev to other machines on the network, and the current local product path is not an authenticated multi-user boundary. The launcher uses localhost for its default local access URL, but the backend still listens on every interface. Bind it to loopback unless remote access is deliberately protected:

KANDEV_SERVER_HOST=127.0.0.1 kandev

See Configuration before putting Kandev behind a reverse proxy or publishing the port.

Launcher environment

Flags take precedence over the equivalent port variables. KANDEV_BACKEND_PORT takes precedence over KANDEV_PORT.

Every CLI launch automatically uses the startup configuration discovery in Configuration: config.yaml in the working directory, then <KANDEV_HOME_DIR>/config.yaml (or ~/.kandev/config.yaml), then /etc/kandev/config.yaml. The first existing file is authoritative; Kandev does not merge candidates, and an unreadable or invalid first file stops the launch. There is no public --config flag. Service launches use the same discovery and carry the selected file into the managed backend process.

The launcher also sets the selected server and agentctl ports for the backend. Treat its supervisor socket and manifest under <home>/supervisor/ as private implementation state, not a control API.

--debug sets KANDEV_DEBUG_AGENT_MESSAGES=true and KANDEV_DEBUG_PPROF_ENABLED=true without selecting the dev profile. The make start-debug launcher also defaults the browser title to Debug Kandev; make dev selects the development profile and uses Dev Kandev. Debug events go to <home>/logs/backend-logs.log; warn and above still appear on stdout. ACP logs can contain full prompts, file content, and tool calls, while diagnostic endpoints expose process details. Use debug mode only on a trusted machine and remove retained debug logs afterward. Configuration lists locations and retention.

Data and cleanup

The default persistent root is ~/.kandev (on Windows, .kandev below the user's profile directory). The SQLite database normally resides at <home>/data/kandev.db; its snapshots reside at <home>/data/backups/. With KANDEV_DATABASE_PATH, Kandev uses backups/ beside the configured database file. Repositories, task worktrees, logs, and encrypted settings also live below the home root.

Runtime program files live in the Homebrew Cellar, the global npm dependency tree, or npm's _npx cache. They are not application data. npm config get cache and npm root -g show the latter two roots.

Uninstalling the package does not remove <home>. Before removing that directory, stop Kandev and any service, confirm no task or executor is running, and take a backup. See Operations for safe database backup and restore procedures.

Update

The installer owns CLI updates. Update persistent Stable installs with:

brew upgrade kandev
scoop update kandev
npm install -g kandev@latest

Use npm install -g kandev@nightly for a persistent npm Nightly install. npx -y kandev@latest and npx -y kandev@nightly launch one-off copies from the requested channel; they do not update a global package. A verified managed npm/npx user service can also select Nightly under Settings > System > Updates. Stable is selected by default; Desktop, Homebrew, system-service, unmanaged, local-checkout, and unknown installs cannot change this setting.

Release packages pin the shim and native runtime packages to the same SemVer. Do not copy only one binary from a different release into a bundle. A service unit contains installation-specific executable and bundle paths; after the package upgrade, reinstall it with the same service flags and restart it as described above.

Troubleshooting

No runtime package found

Confirm npm 7 or later, an exact supported OS/architecture pair, and optional-dependency installation:

npm --version
npm install -g kandev@latest
kandev --version

Remove --omit=optional from npm configuration for this install. On unsupported targets, use a supported machine or remote environment; do not point KANDEV_BUNDLE_DIR at a bundle from another platform.

A required binary or remote helper is missing

If kandev or the host agentctl is missing, reinstall the whole package. A Stable standard runtime does not contain remote helpers. If a remote task cannot get its selected helper, allow outbound HTTPS to github.com and release-assets.githubusercontent.com, then retry. For an offline CLI install, use a -full archive or an existing helper-path override. See Executors.

The requested port is already in use

Omit the explicit port to allow fallback, or choose a verified free port:

kandev --port 18080

If the failure remains, check both the configured KANDEV_SERVER_HOST and local listeners. The launcher's loopback preflight cannot guarantee that a later 0.0.0.0 bind will succeed.

Startup health check times out

First run with visible logs, then increase the timeout only if startup is genuinely slow:

kandev --verbose
KANDEV_HEALTH_TIMEOUT_MS=90000 kandev --verbose

The launcher prints buffered backend output once when startup fails, followed by a bounded summary. The summary includes the effective bind addresses, every attempted health target and its last safe outcome, the selected configuration file, the effective server.host source, the backend log path, one next step, and a link to this troubleshooting guide. It never prints the launcher's health token or sensitive configuration values.

Use the failure class to choose the next action:

If the backend is still running when readiness expires, the summary says that the launcher stopped it after readiness failed. It does not describe that case as a backend crash. Common underlying causes include an invalid config.yaml, a database migration or permission error, an occupied explicit port, or a damaged runtime bundle.

ACP probe closure messages occur after an agent protocol probe and do not cause a launcher /health timeout. Likewise, an X-Forwarded-Host warning means that a reverse proxy reached a running backend without trusted-proxy configuration; it is not a launcher readiness failure. Configure the immediate proxy peer under server.trustedProxies as described in Configuration.

Browser does not open

Open the printed URL manually. Linux requires a working xdg-open; WSL often needs manual browser launch. --headless and KANDEV_NO_BROWSER=1 intentionally skip the opener.

Configuration appears ignored

The public CLI has no --config option. Confirm the first existing candidate in the working-directory, home, and /etc/kandev/ order, and remember that environment values override YAML. For predictable installed/service deployments, verify the active home and database paths printed at startup. See Configuration.