Why We Built Kodo
Every developer knows the feeling: you're deep in a codebase, tracking down a bug or architecting a new feature, and you need help. So you open a browser tab, paste your code into an AI chat window, wait for the response, then copy the answer back into your editor. Rinse and repeat.
That context-switching is a killer. Studies show it takes an average of 23 minutes to regain focus after a task switch. When you're doing it dozens of times a day, that's hours of lost productivity — not to mention the mental fatigue.
We built Kodo because we were tired of it ourselves.
What Kodo Does Differently
Kodo CLI lives where you already work: in your terminal. It doesn't just answer questions — it understands your codebase.
When you run Kodo, it automatically:
- Indexes your project — understanding your file structure, dependencies, and conventions
- Reads context — pulling in the relevant files and code when you ask a question
- Applies changes — making edits directly in your codebase with your approval
- Supports multiple models — letting you choose between Claude, GPT, Grok, DeepSeek, and more
Here's what that looks like in practice:
$ kodo "refactor the auth middleware to use JWT tokens"Kodo will find your auth middleware, understand how it's currently implemented, generate the refactored code, and show you a diff. Accept the changes and you're done — all without leaving your terminal.
Multi-Model, Your Choice
One of the things that sets Kodo apart is model flexibility. We don't lock you into a single AI provider. Different models excel at different tasks:
- Claude Opus 4 — Best for complex architectural decisions and long-context analysis
- GPT-4.5 — Great for general-purpose coding and natural language understanding
- Grok Build — Purpose-built for agentic engineering with no output limits
- DeepSeek v4 Pro — Excellent for algorithmic problems and optimization
Kodo lets you switch between models on the fly, or even set per-project defaults. Use Claude for your backend services and GPT for your frontend components — whatever works best for you.
IDE Extensions
While the CLI is our core product, we know not everyone lives in the terminal. That's why we've also shipped native extensions for:
- VS Code and Cursor
- JetBrains (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm, and more)
- Windsurf
- Xcode (coming soon)
The extensions provide the same Kodo experience with visual diffs, inline suggestions, and chat — all powered by the same engine.
Privacy First
Your code is yours. Period.
- We never store your source code on our servers
- All API calls are encrypted end-to-end
- Your codebase index stays local on your machine
- We're SOC 2 Type II compliant
We built Kodo the way we'd want a tool that touches our code to work: with zero trust architecture and full transparency.
Getting Started
Getting started with Kodo takes less than 30 seconds:
$ npm install -g @eldlabs/kodo-cli
$ kodo init
$ kodo "explain this codebase to me"We offer a free tier with 1,000 credits — no credit card required. That's enough to get a real feel for how Kodo fits into your workflow.
For teams and power users, our Pro plan offers 50,000 credits per month with access to all models and priority support.
What's Next
This is just the beginning. Here's a preview of what's on our roadmap:
- Team workspaces — shared context and conventions across your team
- CI/CD integration — Kodo-powered code review in your pull requests
- Custom model fine-tuning — train models on your codebase patterns
- Plugin system — extend Kodo with community-built tools
We're building Kodo in public and our roadmap is shaped by developer feedback. Join our Discord community or follow us on Twitter to stay in the loop.
Kodo is built by developers, for developers. We can't wait to see what you build with it.