Data Locations

Kimi CLI stores all data in the ~/.kimi/ directory under the user's home directory. This page describes the locations and purposes of various data files.

Directory structure

~/.kimi/
├── config.toml           # Main configuration file
├── kimi.json             # Metadata
├── mcp.json              # MCP server configuration
├── sessions/             # Session data
│   └── <work-dir-hash>/
│       └── <session-id>/
│           ├── context.jsonl
│           └── wire.jsonl
├── user-history/         # Input history
│   └── <work-dir-hash>.jsonl
└── logs/                 # Logs
    └── kimi.log

Configuration and metadata

config.toml

Main configuration file, stores providers, models, services, and runtime parameters. See Config Files for details.

You can specify a configuration file at a different location with the --config-file flag.

kimi.json

Metadata file, stores Kimi CLI's runtime state, including:

• work_dirs: List of working directories and their last used session IDs
• thinking: Whether thinking mode was enabled in the last session

This file is automatically managed by Kimi CLI and typically doesn't need manual editing.

mcp.json

MCP server configuration file, stores MCP servers added via the kimi mcp add command. See MCP for details.

Example structure:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context7": {
      "url": "https://mcp.context7.com/mcp",
      "transport": "http",
      "headers": {
        "CONTEXT7_API_KEY": "ctx7sk-xxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Session data

Session data is grouped by working directory and stored under ~/.kimi/sessions/. Each working directory corresponds to a subdirectory named with the path's MD5 hash, and each session corresponds to a subdirectory named with the session ID.

context.jsonl

Context history file, stores the session's message history in JSONL format. Each line is a message (user input, model response, tool calls, etc.).

Kimi CLI uses this file to restore session context when using --continue or --session.

wire.jsonl

Wire message log file, stores Wire events during the session in JSONL format. Used for session replay and extracting session titles.

Input history

User input history is stored in the ~/.kimi/user-history/ directory. Each working directory corresponds to a .jsonl file named with the path's MD5 hash.

Input history is used for history browsing (up/down arrow keys) and search (Ctrl-R) in shell mode.

Logs

Runtime logs are stored in ~/.kimi/logs/kimi.log. Default log level is INFO, use the --debug flag to enable TRACE level.

Log files are used for troubleshooting. When reporting bugs, please include relevant log content.

Cleaning data

Deleting the ~/.kimi/ directory completely clears all Kimi CLI data, including configuration, sessions, and history.

To clean only specific data:

Need	Action
Reset configuration	Delete ~/.kimi/config.toml
Clear all sessions	Delete ~/.kimi/sessions/ directory
Clear sessions for specific working directory	Use /sessions in shell mode to view and delete
Clear input history	Delete ~/.kimi/user-history/ directory
Clear logs	Delete ~/.kimi/logs/ directory
Clear MCP configuration	Delete ~/.kimi/mcp.json or use kimi mcp remove