Getting started

Installation

Install the kairo command globally with npm, check it's on your PATH, and see what it can do.

Requirements#

Requirement	Why
Node.js 20.10 or newer	The CLI is a Node program, and uses the `fetch` built into Node 20.
git	Every command that reads a commit or a hook runs `git` itself.
A browser, on any device	Only to approve the sign-in once. It doesn’t need to be on the same machine.

Check your Node version:

node --version

Install#

Install the package globally
npm install -g kairo-cli
This puts a kairo command on your PATH.
Seeing EACCES: permission denied?
On macOS and Linux, npm’s global folder often belongs to the system. See the fix — it takes a minute and doesn’t need sudo.
Verify the installation
kairo --version
It prints the installed version, for example 0.1.0. kairo -v does the same.

Run it for the first time

kairo

A bare kairo (or kairo --help) prints every command, followed by a short guide:

Getting started:
  $ kairo login          Connect this machine to your account
  $ kairo whoami         Check which account it is signed in as
  $ kairo review         Draft a build log from your latest commit
  $ kairo install        Offer one after every commit in this repository

Environment:
  KAIRO_API_URL          The Kairo server to talk to (default: production)
  KAIRO_TOKEN            A token to use instead of signing in, for CI
  KAIRO_CONFIG_DIR       Where credentials are kept
  KAIRO_SKIP_HOOK=1      Skip the post-commit review for one commit
  NO_COLOR               Turn colour off

Each command has its own help too, for example kairo review --help.

Where the CLI keeps its files#

The CLI stores your sign-in and any unpublished drafts in your platform’s config directory. On macOS and Linux, these files are readable only by you.

Platform	Directory
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/kairo/`
Linux	`$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kairo/`, else `~/.config/kairo/`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\kairo\`

credentials.json — your sign-in token. kairo logout deletes it.
drafts/ — unpublished drafts, one file per repository. See Draft recovery.

Set KAIRO_CONFIG_DIR to keep them somewhere else.

Environment variables#

Variable	What it does
`KAIRO_API_URL`	The Kairo server to talk to. Defaults to production.
`KAIRO_TOKEN`	Use this token instead of a stored sign-in, for CI.
`KAIRO_CONFIG_DIR`	Keep credentials and drafts in this directory instead.
`KAIRO_SKIP_HOOK`	Set to `1` to skip the post-commit review for one commit.
`NO_COLOR`	Turn colour off. Colour is also off when output isn’t a terminal, or with `TERM=dumb`.

Uninstall#

Do the first two steps while kairo is still installed — once the package is gone, it can’t revoke your token or tidy up its hooks.

Remove the post-commit hook
In each repository where you ran kairo install:
kairo uninstall
Otherwise the hook stays behind and prints kairo: not found on PATH after every commit.
Sign out
kairo logout
This revokes the token on Kairo and deletes it from this machine.
Uninstall the package
npm uninstall -g kairo-cli
Check it’s gone: kairo --version should now fail with a “command not found” error.

Unpublished drafts stay in the config directory. Delete its kairo folder if you don’t want to keep them.

Next: sign in.