Kodus CLI

AI-powered code review from your terminal.

Installation

npm (Recommended)

npm install -g @kodus/cli

Via curl

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kodustech/cli/main/install.sh | bash

Homebrew (Coming soon)

brew install kodus/tap/kodus

Using npx (No installation)

npx @kodus/cli review

Quick Start

# Run an interactive review (default mode)
kodus review

# Run a review on staged files (interactive)
kodus review --staged

# Run a review on a specific commit (interactive)
kodus review --commit HEAD~1

# Run a review comparing against another branch (interactive)
kodus review --branch main

# Run a review on specific files (interactive)
kodus review src/index.ts src/utils.ts

# Review using only configured rules (no general suggestions)
kodus review --rules-only

# Fast mode: quicker analysis (good for large diffs)
kodus review --fast

# Auto-fix: apply all fixable issues automatically
kodus review --fix

# Non-interactive modes:
# - JSON output
kodus review --format json

# - Markdown report
kodus review --format markdown

# - AI Agent mode (optimized for Claude Code, Cursor, etc)
kodus review --prompt-only

Authentication

Sign up at https://app.kodus.io to create your account.

# Login with your account
kodus auth login

# Check authentication status
kodus auth status

# Logout
kodus auth logout

# Generate CI/CD token
kodus auth token

Review Modes

Interactive Mode (Default)

Navigate through issues and apply fixes interactively:

# Interactive mode is now the default
kodus review

# You can also explicitly enable it
kodus review --interactive
kodus review -i

Features:

• File-first navigation: Browse files with issue counts
• Copy fix prompt: Generate AI-friendly prompts for Claude Code, Cursor, etc.
• One-by-one review: See issues with detailed information
• Preview fixes: View changes before applying
• Apply fixes: Choose which fixes to apply
• Live progress: Track fixed vs remaining issues

Auto-fix Mode

Automatically apply all fixable issues:

kodus review --fix

Features:

• Applies all auto-fixable issues at once
• Shows confirmation prompt before applying
• Reports success/failure for each fix

AI Agent Mode

Optimized for AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf):

kodus review --prompt-only

Features:

• Minimal, structured output
• Easy to parse programmatically
• Includes fix code for auto-fixable issues
• Perfect for autonomous generate-review-fix loops

Output Formats

# Interactive mode (default)
kodus review

# JSON output (non-interactive)
kodus review --format json

# Markdown report (non-interactive)
kodus review --format markdown

# AI Agent output (non-interactive)
kodus review --prompt-only

# Save to file (non-interactive)
kodus review --format markdown --output report.md

# Terminal output without interactivity
kodus review --format terminal --output report.txt

Context-Aware Reviews

Kodus CLI automatically reads your project's context files to provide better, more relevant reviews:

Auto-detected files:

• .cursorrules - Cursor IDE rules
• claude.md / .claude.md - Claude Code guidelines
• .kodus.md / .kodus/rules.md - Kodus-specific rules

Custom context:

# Include custom context file
kodus review --context path/to/custom-guidelines.md

This ensures reviews follow your team's standards, coding patterns, and architectural preferences.

Flags

Flag	Description	Use Case
(none)	Interactive mode (default)	Local development, manual review
--rules-only	Only check configured rules	Team standards, CI/CD
--fast	Faster analysis with lighter checks	Large diffs, quick feedback
--staged	Analyze only staged files	Pre-commit
--interactive / -i	Explicitly enable interactive mode	When combined with other flags
--fix	Auto-apply all fixable issues	Quick fixes, automation
--prompt-only	AI agent optimized output	Claude Code, Cursor integration
--context <file>	Include custom context file	Project-specific guidelines
--format json	Output as JSON (non-interactive)	Automation, integrations
--output <file>	Save to file (non-interactive)	Reports, CI/CD artifacts

Examples:

# Pre-commit: interactive check on staged files (default)
kodus review --staged

# CI/CD: strict rules only, JSON output
kodus review --rules-only --format json

# Quick feedback on large changes (still interactive)
kodus review --fast

# Auto-fix all issues in staged files
kodus review --staged --fix

# AI agent workflow (non-interactive)
kodus review --prompt-only

# Custom context with interactive mode (default)
kodus review --context .github/GUIDELINES.md

# Copy fix prompts and paste into Claude Code
kodus review  # Select file → "Copy fix prompt for AI agent"

AI Agent Integration

Kodus CLI works seamlessly with AI coding agents like Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.

Interactive Mode with Copy Prompt (Recommended)

The easiest way to use with AI agents:

# 1. Run interactive review
kodus review

# 2. Navigate to a file with issues
# 3. Select "Copy fix prompt for AI agent"
# 4. Paste into Claude Code/Cursor
# 5. AI automatically fixes the issues

The copied prompt includes:

• File path
• All issues with line numbers and severity
• Detailed suggestions and recommendations
• AI-optimized formatting

Automated Mode with --prompt-only

For fully automated workflows:

Set your team key as an environment variable:

export KODUS_TEAM_KEY=kodus_xxxxx

Add this to your .cursorrules or prompt:

When writing code:
1. Implement the feature
2. Run: kodus review --prompt-only
3. If issues are found, fix them automatically
4. Repeat until review is clean
5. Show final result

Claude Code will automatically run reviews and fix issues in a loop.

Using with Cursor

Similar workflow - the AI agent can autonomously:

• Generate code
• Review with kodus review --prompt-only
• Parse the structured output
• Apply fixes
• Iterate until clean

Benefits

• ✅ Catch issues during development, not after
• ✅ Autonomous fix loops (no manual intervention)
• ✅ Consistent with team standards
• ✅ Faster development cycles

Trial Mode

Without an account, you can use the CLI with rate limits:

• 5 reviews per day
• 10 files per review
• 500 lines per file

Sign up for free to remove these limits.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run in development
npm run dev

# Test locally
node dist/index.js review

Telemetry

Kodus CLI collects anonymous usage data to help improve the product. We take privacy seriously:

What we collect:

• Command usage (which commands you run)
• Feature usage (interactive mode, fix mode, etc)
• Performance metrics (review duration, files analyzed)
• Error events (to improve reliability)

What we DON'T collect:

• Your code or file contents
• File names or paths (only basenames)
• Passwords, tokens, or secrets
• Any personally identifiable information

Managing Telemetry

# Check telemetry status
kodus telemetry status

# Disable telemetry (opt-out)
kodus telemetry disable

# Enable telemetry
kodus telemetry enable

Environment Variables

You can also control telemetry via environment variables:

# Disable telemetry
export KODUS_TELEMETRY=false

# Or use standard DO_NOT_TRACK
export DO_NOT_TRACK=1

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Security Notes
KODUS_API_URL	API endpoint (default: https://api.kodus.io)	⚠️ Only HTTPS URLs accepted (except localhost). Custom URLs validated for security.
KODUS_VERBOSE	Set to true to enable verbose logging	⚠️ DO NOT use in production/CI - may expose sensitive data in logs
KODUS_TOKEN	CI/CD token for non-interactive environments	-
KODUS_TEAM_KEY	Team authentication key for AI coding agents (Codex, Claude Code, Cursor)	-
KODUS_TELEMETRY	Set to false to disable telemetry	-
DO_NOT_TRACK	Set to 1 to disable telemetry	Standard privacy flag
POSTHOG_API_KEY	Custom PostHog API key	Development only
POSTHOG_HOST	Custom PostHog host	Development only

Verbose Mode

Enable detailed logging for debugging purposes:

# Enable verbose logging
export KODUS_VERBOSE=true
kodus review

⚠️ Security Warning: Verbose mode may log sensitive information including:

• API responses and errors
• Authentication token details
• Full request/response payloads

Never use verbose mode in:

• Production environments
• CI/CD pipelines
• Shared or public logs
• Automated workflows

Verbose mode is intended only for local development and debugging.

License

MIT