CLI Commands Reference

This page covers the terminal commands you run from your shell.

For in-chat slash commands, see Slash Commands Reference.

Global entrypoint

kova [global-options] <command> [subcommand/options]

Global options

Option	Description
--version, -V	Show version and exit.
--profile <name>, -p <name>	Select which Kova profile to use for this invocation. Overrides the sticky default set by kova profile use.
--resume <session>, -r <session>	Resume a previous session by ID or title. The keyword latest resumes the most recent session (workspace-scoped, same lookup as -c).
--continue [name], -c [name]	Resume the most recent session, or the most recent session matching a title.
--in <dir>	Change into <dir> before starting or resuming. Scopes --resume latest / -c lookups to that directory's workspace and keeps the session there (skips the recorded-cwd restore).
--worktree, -w	Start in an isolated git worktree for parallel-agent workflows.
--yolo	Bypass dangerous-command approval prompts.
--pass-session-id	Include the session ID in the agent's system prompt.
--ignore-user-config	Ignore ~/.kova/config.yaml and fall back to built-in defaults. Credentials in .env are still loaded.
--ignore-rules	Skip auto-injection of AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, .cursorrules, memory, and preloaded skills.
--tui	Launch the TUI instead of the classic CLI. Equivalent to KOVA_TUI=1. Always wins over display.interface.
--cli	Force the classic prompt_toolkit REPL. Use this to override display.interface: tui for a single invocation.
--dev	With --tui: run the TypeScript sources directly via tsx instead of the prebuilt bundle (for TUI contributors).

Top-level commands

Command	Purpose
kova chat	Interactive or one-shot chat with the agent.
kova model	Interactively choose the default provider and model.
kova moa	Configure named Mixture of Agents presets selectable from the model picker.
kova fallback	Manage fallback providers tried when the primary model errors.
kova gateway	Run or manage the messaging gateway service.
kova proxy	Local OpenAI-compatible proxy that attaches OAuth provider credentials. See Subscription Proxy.
kova egress	Outbound credential-injection firewall for remote terminal sandboxes (iron-proxy). Disabled by default. See Egress proxy.
kova lsp	Manage Language Server Protocol integration (semantic diagnostics for write_file/patch).
kova setup	Interactive setup wizard for all or part of the configuration.
kova whatsapp	Configure and pair the WhatsApp bridge.
kova whatsapp-cloud	Configure the official Meta WhatsApp Business Cloud API adapter (Business account + public webhook required). Distinct from kova whatsapp (Baileys personal-account bridge).
kova slack	Slack helpers (currently: generate the app manifest with every command as a native slash).
kova auth	Manage credentials — add, list, remove, reset, status, logout. Handles OAuth flows for Codex/Nous/Anthropic.
kova login / logout	Deprecated — use kova auth instead.
kova send	Send a one-shot message to a configured messaging platform (Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, SMS, …). Useful from shell scripts, cron jobs, CI hooks, and monitoring daemons — no agent loop, no LLM.
kova peer	Register peer Kova gateways on other machines and DM their agents' canonical Bot Chats (kova peer dm <peer>[/<agent>] "…"). The transport behind cross-machine bot-to-bot messaging.
kova secrets	Manage external secret sources (currently Bitwarden Secrets Manager) for pulling API keys at process startup instead of from ~/.kova/.env.
kova migrate	Diagnose and (optionally) rewrite config.yaml to replace references to retired models or deprecated settings (e.g. migrate xai).
kova status	Show agent, auth, and platform status.
kova cron	Inspect and tick the cron scheduler.
kova kanban	Multi-profile collaboration board (tasks, links, dispatcher).
kova project	Manage named, multi-folder workspaces (projects). Anchors desktop session grouping and, when bound to a kanban board, gives tasks a deterministic worktree + branch convention. State is per-profile.
kova webhook	Manage dynamic webhook subscriptions for event-driven activation.
kova hooks	Inspect, approve, or remove shell-script hooks declared in config.yaml.
kova doctor	Diagnose config and dependency issues.
kova security audit	On-demand supply-chain audit (OSV.dev) for the venv, plugin requirements, and pinned MCP servers.
kova approvals	Approval-prompt tools — mine approval history into allowlist proposals.
kova dump	Copy-pasteable setup summary for support/debugging.
kova prompt-size	Show a byte breakdown of the system prompt + tool schemas (skills index, memory, profile). Runs offline.
kova debug	Debug tools — upload logs and system info for support.
kova backup	Back up Kova home directory to a zip file.
kova checkpoints	Inspect / prune / clear ~/.kova/checkpoints/ (the shadow store used by /rollback). Run with no args for a status overview.
kova import	Restore a Kova backup from a zip file.
kova logs	View, tail, and filter agent/gateway/error log files.
kova config	Show, edit, migrate, and query configuration files.
kova skin	List, switch, and tweak display skins.
kova console	Open the safe Kova command console.
kova pairing	Approve or revoke messaging pairing codes.
kova skills	Browse, install, publish, audit, and configure skills.
kova bundles	Group several skills under a single /<name> slash command. See Skill Bundles.
kova curator	Background skill maintenance — status, run, pause, pin. See Curator.
kova journey (aliases learning, memory-graph)	Timeline of learned skills + memories over time.
kova memory	Configure external memory provider. Plugin-specific subcommands (e.g. kova honcho) register automatically when their provider is active.
kova acp	Run Kova as an ACP server for editor integration.
kova mcp	Manage MCP server configurations and run Kova as an MCP server.
kova plugins	Manage Kova Agent plugins (install, enable, disable, remove).
kova portal	Nous Portal status, subscription link, and Tool Gateway routing. See Tool Gateway.
kova tools	Configure enabled tools per platform.
kova computer-use	Install or check the Computer Use (cua-driver) backend (macOS/Windows/Linux).
kova pets	Browse, install, and select petdex animated pets shown across the CLI, TUI, and desktop app. Subcommands: list, install, select, show, off, scale, remove, doctor.
kova sessions	Browse, export, prune, rename, and delete sessions.
kova insights	Show token/cost/activity analytics.
kova claw	OpenClaw migration helpers.
kova import-agent	Import a Claude Code (~/.claude) or Codex CLI (~/.codex) setup.
kova dashboard	Launch the web dashboard for managing config, API keys, and sessions.
kova serve	Start the Kova backend server (headless; powers the desktop app and remote backends).
kova desktop (alias gui)	Build and launch the native Electron desktop app.
kova profile	Manage profiles — multiple isolated Kova instances.
kova completion	Print shell completion scripts (bash/zsh/fish).
kova --version	Show version information.
kova update	Pull latest code and reinstall dependencies. --check previews without installing; --backup takes a pre-pull KOVA_HOME snapshot.
kova uninstall	Remove Kova from the system.

kova chat

kova chat [options]

Common options:

Option	Description
-q, --query "..."	One-shot, non-interactive prompt.
--query-file PATH	Read the one-shot prompt from a file (- = stdin). Nothing is shell-interpreted, so quotes, $(...), and backticks arrive verbatim — use this for programmatic or untrusted message bodies (Bot Mode teammate DMs use it). Mutually exclusive with -q.
-m, --model <model>	Override the model for this run.
-t, --toolsets <csv>	Enable a comma-separated set of toolsets.
--provider <provider>	Force a provider: auto, openrouter, nous, openai-codex, copilot-acp, copilot, anthropic, gemini, huggingface, novita (aliases novita-ai, novitaai), openai-api, zai, kimi-coding, kimi-coding-cn, minimax, minimax-cn, minimax-oauth, kilocode, xiaomi, arcee, gmi, upstage (alias solar), alibaba, alibaba-coding-plan (alias alibaba_coding), deepseek, nvidia, ollama-cloud, xai (alias grok), xai-oauth (alias grok-oauth), qwen-oauth, bedrock, opencode-zen, opencode-go, opencode-free (aliases free, opencode_free; keyless), commandcode, commandcode-anthropic, ai-gateway, azure-foundry, lmstudio, stepfun, tencent-tokenhub (alias tencent, tokenhub).
-s, --skills <name>	Preload one or more skills for the session (can be repeated or comma-separated).
-v, --verbose	Verbose output.
-Q, --quiet	Programmatic mode: suppress banner/spinner/tool previews.
--image <path>	Attach a local image to a single query.
--resume <session> / --continue [name]	Resume a session directly from chat.
--worktree	Create an isolated git worktree for this run.
--checkpoints	Enable filesystem checkpoints before destructive file changes.
--yolo	Skip approval prompts.
--pass-session-id	Pass the session ID into the system prompt.
--ignore-user-config	Ignore ~/.kova/config.yaml and use built-in defaults. Credentials in .env are still loaded. Useful for isolated CI runs, reproducible bug reports, and third-party integrations.
--ignore-rules	Skip auto-injection of AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, .cursorrules, persistent memory, and preloaded skills. Combine with --ignore-user-config for a fully isolated run.
--safe-mode	Troubleshooting mode: disable ALL customizations — user config, rules/memory injection, plugins, shell hooks, and MCP servers (implies --ignore-user-config and --ignore-rules). Use to isolate whether a problem comes from your setup or from Kova itself.
--source <tag>	Session source tag for filtering (default: cli). Use tool for third-party integrations that should not appear in user session lists.
--max-turns <N>	Maximum tool-calling iterations per conversation turn (default: 500, or agent.max_turns in config).

Examples:

kova
kova chat -q "Summarize the latest PRs"
kova chat --provider openrouter --model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6
kova chat --toolsets web,terminal,skills
kova chat --quiet -q "Return only JSON"
kova chat --worktree -q "Review this repo and open a PR"
kova chat --ignore-user-config --ignore-rules -q "Repro without my personal setup"
kova chat --safe-mode -q "Is this bug mine or Kova'?"

kova -z <prompt> — scripted one-shot

For programmatic callers (shell scripts, CI, cron, parent processes piping in a prompt), kova -z is the purest one-shot entry point: single prompt in, final response text out, nothing else on stdout or stderr. No banner, no spinner, no tool previews, no Session: line — just the agent's final reply as plain text.

kova -z "What's the capital of France?"
# → Paris.

# Parent scripts can cleanly capture the response:
answer=$(kova -z "summarize this" < /path/to/file.txt)

Per-run overrides (no mutation to ~/.kova/config.yaml):

Flag	Equivalent env var	Purpose
-m / --model <model>	KOVA_INFERENCE_MODEL	Override the model for this run
--provider <provider>	(none)	Override the provider for this run
--usage-file <path>	(none)	Write a JSON usage report after the run (see below)

kova -z "…" --provider openrouter --model openai/gpt-5.5
# or:
KOVA_INFERENCE_MODEL=anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6 kova -z "…"

Same agent, same tools, same skills — just strips every interactive / cosmetic layer. If you need tool output in the transcript too, use kova chat -q instead; -z is explicitly for "I only want the final answer".

--usage-file — JSON usage report for pipelines

kova -z "…" --usage-file /path/report.json writes a machine-readable usage report after the run: estimated_cost_usd, input_tokens / output_tokens / cache_read_tokens / cache_write_tokens / reasoning_tokens / total_tokens, api_calls, model, provider, session_id, service_tier, and completed / failed flags. The report is written even when the run fails, so batch pipelines can always account for spend. It has no effect outside -z/--oneshot, and a broken usage write never masks the run's own outcome.

kova -z "summarize this repo" --usage-file /tmp/usage.json
jq .estimated_cost_usd /tmp/usage.json

kova model

Interactive provider + model selector. This is the command for adding new providers, setting up API keys, and running OAuth flows. Run it from your terminal — not from inside an active Kova chat session.

kova model

Use this when you want to:

• add a new provider (OpenRouter, Anthropic, Copilot, DeepSeek, custom, etc.)
• log into OAuth-backed providers (Anthropic, Copilot, Codex, Nous Portal)
• enter or update API keys
• pick from provider-specific model lists
• configure a custom/self-hosted endpoint
• save the new default into config

kova model vs /model — know the difference

kova model (run from your terminal, outside any Kova session) is the full provider setup wizard. It can add new providers, run OAuth flows, prompt for API keys, and configure endpoints.

/model (typed inside an active Kova chat session) can only switch between providers and models you've already set up. It cannot add new providers, run OAuth, or prompt for API keys.

If you need to add a new provider: Exit your Kova session first (Ctrl+C or /quit), then run kova model from your terminal prompt.

/model slash command (mid-session)

Switch between already-configured models without leaving a session:

/model                              # Show current model and available options
/model claude-sonnet-4              # Switch model (auto-detects provider)
/model zai:glm-5                    # Switch provider and model
/model custom:qwen-2.5              # Use model on your custom endpoint
/model custom                       # Auto-detect model from custom endpoint
/model custom:local:qwen-2.5        # Use a named custom provider
/model openrouter:anthropic/claude-sonnet-4  # Switch back to cloud

By default, /model changes apply to the current session only. Add --global to persist the change to config.yaml (or set model.persist_switch_by_default: true to make every switch persist):

/model claude-sonnet-4 --global     # Switch and save as new default

What if I only see OpenRouter models?

If you've only configured OpenRouter, /model will only show OpenRouter models. To add another provider (Anthropic, DeepSeek, Copilot, etc.), exit your session and run kova model from the terminal.

On a --global switch, provider and base URL changes are persisted to config.yaml alongside the model. When switching away from a custom endpoint, the stale base URL is cleared to prevent it leaking into other providers.

kova gateway

kova gateway <subcommand>

Subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
run	Run the gateway in the foreground. Recommended for WSL, Docker, and Termux.
start	Start the installed systemd/launchd background service.
stop	Stop the service (or foreground process).
restart	Restart the service.
status	Show service status.
list	List all profiles and whether each profile's gateway is currently running (with PID where available). Handy when you run multiple profiles side-by-side and want a single overview.
install	Install as a systemd (Linux) or launchd (macOS) background service.
uninstall	Remove the installed service.
setup	Interactive messaging-platform setup.
migrate-legacy	Remove legacy kova.service units left over from pre-rename installs. Profile units (kova-gateway-<profile>.service) and unrelated services are never touched. Flags: --dry-run, -y/--yes.
enroll	Experimental: enroll this gateway with a relay connector and save relay credentials for connector-backed platforms. See Kova Relay.

Options:

Option	Description
--all	On start / restart / stop: act on every profile's gateway, not just the active KOVA_HOME. Useful if you run multiple profiles side-by-side and want to restart them all after kova update.
--no-supervise	On run: inside the s6-overlay Docker image, opt out of auto-supervision and use pre-s6 foreground semantics — gateway runs as the container's main process with no auto-restart. No-op outside the s6 image. Equivalent to setting KOVA_GATEWAY_NO_SUPERVISE=1.
--external-supervisor	On run: declare that a wrapper-provided process manager owns the foreground gateway. Use this when sudo, env -i, or another wrapper strips launchd/systemd's native environment marker. In-chat restarts and updates exit back to that manager instead of spawning a detached replacement.

--external-supervisor is a restart-policy contract: an in-chat restart or service-restart update exits with status 75, so the wrapper's supervisor must relaunch the gateway after that nonzero exit. For systemd, use Restart=on-failure or Restart=always and do not include 75 in RestartPreventExitStatus; for launchd, configure KeepAlive to relaunch after unsuccessful exits. Without that policy, a requested restart leaves the gateway stopped.

kova gateway enroll accepts --token, --connector-url, --gateway-id, and --wake-url. It exchanges the enrollment token with the connector and writes the resulting GATEWAY_RELAY_ID, GATEWAY_RELAY_SECRET, GATEWAY_RELAY_DELIVERY_KEY, optional GATEWAY_RELAY_URL, and (when --wake-url is given) GATEWAY_RELAY_WAKE_URL values to the active profile's .env.

WSL users

Use kova gateway run instead of kova gateway start — WSL's systemd support is unreliable. Wrap it in tmux for persistence: tmux new -s kova 'kova gateway run'. See WSL FAQ for details.

kova lsp

kova lsp <subcommand>

Manage the Language Server Protocol integration. LSP runs real language servers (pyright, gopls, rust-analyzer, …) in the background and feeds their diagnostics into the post-write check used by write_file and patch. Gated on git workspace detection — LSP only runs when the cwd or edited file is inside a git worktree.

Subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
status	Show service state, configured servers, install status.
list	Print the registry of supported servers. Pass --installed-only to skip missing ones.
install <id>	Eagerly install one server's binary.
install-all	Install every server with a known auto-install recipe.
restart	Tear down running clients so the next edit re-spawns.
which <id>	Print the resolved binary path for one server.

See LSP — Semantic Diagnostics for the full guide, supported languages, and configuration knobs.

kova setup

kova setup [model|tts|terminal|gateway|tools|agent] [--non-interactive] [--reset] [--quick] [--reconfigure] [--portal]

Easiest path: kova setup --portal — OAuth into Nous Portal and opt into the Tool Gateway in one shot.

First run: launches the first-time wizard.

Returning user (already configured): drops straight into the full reconfigure wizard — every prompt shows your current value as its default, press Enter to keep or type a new value. No menu.

Jump into one section instead of the full wizard:

Section	Description
model	Provider and model setup.
terminal	Terminal backend and sandbox setup.
gateway	Messaging platform setup.
tools	Enable/disable tools per platform.
agent	Agent behavior settings.

Options:

Option	Description
--quick	On returning-user runs: only prompt for items that are missing or unset. Skip items you already have configured.
--non-interactive	Use defaults / environment values without prompts.
--reset	Reset configuration to defaults before setup.
--reconfigure	Backwards-compat alias — bare kova setup on an existing install now does this by default.
--portal	One-shot Nous Portal setup: log in via OAuth, set Nous as the inference provider, and opt into the Tool Gateway. Skips the rest of the wizard.

kova portal

kova portal [status|open|tools]

Inspect Nous Portal auth, Tool Gateway routing, and reach the subscription page. Subcommand-less invocation runs status.

Subcommand	Description
status (default)	Portal auth state + per-tool Tool Gateway routing summary. Also shown when no subcommand is given.
open	Open portal.nousresearch.com/manage-subscription in your default browser.
tools	List every Tool Gateway partner (Firecrawl, FAL, OpenAI TTS, Browser Use, Modal) and which are routed via Nous.

For configuration of the gateway itself, see Tool Gateway. For the one-shot setup path, see kova setup --portal above.

kova whatsapp

kova whatsapp

Runs the WhatsApp pairing/setup flow, including mode selection and QR-code pairing.

kova slack

kova slack manifest              # print manifest to stdout
kova slack manifest --write      # write to ~/.kova/slack-manifest.json
kova slack manifest --long-description-file AGENTS.md --write
kova slack manifest --slashes-only  # just the features.slash_commands array

Generates a Slack app manifest that registers every gateway command in COMMAND_REGISTRY (/btw, /stop, /model, …) as a first-class Slack slash command — matching Discord and Telegram parity. Paste the output into your Slack app config at https://api.slack.com/apps → your app → Features → App Manifest → Edit, then Save. Slack prompts for reinstall if scopes or slash commands changed.

Flag	Default	Purpose
--write [PATH]	stdout	Write to a file instead of stdout. Bare --write writes $KOVA_HOME/slack-manifest.json.
--name NAME	Kova	Bot display name in Slack.
--description DESC	default blurb	Bot description shown in the Slack app directory.
--long-description TEXT	unset	Set display_information.long_description inline (175–4,000 characters). Incompatible with --slashes-only.
--long-description-file PATH	unset	Read the long description from a UTF-8 text file, preserving its contents exactly. Mutually exclusive with --long-description and incompatible with --slashes-only.
--slashes-only	off	Emit only features.slash_commands for merging into a manually-maintained manifest.

Run kova slack manifest --write again after kova update to pick up any new commands.

kova send

kova send --to <target> "message text"
kova send --to <target> --file <path>
echo "message" | kova send --to <target>
kova send --list [platform]

Send a one-shot message to a configured messaging platform without spinning up an agent or gateway loop. Reuses the gateway's already-configured credentials (~/.kova/.env + ~/.kova/config.yaml) so ops scripts, cron jobs, CI hooks, and monitoring daemons can post status updates without reimplementing each platform's REST client.

For bot-token platforms (Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, SMS, WhatsApp-CloudAPI) no running gateway is required — kova send talks directly to the platform's REST endpoint. Plugin platforms that need a persistent adapter still require a live gateway.

Option	Description
-t, --to <TARGET>	Delivery target. Formats: platform (uses home channel), platform:chat_id, platform:chat_id:thread_id, or platform:#channel-name. Examples: telegram, telegram:-1001234567890, discord:#ops, slack:C0123ABCD, signal:+15551234567.
-f, --file <PATH>	Read the message body from PATH (text files only — logs, reports, markdown). Pass - to force reading from stdin. To send an image or other binary file, use MEDIA:<path> (see below).
-s, --subject <LINE>	Prepend a subject/header line before the message body.
-l, --list [platform]	List configured targets across all platforms (or only the given platform).
-q, --quiet	Suppress stdout on success — useful in scripts (rely on exit code only).
--json	Emit raw JSON result instead of human-readable output.

If neither a positional message argument nor --file is provided, kova send reads from stdin when it is not a TTY. Exit codes: 0 on success, 1 on delivery/backend failure, 2 on usage errors.

Sending images and other media

--file is for text bodies only. To deliver an image, document, video, or audio file as a native platform attachment, reference it inside the message text with the MEDIA:<local_path> directive:

kova send --to telegram "MEDIA:/tmp/screenshot.png"
kova send --to telegram "Build chart for today MEDIA:/tmp/chart.png"   # with caption
kova send --to discord:#ops "MEDIA:/tmp/report.pdf"

By default, image files are sent as photos (platforms like Telegram recompress these). Add [[as_document]] to the message to deliver them as uncompressed file attachments instead:

kova send --to telegram "[[as_document]] MEDIA:/tmp/screenshot.png"

Examples:

kova send --to telegram "deploy finished"
echo "RAM 92%" | kova send --to telegram:-1001234567890
kova send --to discord:#ops --file /tmp/report.md
kova send --to slack:#eng --subject "[CI]" --file build.log
kova send --list                  # all platforms
kova send --list telegram         # filter by platform

kova peer

kova peer add <name> --url http://host:port --key <API_SERVER_KEY>
kova peer list
kova peer dm <peer>[/<agent>] "message"
kova peer remove <name>

Bot-to-bot DMs across machines. Register another Kova gateway (any machine running the api_server platform) as a peer, then message its agents: kova peer dm resolves the remote agent's canonical Bot Chat session over the peer's API server, runs one agent turn there, and prints the reply on stdout — the cross-machine twin of the local kova -p <bot> chat --in ~ -c "Bot Chat" … bot-messaging command.

<peer> alone targets the peer gateway's main agent; <peer>/<agent> targets a named profile on a multiplexed peer (routed via its /p/<profile>/ mirror).

Subcommand	Description
add <name> --url <URL> [--key <KEY>] [--note TEXT]	Register or update a peer. The URL goes to config.yaml (bot_peers); the key is stored as KOVA_PEER_<NAME>_KEY in ~/.kova/.env.
list	List peers and whether each has a key configured.
dm <peer>[/<agent>] [message]	Message the peer agent's canonical Bot Chat and print the reply (--json for machine-readable output; message falls back to stdin).
remove <name>	Remove a peer from the registry (the .env key entry is left in place).

When at least one peer is registered, the Bot Mode messaging protocol (agent.bot_mode_protocol) taught to every canonical Bot Chat automatically includes the peer roster and the kova peer dm pattern, so agents discover cross-machine teammates without SOUL edits. See Bot Mode.

Exit codes: 0 on success, 1 on delivery/peer failure, 2 on usage errors.

kova secrets

kova secrets bitwarden <subcommand>
kova secrets bw <subcommand>          # short alias

Pull API keys from an external secret manager at process startup instead of storing them in ~/.kova/.env. Currently supports Bitwarden Secrets Manager. See the full guide: Bitwarden integration.

bitwarden (alias bw) subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
setup	Interactive wizard: install the pinned bws binary, store an access token, and pick a project. Accepts --project-id, --access-token, and --server-url for non-interactive use.
status	Show current config, binary path/version, and token validation status.
token	Rotate the access token: validates the new token against Bitwarden before storing it in .env (a rejected token changes nothing). Accepts --access-token for non-interactive use and --no-verify to skip the probe.
sync	Fetch secrets now and report what changed. Add --apply to actually export the secrets into the current shell's environment (default is dry-run).
install	Download and verify the pinned bws binary. --force re-downloads even if a managed copy already exists.
disable	Turn off the Bitwarden integration.

kova migrate

kova migrate <type>

Diagnose and (optionally) rewrite the active config.yaml to replace references to retired models or deprecated settings. A timestamped backup of the original config.yaml is taken before any rewrite (skip with --no-backup).

Subcommand	Description
xai	Scan config.yaml for references to xAI models scheduled for retirement on May 15, 2026 and (with --apply) rewrite them in-place to the official replacements per the xAI migration guide. Defaults to dry-run.

Common flags for migration subcommands:

Flag	Description
--apply	Rewrite config.yaml in-place (default: dry-run, no writes).
--no-backup	Skip the timestamped backup of config.yaml when applying.

Not to be confused with kova claw migrate (one-shot import of OpenClaw configuration into Kova) — kova migrate is the top-level config-rewrite command.

kova proxy

kova proxy <subcommand>

Run a local OpenAI-compatible HTTP server that forwards requests to an OAuth-authenticated upstream provider (e.g. Nous Portal, xAI). External apps can point at the proxy with any bearer token; the proxy attaches your real OAuth credentials on the way out. See Subscription Proxy for the full guide.

Subcommand	Description
start	Run the proxy in the foreground. Flags: --provider <nous|xai> (default nous), --host <addr> (default 127.0.0.1; use 0.0.0.0 to expose on LAN), --port <int> (default 8645).
status	Show which proxy upstreams are ready (credentials present, OAuth valid).
providers	List available proxy upstream providers.

kova security

kova security <subcommand>

On-demand vulnerability scan against OSV.dev. Covers the Kova venv (installed PyPI distributions), Python dependencies declared by plugins under ~/.kova/plugins/, and pinned npx/uvx MCP servers in config.yaml. Does NOT scan globally-installed packages or editor/browser extensions.

Subcommand	Description
audit	Run a one-shot supply-chain audit.

audit flags:

Flag	Default	Description
--json	off	Emit machine-readable JSON instead of human-readable text.
--fail-on <level>	critical	Exit non-zero when any finding meets this severity (low, moderate, high, critical).
--skip-venv	off	Skip scanning the Kova Python venv.
--skip-plugins	off	Skip scanning plugin requirements files.
--skip-mcp	off	Skip scanning pinned MCP servers in config.yaml.

kova login / kova logout (Deprecated)

caution

kova login has been removed. Use kova auth to manage OAuth credentials, kova model to select a provider, or kova setup for full interactive setup.

kova auth

Manage credential pools for same-provider key rotation. See Credential Pools for full documentation.

kova auth                                              # Interactive wizard
kova auth list                                         # Show all pools
kova auth list openrouter                              # Show specific provider
kova auth add openrouter --api-key sk-or-v1-xxx        # Add API key
kova auth add anthropic --type oauth                   # Add OAuth credential
kova auth remove openrouter 2                          # Remove by index
kova auth reset openrouter                             # Clear cooldowns
kova auth status anthropic                             # Show auth status for a provider
kova auth logout anthropic                             # Log out and clear stored auth state
kova auth spotify                                      # Authenticate Kova with Spotify via PKCE

Subcommands: add, list, remove, reset, status, logout, spotify. When called with no subcommand, launches the interactive management wizard.

kova status

kova status [--all] [--deep]

Option	Description
--all	Show all details in a shareable redacted format.
--deep	Run deeper checks that may take longer.

kova cron

kova cron <list|create|edit|pause|resume|run|remove|status|tick>

Subcommand	Description
list	Show scheduled jobs.
create / add	Create a scheduled job from a prompt, optionally attaching one or more skills via repeated --skill. Supports a per-job reasoning pin via --reasoning-effort <none|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh|max|ultra>.
edit	Update a job's schedule, prompt, name, delivery, repeat count, or attached skills. Supports --clear-skills, --add-skill, and --remove-skill, plus --reasoning-effort (empty string clears the pin).
pause	Pause a job without deleting it.
resume	Resume a paused job and compute its next future run.
run	Trigger a job on the next scheduler tick.
remove	Delete a scheduled job.
status	Check whether the cron scheduler is running.
tick	Run due jobs once and exit.

The cron trigger is pluggable via the cron.provider config key. Empty (the default) uses the built-in in-process ticker. Set it to chronos (the NAS-managed provider for scale-to-zero hosted gateways) — configured via the cron.chronos.* keys (portal_url, callback_url, expected_audience, nas_jwks_url) — or name a custom provider under plugins/cron/<name>/ or $KOVA_HOME/plugins/<name>/. An unknown or unavailable provider falls back to the built-in, so cron is never left without a trigger. See the cron internals doc.

kova kanban

kova kanban [--board <slug>] <action> [options]

Multi-profile, multi-project collaboration board. Each install can host many boards (one per project, repo, or domain); each board is a standalone queue with its own SQLite DB and dispatcher scope. New installs start with one board called default, whose DB is ~/.kova/kanban.db for back-compat; additional boards live at ~/.kova/kanban/boards/<slug>/kanban.db. The gateway-embedded dispatcher sweeps every board per tick.

Global flags (apply to every action below):

Flag	Purpose
--board <slug>	Operate on a specific board. Defaults to the current board (set via kova kanban boards switch, the KOVA_KANBAN_BOARD env var, or default).

This is the human / scripting surface. Agent workers spawned by the dispatcher drive the board through a dedicated kanban_* toolset (kanban_show, kanban_complete, kanban_request_review, kanban_request_changes, kanban_block, kanban_create, kanban_link, kanban_comment, kanban_heartbeat; orchestrator profiles also get kanban_list and kanban_unblock) instead of shelling to kova kanban. Workers have KOVA_KANBAN_BOARD pinned in their env so they physically cannot see other boards.

Action	Purpose
init	Create kanban.db if missing. Idempotent.
boards list / boards ls	List all boards with task counts. --json, --all (include archived).
boards create <slug>	Create a new board. Flags: --name, --description, --icon, --color, --switch (make active). Slug is kebab-case, auto-downcased.
boards switch <slug> / boards use	Persist <slug> as the active board (writes ~/.kova/kanban/current).
boards show / boards current	Print the currently-active board's name, DB path, and task counts.
boards rename <slug> "<name>"	Change a board's display name. Slug is immutable.
boards rm <slug>	Archive (default) or hard-delete a board. --delete skips the archive step. Archived boards move to boards/_archived/<slug>-<ts>/. Refused for default.
create "<title>"	Create a new task on the active board. Flags: --body, --assignee, --parent (repeatable), --workspace scratch|worktree|dir:<path>, --tenant, --priority, --triage, --idempotency-key, --max-runtime, --max-retries, --skill (repeatable).
list / ls	List tasks on the active board. Filter with --mine, --assignee, --status, --tenant, --archived, --json.
show <id>	Show a task with comments and events. --json for machine output.
assign <id> <profile>	Assign or reassign. Use none to unassign. Refused while task is running.
link <parent> <child>	Add a dependency. Cycle-detected. Both tasks must be on the same board.
unlink <parent> <child>	Remove a dependency.
claim <id>	Atomically claim a ready task. Prints resolved workspace path.
comment <id> "<text>"	Append a comment. The next worker that claims the task reads it as part of its kanban_show() response.
complete <id>	Mark task done. Flags: --result, --summary, --metadata.
block <id> "<reason>"	Mark task blocked for human input. Also appends the reason as a comment.
request-review <id>	Move a task to review with a reviewer handoff — NOT a block. Flags: --summary, --metadata, --reviewer (reassigns before review dispatch).
request-changes <id> <reason>	Reviewer verdict for an active review run: close the review attempt and route the task back to its original implementer.
reopen-review <id>...	Send review task(s) back for changes (review → ready/todo). Flag: --reason (appended as a comment).
schedule <id> "<reason>"	Park time-delay/follow-up work in scheduled so it is not shown as a human blocker.
unblock <id>	Restore a blocked task to its source phase (review or ready), or todo while dependencies remain open.
archive <id>	Hide from default list. gc will remove scratch workspaces.
tail <id>	Follow a task's event stream.
dispatch	One dispatcher pass on the active board. Flags: --dry-run, --max N, --failure-limit N, --json.
context <id>	Print the full context a worker would see (title + body + parent results + comments).
specify <id> / specify --all	Flesh out a triage-column task into a concrete spec (title + body with goal, approach, acceptance criteria) via the auxiliary LLM, then promote it to todo. Flags: --tenant (scope --all to one tenant), --author, --json. Configure the model under auxiliary.triage_specifier in config.yaml.
decompose <id> / decompose --all	Fan a triage-column task out into a graph of child tasks routed to specialist profiles by description. Falls back to specify-style single-task promotion when the LLM decides the task doesn't benefit from fan-out. Same flags as specify. Configure the decomposer model under auxiliary.kanban_decomposer in config.yaml; kanban.orchestrator_profile only controls who owns the root/orchestration task after fan-out. Also runs automatically every dispatcher tick when kanban.auto_decompose: true (the default). See Auto vs Manual orchestration.
gc	Remove scratch workspaces for archived tasks.

Examples:

# Create a second board and put a task on it without switching away.
kova kanban boards create atm10-server --name "ATM10 Server" --icon 🎮
kova kanban --board atm10-server create "Restart server" --assignee ops

# Switch the active board for subsequent calls.
kova kanban boards switch atm10-server
kova kanban list                  # shows atm10-server tasks

# Archive a board (recoverable) or hard-delete it.
kova kanban boards rm atm10-server
kova kanban boards rm atm10-server --delete

Board resolution order (highest precedence first): --board <slug> flag → KOVA_KANBAN_BOARD env var → ~/.kova/kanban/current file → default.

All actions are also available as a slash command in the gateway (/kanban …), with the same argument surface — including boards subcommands and the --board flag.

For the full design — comparison with Cline Kanban / Paperclip / NanoClaw / Gemini Enterprise, eight collaboration patterns, four user stories, concurrency correctness proof — see docs/Kova-kanban-v1-spec.pdf in the repository or the Kanban user guide.

kova egress

Outbound credential-injection firewall for remote terminal sandboxes. Wraps the iron-proxy daemon — a TLS-intercepting proxy that swaps opaque proxy tokens for real upstream API credentials at the network boundary, so sandboxes never hold real keys. Disabled by default; see the full Egress proxy page for setup + architecture.

kova egress install                  # download the pinned iron-proxy binary
kova egress install --force          # re-download even if already installed

kova egress setup                    # interactive wizard: CA, mappings, config
kova egress setup --tunnel-port N    # override the tunnel listener port (default 9090)
kova egress setup --from-bitwarden   # use Bitwarden Secrets Manager as credential source
kova egress setup --no-bitwarden     # explicitly switch back to env-based credentials
kova egress setup --rotate-tokens    # mint fresh proxy tokens (default preserves existing)

kova egress start                    # spawn the managed proxy daemon
kova egress stop                     # SIGTERM (then SIGKILL after 5s grace)
kova egress restart                  # stop (if running) then start — needed for secret changes
kova egress reload                   # hot-reload the ruleset in-place (no restart, no dropped
                                       #   connections) via the loopback management API

kova egress status                   # binary + config + pid + listening + mappings
kova egress status --show-tokens     # print proxy tokens in full (default: redacted)

kova egress disable                  # flip proxy.enabled = false (does not stop a running proxy)
kova egress config                   # print the path to proxy.yaml for inspection

Common flows

# First-time setup
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=…
kova egress setup && kova egress start
kova config set terminal.backend docker   # if not already

# Switching credential source after the fact
kova egress setup --from-bitwarden       # env → bitwarden
kova egress setup --no-bitwarden         # bitwarden → env
# (just `setup` without either flag preserves the existing mode)

# Rotating all tokens (e.g. after a suspected token leak)
kova egress setup --rotate-tokens    # setup offers to restart the running daemon for you
# (running sandboxes still hold old tokens; restart them too)

# Adding a new upstream
# Edit ~/.kova/config.yaml proxy.extra_allowed_hosts: [api.example.com]
kova egress setup
kova egress restart                  # one-command apply (stop + start)

Diagnostic shortcuts

kova egress status                     # current state in one view
cat ~/.kova/proxy/proxy.yaml           # the rendered iron-proxy config
tail -20 ~/.kova/proxy/iron-proxy.log  # daemon-level diagnostics
tail -f ~/.kova/proxy/iron-proxy.log | jq  # daemon + per-request log (line-delimited JSON; v0.39 combines both streams)

Common failure modes + recovery are covered in Egress proxy → Troubleshooting.

kova project

kova project <create|list|show|add-folder|remove-folder|rename|set-primary|use|archive|restore|bind-board>

Projects are human-named workspaces that can span multiple folders / repos. They anchor desktop session grouping and, when bound to a kanban board, give tasks a deterministic worktree + branch convention. State is per-profile.

Subcommand	Description
create	Create a new project.
list (alias ls)	List projects.
show	Show a project's details.
add-folder	Add a folder / repo to a project.
remove-folder	Remove a folder from a project.
rename	Rename a project.
set-primary	Set the primary folder.
use	Set the active project.
archive	Archive a project (recoverable).
restore	Restore an archived project.
bind-board	Bind a kanban board to this project.

kova webhook

kova webhook <subscribe|list|remove|test>

Manage dynamic webhook subscriptions for event-driven agent activation. Requires the webhook platform to be enabled in config — if not configured, prints setup instructions.

Subcommand	Description
subscribe / add	Create a webhook route. Returns the URL and HMAC secret to configure on your service.
list / ls	Show all agent-created subscriptions.
remove / rm	Delete a dynamic subscription. Static routes from config.yaml are not affected.
test	Send a test POST to verify a subscription is working.

kova webhook subscribe

kova webhook subscribe <name> [options]

Option	Description
--prompt	Prompt template with {dot.notation} payload references.
--events	Comma-separated event types to accept (e.g. issues,pull_request). Empty = all.
--description	Human-readable description.
--skills	Comma-separated skill names to load for the agent run.
--deliver	Delivery target: log (default), telegram, discord, slack, github_comment.
--deliver-chat-id	Target chat/channel ID for cross-platform delivery.
--secret	Custom HMAC secret. Auto-generated if omitted.
--deliver-only	Skip the agent — deliver the rendered --prompt as the literal message. Zero LLM cost, sub-second delivery. Requires --deliver to be a real target (not log).
--script	Filter/transform script under ~/.kova/scripts/. The webhook payload is passed as JSON on stdin; JSON stdout replaces the payload, and empty stdout, [SILENT], or a nonzero exit code ignores the webhook. See Script Filters and Transforms.

Subscriptions persist to ~/.kova/webhook_subscriptions.json and are hot-reloaded by the webhook adapter without a gateway restart.

kova doctor

kova doctor [--fix]

Option	Description
--fix	Attempt automatic repairs where possible.

kova dump

kova dump [--show-keys]

Outputs a compact, plain-text summary of your entire Kova setup. Designed to be copy-pasted into Discord, GitHub issues, or Telegram when asking for support — no ANSI colors, no special formatting, just data.

Option	Description
--show-keys	Show redacted API key prefixes (first and last 4 characters) instead of just set/not set.

What it includes

Section	Details
Header	Kova version, release date, git commit hash
Environment	OS, Python version, OpenAI SDK version
Identity	Active profile name, KOVA_HOME path
Model	Configured default model and provider
Terminal	Backend type (local, docker, ssh, etc.)
API keys	Presence check for all 22 provider/tool API keys
Features	Enabled toolsets, MCP server count, memory provider
Services	Gateway status, configured messaging platforms
Workload	Cron job counts, installed skill count
Config overrides	Any config values that differ from defaults

Example output

--- kova dump ---
version:          0.8.0 (2026.4.8) [af4abd2f]
os:               Linux 6.14.0-37-generic x86_64
python:           3.11.14
openai_sdk:       2.24.0
profile:          default
kova_home:      ~/.kova
model:            anthropic/claude-opus-4.6
provider:         openrouter
terminal:         local

api_keys:
  openrouter           set
  openai               not set
  anthropic            set
  nous                 not set
  firecrawl            set
  ...

features:
  toolsets:           all
  mcp_servers:        0
  memory_provider:    built-in
  gateway:            running (systemd)
  platforms:          telegram, discord
  cron_jobs:          3 active / 5 total
  skills:             42

config_overrides:
  agent.max_turns: 250
  compression.threshold: 0.85
  display.streaming: True
--- end dump ---

When to use

• Reporting a bug on GitHub — paste the dump into your issue
• Asking for help in Discord — share it in a code block
• Comparing your setup to someone else's
• Quick sanity check when something isn't working

tip

kova dump is specifically designed for sharing. For interactive diagnostics, use kova doctor. For a visual overview, use kova status.

kova debug

kova debug share [options]

Upload a debug report (system info + recent logs) to a paste service and get a shareable URL. Useful for quick support requests — includes everything a helper needs to diagnose your issue.

Option	Description
--lines <N>	Number of log lines to include per log file (default: 200).
--expire <days>	Paste expiry in days (default: 7).
--nous	Upload to Nous-internal diagnostics storage instead of a public paste service. Use this when Nous support asks for a private diagnostic bundle.
--local	Print the report locally instead of uploading.
--no-redact	Disable upload-time secret redaction. By default, uploads are redacted.

The report includes system info (OS, Python version, Kova version), recent agent, gateway, GUI/dashboard, and desktop logs (512 KB limit per file), and redacted API key status. By default, uploads are redacted so secrets are not included.

Default uploads use public paste services tried in order: paste.rs, dpaste.com. --nous uploads the same debug bundle to private Nous diagnostics storage instead; the returned viewer link is for the Nous team and auto-deletes after 14 days.

Examples

kova debug share              # Upload debug report, print URL
kova debug share --lines 500  # Include more log lines
kova debug share --expire 30  # Keep paste for 30 days
kova debug share --nous       # Upload a private diagnostics bundle for Nous support
kova debug share --local      # Print report to terminal (no upload)

kova backup

kova backup [options]

Create a zip archive of your Kova configuration, skills, sessions, and data. The backup excludes the kova-agent codebase itself, and it does not nest earlier backup artifacts (backups/, state-snapshots/) — each of those already contains its own copy of state.db.

Option	Description
-o, --output <path>	Output path for the zip file (default: ~/kova-backup-<timestamp>.zip).
-q, --quick	Quick snapshot: only critical state files (config.yaml, state.db, .env, auth, cron jobs). Much faster than a full backup.
-l, --label <name>	Label for the snapshot (only used with --quick).

The backup uses SQLite's backup() API for safe copying, so it works correctly even when Kova is running (WAL-mode safe).

What's excluded from the zip:

• *.db-wal, *.db-shm, *.db-journal — SQLite's WAL / shared-memory / journal sidecars. The *.db file already got a consistent snapshot via sqlite3.backup(); shipping the live sidecars alongside it would let a restore see a half-committed state.
• checkpoints/ — per-session trajectory caches. Hash-keyed and regenerated per session; wouldn't port cleanly to another install anyway.
• The kova-agent code itself (this is a user-data backup, not a repo snapshot).

Examples

kova backup                           # Full backup to ~/kova-backup-*.zip
kova backup -o /tmp/kova.zip        # Full backup to specific path
kova backup --quick                   # Quick state-only snapshot
kova backup --quick --label "pre-upgrade"  # Quick snapshot with label

kova checkpoints

kova checkpoints [COMMAND]

Inspect and manage the shadow git store at ~/.kova/checkpoints/ — the storage layer behind the in-session /rollback command. Safe to run any time; does not require the agent to be running.

Subcommand	Description
status (default)	Show total size, project count, and per-project breakdown. Bare kova checkpoints is equivalent.
list	Alias for status.
prune	Force a cleanup sweep — delete orphan and stale projects, GC the store, enforce the size cap. Ignores the 24h idempotency marker.
clear	Delete the entire checkpoint base. Irreversible; asks for confirmation unless -f.
clear-legacy	Delete only the legacy-<timestamp>/ archives produced by the v1→v2 migration.

Options

Option	Subcommand	Description
--limit N	status, list	Max projects to list (default 20).
--retention-days N	prune	Drop projects whose last_touch is older than N days (default 7).
--max-size-mb N	prune	After the orphan/stale pass, drop the oldest commit per project until total store size ≤ N MB (default 500).
--keep-orphans	prune	Skip deleting projects whose working directory no longer exists.
-f, --force	clear, clear-legacy	Skip the confirmation prompt.

Examples

kova checkpoints                                  # status overview
kova checkpoints prune --retention-days 3         # aggressive cleanup
kova checkpoints prune --max-size-mb 200          # tighten size cap once
kova checkpoints clear-legacy -f                  # drop v1 archive dirs
kova checkpoints clear -f                         # wipe everything

See Checkpoints and /rollback for the full architecture and the in-session commands.

kova import

kova import <zipfile> [options]

Restore a previously created Kova backup into your Kova home directory. All files in the archive overwrite existing files in your Kova home; --force only skips the confirmation prompt that fires when the target already has a Kova installation.

Option	Description
-f, --force	Skip the existing-installation confirmation prompt.

warning

Stop the gateway before importing to avoid conflicts with running processes.

Examples

kova import ~/Kova-backup-20260423.zip           # Prompts before overwriting existing config
kova import ~/Kova-backup-20260423.zip --force   # Overwrite without prompting

kova logs

kova logs [log_name] [options]

View, tail, and filter Kova log files. All logs are stored in ~/.kova/logs/ (or <profile>/logs/ for non-default profiles).

Log files

Name	File	What it captures
agent (default)	agent.log	All agent activity — API calls, tool dispatch, session lifecycle (INFO and above)
errors	errors.log	Warnings and errors only — a filtered subset of agent.log
gateway	gateway.log	Messaging gateway activity — platform connections, message dispatch, webhook events
gui	gui.log	Dashboard / TUI-gateway / PTY-bridge / websocket events
desktop	desktop.log	Electron desktop app — boot, backend spawn output, and recent Python tracebacks

Options

Option	Description
log_name	Which log to view: agent (default), errors, gateway, or list to show available files with sizes.
-n, --lines <N>	Number of lines to show (default: 50).
-f, --follow	Follow the log in real time, like tail -f. Press Ctrl+C to stop.
--level <LEVEL>	Minimum log level to show: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL.
--session <ID>	Filter lines containing a session ID substring.
--since <TIME>	Show lines from a relative time ago: 30m, 1h, 2d, etc. Supports s (seconds), m (minutes), h (hours), d (days).
--component <NAME>	Filter by component: gateway, agent, tools, cli, cron.

Examples

# View the last 50 lines of agent.log (default)
kova logs

# Follow agent.log in real time
kova logs -f

# View the last 100 lines of gateway.log
kova logs gateway -n 100

# Show only warnings and errors from the last hour
kova logs --level WARNING --since 1h

# Filter by a specific session
kova logs --session abc123

# Follow errors.log, starting from 30 minutes ago
kova logs errors --since 30m -f

# List all log files with their sizes
kova logs list

Filtering

Filters can be combined. When multiple filters are active, a log line must pass all of them to be shown:

# WARNING+ lines from the last 2 hours containing session "tg-12345"
kova logs --level WARNING --since 2h --session tg-12345

Lines without a parseable timestamp are included when --since is active (they may be continuation lines from a multi-line log entry). Lines without a detectable level are included when --level is active.

Log rotation

Kova uses Python's RotatingFileHandler. Old logs are rotated automatically — look for agent.log.1, agent.log.2, etc. The kova logs list subcommand shows all log files including rotated ones.

kova prompt-size

kova prompt-size [--platform <name>] [--json]

Reports the fixed prompt budget for a fresh session — what gets sent on every API call before any conversation content. Useful when a downstream adapter or proxy has a tighter prompt budget than the model's context window, or when you want to see which block (skills index, memory, profile) dominates.

It builds the same system prompt the agent would, then breaks it down:

• System prompt total — full assembled prompt (identity, guidance, skills index, context files, memory, profile, timestamp).
• Skills index — the <available_skills> block. This is often the largest single block when many skills are installed.
• Memory and user profile — your MEMORY.md / USER.md snapshots.
• Prompt tiers — stable / context / volatile, matching how Kova layers the prompt for cache-friendliness.
• Tool schemas — the JSON for all enabled tools (the other half of the fixed per-call payload).

Runs entirely offline — no API call, works with no credentials configured.

# Human-readable breakdown for the CLI platform (default)
kova prompt-size

# Simulate a messaging platform's prompt (different platform hint)
kova prompt-size --platform telegram

# Machine-readable output for scripts
kova prompt-size --json

tip

The skills index and tool schemas scale with how many skills and tools you have enabled. To shrink the prompt, disable unused toolsets (kova tools) or uninstall skills you don't need (kova skills). Context files (AGENTS.md, .cursorrules) in your current directory also count toward the total.

kova config

kova config <subcommand>

Subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
show	Show current config values.
edit	Open config.yaml in your editor.
get <key> [--json]	Print a single config value by dotted key (e.g. kova config get model.default). --json emits machine-readable output.
set <key> <value>	Set a config value.
unset <key>	Remove a config key, reverting it to the built-in default.
path	Print the config file path.
env-path	Print the .env file path.
check	Check for missing or stale config.
migrate	Add newly introduced options interactively.

kova pairing

kova pairing <list|approve|revoke|clear-pending>

Subcommand	Description
list	Show pending and approved users.
approve <platform> <code>	Approve a pairing code.
revoke <platform> <user-id>	Revoke a user's access.
clear-pending	Clear pending pairing codes.

kova skills

kova skills <subcommand>

Subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
browse	Paginated browser for skill registries.
search	Search skill registries.
install	Install a skill.
inspect	Preview a skill without installing it.
list	List installed skills.
check	Check installed hub skills for upstream updates.
update	Reinstall hub skills with upstream changes when available.
audit	Re-scan installed hub skills.
uninstall	Remove a hub-installed skill.
reset	Un-stick a bundled skill flagged as user_modified by clearing its manifest entry. With --restore, also replaces the user copy with the bundled version.
opt-out	Stop bundled skills from being seeded into the active profile. Writes a .no-bundled-skills marker so the installer, kova update, and any sync skip bundled-skill seeding. Safe by default — nothing on disk is touched. With --remove, also deletes already-present bundled skills that are unmodified (user-edited, hub-installed, and hand-written skills are never removed; previews and confirms first, --yes to skip).
opt-in	Undo opt-out by removing the .no-bundled-skills marker so bundled skills are seeded again on the next kova update. With --sync, re-seed immediately.
publish	Publish a skill to a registry.
snapshot	Export/import skill configurations.
tap	Manage custom skill sources.
config	Interactive enable/disable configuration for skills by platform.

Common examples:

kova skills browse
kova skills browse --source official
kova skills search react --source skills-sh
kova skills search https://mintlify.com/docs --source well-known
kova skills inspect official/security/1password
kova skills inspect skills-sh/vercel-labs/json-render/json-render-react
kova skills install official/migration/openclaw-migration
kova skills install skills-sh/anthropics/skills/pdf --force
kova skills install https://sharethis.chat/SKILL.md                     # Direct URL (+ referenced support files)
kova skills install https://example.com/SKILL.md --name my-skill        # Override name when frontmatter has none
kova skills check
kova skills update
kova skills config
kova skills reset google-workspace
kova skills reset google-workspace --restore --yes
kova skills opt-out                  # stop future bundled-skill seeding (nothing deleted)
kova skills opt-out --remove --yes   # also delete UNMODIFIED bundled skills
kova skills opt-in --sync            # undo: remove marker and re-seed now

Notes:

• --force can override non-dangerous policy blocks for third-party/community skills.
• --force does not override a dangerous scan verdict.
• --source skills-sh searches the public skills.sh directory.
• --source well-known lets you point Kova at a site exposing /.well-known/skills/index.json.
• --source browse-sh searches browse.sh's catalog of 200+ site-specific browser-automation skills. Identifiers look like browse-sh/airbnb.com/search-listings-ddgioa.
• Passing an http(s)://…/*.md URL installs SKILL.md plus explicitly referenced files under references/, templates/, scripts/, assets/, and examples/. When frontmatter has no name: and the URL slug isn't a valid identifier, an interactive terminal prompts for a name; non-interactive surfaces (/skills install inside the TUI, gateway platforms) require --name <x> instead.

kova bundles

kova bundles <subcommand>

Skill bundles group several skills under one /<bundle-name> slash command. Invoking the bundle loads every referenced skill into a single combined user message. Storage: ~/.kova/skill-bundles/<slug>.yaml. See Skill Bundles for the YAML schema and behavior.

Subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
list	List installed bundles (default when no subcommand given)
show <name>	Show one bundle's name, description, skills, and file path
create <name>	Create a new bundle. Pass --skill <id> (repeat) or omit for interactive entry. --description, --instruction, --force available.
delete <name>	Remove a bundle file
reload	Re-scan ~/.kova/skill-bundles/ and report added/removed bundles

Examples:

kova bundles create backend-dev \
  --skill github-code-review \
  --skill test-driven-development \
  --skill github-pr-workflow \
  -d "Backend feature work"

kova bundles list
kova bundles show backend-dev
kova bundles delete backend-dev

In a chat session, /bundles lists installed bundles and /<bundle-name> loads one.

kova curator

kova curator <subcommand>

The curator is an auxiliary-model background task that periodically reviews agent-created skills, prunes stale ones, consolidates overlaps, and archives obsolete skills. Bundled and hub-installed skills are never touched. Archives are recoverable; auto-deletion never happens.

Subcommand	Description
status	Show curator status and skill stats
run	Trigger a curator review now (blocks until the LLM pass finishes)
run --background	Start the LLM pass in a background thread and return immediately
run --dry-run	Preview only — produce the review report with no mutations
backup	Take a manual tar.gz snapshot of ~/.kova/skills/ (curator also snapshots automatically before every real run)
rollback	Restore ~/.kova/skills/ from a snapshot (defaults to newest)
rollback --list	List available snapshots
rollback --id <ts>	Restore a specific snapshot by id
rollback -y	Skip the confirmation prompt
pause	Pause the curator until resumed
resume	Resume a paused curator
pin <skill>	Pin a skill so the curator never auto-transitions it
unpin <skill>	Unpin a skill
restore <skill>	Restore an archived skill
archive <skill>	Archive a skill manually
prune	Manually prune skills the curator would normally clean up
list-archived	List archived skills (recoverable via restore)

On a fresh install the first scheduled pass is deferred by one full interval_hours (7 days by default) — the gateway will not curate immediately on the first tick after kova update. Use kova curator run --dry-run to preview before that happens.

See Curator for behavior and config.

kova moa

Configure named Mixture of Agents presets. Presets appear as selectable models under a Mixture of Agents provider in every model picker; /moa <prompt> runs one prompt through the default preset.

kova moa list
kova moa configure [name]
kova moa delete <name>

kova moa configure reuses Kova' provider → model picker for each reference model and the aggregator. A preset is an execution-mode configuration, not a primary model or provider.

kova fallback

kova fallback <subcommand>

Manage the fallback provider chain. Fallback providers are tried in order when the primary model fails with rate-limit, overload, or connection errors.

Subcommand	Description
list (alias: ls)	Show the current fallback chain (default when no subcommand)
add	Pick a provider + model (same picker as kova model) and append to the chain
remove (alias: rm)	Pick an entry to delete from the chain
clear	Remove all fallback entries

See Fallback Providers.

kova hooks

kova hooks <subcommand>

Inspect shell-script hooks declared in ~/.kova/config.yaml, test them against synthetic payloads, and manage the first-use consent allowlist at ~/.kova/shell-hooks-allowlist.json.

Subcommand	Description
list (alias: ls)	List configured hooks with matcher, timeout, and consent status
test <event>	Fire every hook matching <event> against a synthetic payload
revoke (aliases: remove, rm)	Remove a command's allowlist entries (takes effect on next restart)
doctor	Check each configured hook: exec bit, allowlist, mtime drift, JSON validity, and synthetic run timing

See Hooks for event signatures and payload shapes.

kova memory

kova memory <subcommand>

Set up and manage external memory provider plugins. Available providers: honcho, openviking, mem0, hindsight, holographic, retaindb, byterover, supermemory. Only one external provider can be active at a time. Built-in memory (MEMORY.md/USER.md) is always active.

Subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
setup	Interactive provider selection and configuration.
status	Show current memory provider config.
off	Disable external provider (built-in only).

Provider-specific subcommands

When an external memory provider is active, it may register its own top-level kova <provider> command for provider-specific management (e.g. kova honcho when Honcho is active). Inactive providers do not expose their subcommands. Run kova --help to see what's currently wired in.

kova acp

kova acp

Starts Kova as an ACP (Agent Client Protocol) stdio server for editor integration.

Related entrypoints:

kova-acp
python -m acp_adapter

Install support first:

cd ~/.kova/kova-agent && uv pip install -e '.[acp]'

See ACP Editor Integration and ACP Internals.

kova mcp

kova mcp <subcommand>

Manage MCP (Model Context Protocol) server configurations and run Kova as an MCP server.

Subcommand	Description
(none) or picker	Interactive catalog picker — browse Nous-approved MCPs and install/enable/disable.
catalog	List Nous-approved MCPs (plain text, scriptable).
install <name>	Install a catalog entry (e.g. kova mcp install n8n).
serve [-v|--verbose]	Run Kova as an MCP server — expose conversations to other agents.
add <name> [--url URL] [--command CMD] [--auth oauth|header] [--args ...]	Add a custom MCP server with automatic tool discovery. --args passes the remaining argv to the stdio command, so put it last.
remove <name> (alias: rm)	Remove an MCP server from config.
list (alias: ls)	List configured MCP servers.
test <name>	Test connection to an MCP server.
configure <name> (alias: config)	Toggle tool selection for a server.
login <name>	Force re-authentication for an OAuth-based MCP server.

See MCP Config Reference, Use MCP with Kova, and MCP Server Mode.

kova plugins

kova plugins [subcommand]

Unified plugin management — general plugins, memory providers, and context engines in one place. Running kova plugins with no subcommand opens a composite interactive screen with two sections:

• General Plugins — multi-select checkboxes to enable/disable installed plugins
• Provider Plugins — single-select configuration for Memory Provider and Context Engine. Press ENTER on a category to open a radio picker.

Subcommand	Description
(none)	Composite interactive UI — general plugin toggles + provider plugin configuration.
install <identifier> [--force] [--ref COMMIT_SHA]	Install a plugin from a Git URL, owner/repo, or a bare index name. Bare names (no slash) are resolved through the community plugin index to owner/repo plus the index-pinned commit; ambiguous names list candidates and exit. --ref accepts only a full 40-character commit SHA, installs that exact immutable revision, and overrides any index pin.
search [term] [--json] [--capability CAP] [--refresh]	Search the community plugin index (fuzzy match on name/description/tags; omit term to browse). Fetched from plugins.index_url (default: the NousResearch plugin index), cached under ~/.kova/cache/ for 24h, falling back to the stale cache and then the bundled seed when offline. Indexed ≠ audited — inclusion is a metadata review only.
update <name>	Pull latest changes for an unpinned installed plugin. Pinned plugins must be reinstalled with --force --ref <new-commit> to move.
remove <name> (aliases: rm, uninstall)	Remove an installed plugin.
enable <name>	Enable a disabled plugin.
disable <name>	Disable a plugin without removing it.
list (alias: ls)	List installed plugins with enabled/disabled status.
doctor [path-or-id] [--ci]	Validate a native plugin through the real manifest parser, loader, and registration path. --ci exits 1 on errors.
pack install <path-or-url> [--force]	Install a plugin pack (kova-pack.yaml) — a declarative set of plugins each pinned to an exact 40-character commit SHA. Shows a mandatory review screen (every plugin, source, pinned ref, declared capabilities), asks one confirmation for the pack contents, then runs ordinary pinned installs. Each plugin's declared capabilities still go through the standard per-plugin consent — a pack never bulk-grants. Partial failures are reported per plugin; exits non-zero when any plugin failed. Interactive only (no --yes).
pack export [--enabled-only] [--name NAME]	Emit a pack YAML on stdout from the current install: repo + exact SHA of each git-installed plugin plus sanitized non-secret plugins.entries config. Local-only plugins (no git provenance) are listed as warning comments, never as installable entries. Secrets, capability grants, and allow_* gates are always stripped.
pack show <path-or-url>	Dry-run: parse, validate, and display a pack without installing anything.

Provider plugin selections are saved to config.yaml:

• memory.provider — active memory provider (empty = built-in only)
• context.engine — active context engine ("compressor" = built-in default)

General plugin disabled list is stored in config.yaml under plugins.disabled. Git installs also record only their canonical source, exact installed revision, and pin status in the profile-local plugins/.install-metadata.json sidecar. It does not contain plugin config, environment values, secrets, or capability grants.

See Plugins and Build a Kova Plugin.

kova tools

kova tools [--summary]

Option	Description
--summary	Print the current enabled-tools summary and exit.

Without --summary, this launches the interactive per-platform tool configuration UI.

kova computer-use

kova computer-use <subcommand>

Subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
install	Run the upstream cua-driver installer (macOS, Windows, and Linux).
install --upgrade	Re-run the installer even if cua-driver is already on PATH. The upstream script always pulls the latest release, so this performs an in-place upgrade.
status	Print whether cua-driver is on $PATH and which version is installed.
doctor [--include CHECK] [--skip CHECK] [--json]	Run cua-driver's health report and show its platform checks.
permissions status [--json]	Report macOS Accessibility and Screen Recording grants.
permissions grant	Ask macOS to grant Accessibility and Screen Recording to Cua Driver.

kova computer-use install is the stable entry point for installing the cua-driver binary used by the computer_use toolset. It runs the same upstream installer that kova tools invokes when you first enable Computer Use, so it's safe to use for re-running the install if the toolset toggle didn't trigger it (for example, on returning-user setups).

If cua-driver is already present, Kova checks its version and runtime manifest. A compatible 0.20.0 or newer installation is left in place. An old or incomplete standard installation is repaired with the current upstream installer. Kova never replaces a custom binary selected through KOVA_CUA_DRIVER_CMD; update that binary directly or remove the override. kova computer-use status reports when repair is required.

The built-in computer_use toolset is the recommended Kova integration. Registering raw Cua MCP tools is an alternative when you need Cua's low-level tool vocabulary. cua-driver skills install detects Kova and links Cua's skill pack into the Kova skills directory automatically.

Permission mode, capability-manifest approval, and the existing-profile grant belong to runtime launch. In bounded mode Kova passes Cua's canonical --capability-manifest and --approve-capability-manifest flags. Every MCP transport owns a private lifecycle session inside its runtime. Public session names label cursor and session state; they do not own or share the runtime.

kova update automatically re-runs the upstream installer at the end of the update if cua-driver is on PATH, so most users will not need to call --upgrade manually. Use it when upstream ships a fix you want right now without waiting for the next Kova update.

kova pets

kova pets <list|install|select|show|off|scale|remove|doctor>

Petdex is a public gallery of animated sprite pets for coding agents. Install one and Kova shows it reacting to agent activity across the CLI, TUI, and desktop app.

Subcommand	Description
list	Browse the petdex gallery.
install	Install a pet from the gallery.
select	Set the active pet (writes display.pet.*).
show	Animate the active pet in the terminal.
off	Disable the pet display.
scale	Resize the pet everywhere (display.pet.scale).
remove	Delete an installed pet.
doctor	Check pet setup + terminal graphics support.

You can also generate a brand-new pet from a text description with the /hatch slash command. See Pets.

kova sessions

kova sessions <subcommand>

Subcommands:

Subcommand	Description
list	List recent sessions.
browse	Interactive session picker with search and resume. Each row shows a lifecycle status tag (done / intr / err / empty, derived from the session's final message) and its message count. Press d on a highlighted row (while the search filter is empty) to delete that session after a y/N confirmation; while a filter is active, d types into the search instead.
export <output> [--session-id ID]	Export sessions to JSONL.
delete <session-id>	Delete one session.
prune	Delete sessions matching filters: time bounds --older-than/--newer-than/--before/--after (durations like 5h/2d, bare days, or ISO timestamps); attributes --source, --title, --model, --provider, --branch, --end-reason, --user, --chat-id, --chat-type, --cwd; numeric bounds --min/--max-messages, --min/--max-tokens, --min/--max-cost, --min/--max-tool-calls; plus --include-archived, --dry-run, --yes. Default: older than 90 days.
archive	Bulk-archive (soft-hide, no deletion) sessions matching the same filters as prune. Requires at least one filter.
stats	Show session-store statistics.
rename <session-id> <title>	Set or change a session title.
optimize	Reclaim disk space: merge FTS5 index segments + VACUUM. Non-destructive — no session data changes.
optimize-storage	Migrate the full-text search index to the compact v23 external-content layout; on large databases this reclaims a large fraction of state.db.
repair	Repair a malformed state.db schema (e.g. table messages_fts already exists) so hidden sessions reappear; a backup is made first.
repair-routing	Re-attach gateway conversations stranded in session rows that lost their routing identity (a chat "jumping back in time" after a restart). Dry-run by default; --apply performs the adoptions (stop the gateway first); --max-gap-seconds N tunes the contiguity window. Only unambiguous cases are repaired. See Sessions → Repair Stranded Gateway Sessions.
recover	Offline, non-destructive recovery of a damaged state.db into a separate clean database.
retitle-skills	Regenerate titles for sessions opened with a /skill, using what the user actually typed; lists changes unless --apply is passed.

kova insights

kova insights [--days N] [--source platform]

Option	Description
--days <n>	Analyze the last n days (default: 30).
--source <platform>	Filter by source such as cli, telegram, or discord.

kova claw

kova claw migrate [options]

Migrate your OpenClaw setup to Kova. Reads from ~/.openclaw (or a custom path) and writes to ~/.kova. Automatically detects legacy directory names (~/.clawdbot, ~/.moltbot) and config filenames (clawdbot.json, moltbot.json).

Option	Description
--dry-run	Preview what would be migrated without writing anything.
--preset <name>	Migration preset: full (all compatible settings) or user-data (excludes infrastructure config). Neither preset imports secrets — pass --migrate-secrets explicitly.
--overwrite	Overwrite existing Kova files on conflicts (default: refuse to apply when the plan has conflicts).
--migrate-secrets	Include API keys in migration. Required even under --preset full.
--no-backup	Skip the pre-migration zip snapshot of ~/.kova/ (by default a single restore-point archive is written to ~/.kova/backups/pre-migration-*.zip before apply; restorable with kova import).
--source <path>	Custom OpenClaw directory (default: ~/.openclaw).
--workspace-target <path>	Target directory for workspace instructions (AGENTS.md).
--skill-conflict <mode>	Handle skill name collisions: skip (default), overwrite, or rename.
--yes	Skip the confirmation prompt.

What gets migrated

The migration covers 30+ categories across persona, memory, skills, model providers, messaging platforms, agent behavior, session policies, MCP servers, TTS, and more. Items are either directly imported into Kova equivalents or archived for manual review.

Directly imported: SOUL.md, MEMORY.md, USER.md, AGENTS.md, skills (4 source directories), default model, custom providers, MCP servers, messaging platform tokens and allowlists (Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Matrix, Mattermost), agent defaults (reasoning effort, compression, human delay, timezone, sandbox), session reset policies, approval rules, TTS config, browser settings, tool settings, exec timeout, command allowlist, gateway config, and API keys from 3 sources.

Archived for manual review: Cron jobs, plugins, hooks/webhooks, memory backend (QMD), skills registry config, UI/identity, logging, multi-agent setup, channel bindings, IDENTITY.md, TOOLS.md, HEARTBEAT.md, BOOTSTRAP.md.

API key resolution checks three sources in priority order: config values → ~/.openclaw/.env → auth-profiles.json. All token fields handle plain strings, env templates (${VAR}), and SecretRef objects.

For the complete config key mapping, SecretRef handling details, and post-migration checklist, see the full migration guide.

Examples

# Preview what would be migrated
kova claw migrate --dry-run

# Full migration (all compatible settings, no secrets)
kova claw migrate --preset full

# Full migration including API keys
kova claw migrate --preset full --migrate-secrets

# Migrate user data only (no secrets), overwrite conflicts
kova claw migrate --preset user-data --overwrite

# Migrate from a custom OpenClaw path
kova claw migrate --source /home/user/old-openclaw

kova import-agent

kova import-agent [claude-code|codex] [options]

Import a Claude Code (~/.claude) or OpenAI Codex CLI (~/.codex) setup into Kova. Maps CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md instructions to memory entries, Bash(...) permission allow/deny rules to command_allowlist/approvals.deny, MCP servers to mcp_servers in config.yaml, and skill directories into ~/.kova/skills/. Always previews before applying; API keys and credentials are never imported.

Option	Description
agent	claude-code or codex (default: auto-detect).
--source <path>	Custom source directory (default: ~/.claude or ~/.codex).
--dry-run	Preview only — write nothing.
--overwrite	Replace conflicting MCP servers / skills (default: skip).
--yes, -y	Skip confirmation prompts.

See the import guide for the full mapping tables.

kova serve

kova serve [options]

Start the Kova backend server — the JSON-RPC/WebSocket gateway the desktop app and remote clients connect to. It is the same server kova dashboard runs, but headless: it never opens a browser UI. The desktop app launches its own kova serve backend; use this command directly when you want a headless backend on a remote host. Accepts the same --host / --port / --insecure / --skip-build / --stop / --status options as kova dashboard below (a non-loopback bind engages the same auth gate). Requires the [web] extra; the embedded Chat socket additionally needs [pty] on a POSIX host.

Port conflicts: if the requested port (default 9119) is already held by another process (e.g. a second kova serve or the gateway), the command prints a machine-readable sentinel line BACKEND_PORT_IN_USE port=<port> to stdout, a human hint naming the likely holder, and exits with code 75 (EX_TEMPFAIL) instead of a generic error — so scripts and the desktop app can tell "port occupied" apart from "backend broken". Pass --port 0 to bind a free ephemeral port (the successful boot announces the chosen port via KOVA_BACKEND_READY port=<port>).

kova dashboard

kova dashboard [options]

Launch the web dashboard — a browser-based UI for managing configuration, API keys, and monitoring sessions. (For a headless backend with no browser UI — e.g. what the desktop app spawns — use kova serve above.) Requires cd ~/.kova/kova-agent && uv pip install -e ".[web]" (FastAPI + Uvicorn). The embedded browser Chat tab is always available and additionally needs the pty extra (cd ~/.kova/kova-agent && uv pip install -e ".[web,pty]") plus a POSIX PTY environment such as Linux, macOS, or WSL2. See Web Dashboard for full documentation.

Option	Default	Description
--port	9119	Port to run the web server on
--host	127.0.0.1	Bind address
--no-open	—	Don't auto-open the browser
--insecure	off	Deprecated / no-op. Formerly bypassed auth on a non-loopback bind. Since the June 2026 hardening a public bind always requires an auth provider (password or OAuth). Bind 127.0.0.1 and tunnel to keep it local.
--skip-build	off	Skip the web UI build step and serve the existing dist directly. Useful for non-interactive contexts (Windows Scheduled Tasks, CI) where npm isn't available. Pre-build with cd web && npm run build.
--isolated	off	When launched from a named profile (worker dashboard), run a dedicated per-profile server instead of routing to the machine dashboard.
--stop	—	Stop running kova dashboard processes and exit.
--status	—	List running kova dashboard processes and exit.

kova dashboard register

Register this install as a self-hosted dashboard with your Nous Portal account. Creates an OAuth client, writes KOVA_DASHBOARD_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID into ~/.kova/.env, and prints how to engage the login gate. Requires being logged in (kova setup).

Option	Description
--name	Human-readable label for the dashboard (default: auto-generated).
--redirect-uri	Public HTTPS OAuth redirect URI (e.g. https://kova.example.com/auth/callback). Omit for localhost-only use.
--portal-url	Override the Nous Portal base URL for registration (default: the portal you logged into). Also settable via KOVA_DASHBOARD_PORTAL_URL.

# Default — opens browser to http://127.0.0.1:9119
kova dashboard

# Custom port, no browser
kova dashboard --port 8080 --no-open

# From a profile alias — routes to the machine dashboard with the
# profile preselected in the sidebar switcher (attach if running)
worker dashboard

kova profile

kova profile <subcommand>

Manage profiles — multiple isolated Kova instances, each with its own config, sessions, skills, and home directory.

Subcommand	Description
list	List all profiles.
use <name>	Set a sticky default profile.
create <name> [--clone] [--clone-all] [--clone-from <source>] [--no-alias]	Create a new profile. --clone copies config, .env, SOUL.md, and skills from the active profile. --clone-all copies all state. --clone-from specifies a source profile and implies config clone unless paired with --clone-all.
delete <name> [-y]	Delete a profile.
show <name>	Show profile details (home directory, config, etc.).
alias <name> [--remove] [--name NAME]	Manage wrapper scripts for quick profile access.
rename <old> <new>	Rename a profile.
export <name> [-o FILE]	Export a profile to a .tar.gz archive (local backup).
import <archive> [--name NAME]	Import a profile from a .tar.gz archive (local restore).
install <source> [--name N] [--alias] [--force] [-y]	Install a profile distribution from a git URL or local directory.
update <name> [--force-config] [-y]	Re-pull a distribution; preserves user data (memories, sessions, auth).
info <name>	Show a profile's distribution manifest (version, requirements, source).

Examples:

kova profile list
kova profile create work --clone
kova profile use work
kova profile alias work --name h-work
kova profile export work -o work-backup.tar.gz
kova profile import work-backup.tar.gz --name restored
kova profile install github.com/user/my-distro --alias
kova profile update work
kova -p work chat -q "Hello from work profile"

kova completion

kova completion [bash|zsh|fish]

Print a shell completion script to stdout. Source the output in your shell profile for tab-completion of Kova commands, subcommands, and profile names.

Examples:

# Bash
kova completion bash >> ~/.bashrc

# Zsh
kova completion zsh >> ~/.zshrc

# Fish
kova completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/kova.fish

kova update

kova update [--gateway] [--check] [--plan] [--no-backup] [--backup] [--yes]

Pulls the latest kova-agent code and reinstalls dependencies in the managed venv, then re-runs the post-install hooks (MCP servers, skills sync, completion install). Safe to run on a live install. Use --check to see whether your checkout is behind origin/main without installing.

kova update pulls the configured update branch (default: main). If your checkout is on another branch, Kova may check out the update branch before pulling. Commit branch work before updating when you want to keep it outside the update autostash flow.

Option	Description
--gateway	Internal mode used by the messaging /update command. Uses file-based IPC for prompts and progress streaming instead of reading from terminal stdin. Not a gateway restart flag.
--check	Check whether an update is available without pulling, installing dependencies, or restarting anything.
--plan	Print the update plan and exit without changing anything: install kind (git/Docker/Nix/apt), every running Kova service across all profiles with its supervisor and running code version, and how each will be restarted. On image- or package-managed installs, reports the correct external update command instead. Read-only.
--no-backup	Skip all pre-update backups for this run (both the quick state snapshot and the full zip), regardless of updates.pre_update_backup.
--backup	Force a full pre-update backup for this run: the quick state snapshot plus a complete zip of KOVA_HOME (config, auth, sessions, skills, pairing data). The default mode is quick — a lightweight state snapshot only. Set the permanent mode via `updates.pre_update_backup: quick
--yes, -y	Assume yes for interactive prompts such as config migration and stash restore. API-key entry is skipped; run kova config migrate separately for those.

Additional behavior:

• Gateway restart. After a successful update, Kova attempts to restart all running gateway profiles automatically so they pick up the new code. Use kova gateway restart when you want to restart a gateway without applying an update.
• Update receipts + fleet version check. Every run writes a machine-readable receipt to ~/.kova/logs/update_receipts/ (pre-update fleet plan, steps, skips with reasons, restart outcome; latest.json points at the newest). After the restart phase the updater verifies each live gateway's running code against the updated checkout and prints a per-profile version matrix; a gateway still on pre-update code fails the update (exit 1) with the exact restart command.
• Local source changes. For git installs, dirty tracked files and untracked files are auto-stashed before branch checkout or pull (git stash push --include-untracked). Interactive terminal updates ask before restoring the stash. Non-interactive updates restore it by default; set updates.non_interactive_local_changes: discard only on managed installs where local source edits should be thrown away after a successful pull. If stash restore conflicts or the pull fails, the stash is left in place for manual recovery.
• npm lockfile churn. Before stashing or switching branches, Kova makes a best-effort cleanup of tracked package-lock.json diffs produced by npm install/build steps. Commit or manually stash intentional lockfile edits before running kova update.
• Pairing data snapshot. Even when --backup is off, kova update takes a lightweight snapshot of ~/.kova/pairing/ and the Feishu comment rules before git pull. You can roll it back with kova backup restore --state pre-update if a pull rewrites a file you were editing.
• Legacy kova.service warning. If Kova detects a pre-rename kova.service systemd unit (instead of the current kova-gateway.service), it prints a one-time migration hint so you can avoid flap-loop issues.
• Exit codes. 0 on success, 1 on pull/install/post-install errors, 2 on unexpected working-tree changes that block git pull.

Maintenance commands

Command	Description
kova --version	Print version information.
kova update	Pull latest changes and reinstall dependencies.

| kova uninstall [--full] [--gui] [--dry-run] [--yes] | Remove Kova, optionally deleting all config/data. --gui removes only the desktop Chat GUI, leaving the agent intact; --full also deletes config/data; --dry-run prints what would be removed without changing anything; --yes skips prompts. |

See also

• Slash Commands Reference
• CLI Interface
• Sessions
• Skills System
• Skins & Themes