kijk is an agent-native code viewer: a small, fast, read-only view of the work of your running coding agents.
Agent-native means that kijk starts from your agents, not from projects. It knows which agents run on your machine and lists them. One click shows the folder of an agent: the file tree, the code, the diff, and the git state.
kijk is for people who run many agents at the same time. A full IDE is too heavy to keep 20 folders open. kijk is one small binary that you keep open all day, next to your terminals. You switch between agents in a second, and you can review and commit their work without an IDE.
The name is Dutch for "look".
Supported agents
| Agent | Status |
|---|
| Claude Code | Supported |
| Codex | Supported, version 0.157 or newer, started as codex in a terminal |
| Pi | Planned |
Codex
kijk asks the Codex app server, which codex 0.157 and newer start by themselves. kijk only reads
from it. It never starts Codex or the app server, and never answers an approval.
- A Codex agent stays in the list for 60 seconds after you quit it. That is when the app server
lets it go. When you set
thread_unload_delay_secs in your Codex config, it is that long.
- A Codex agent that waits for your approval shows as finished.
- When kijk cannot read the Codex agents, for example after a Codex update, the status bar says
so. The Claude Code agents still show.
- kijk does not see
codex exec, Codex before 0.157, or a codex that could not reach its app
server and runs its own. It probably does not see the Codex desktop app or the IDE extensions.
Features
Agents
- The left rail lists every supported agent that runs on your machine. You do not open projects by hand.
- Each row shows the agent's name, the icon of its agent type, Busy or Idle, the time of its last activity, the repository and the branch.
- Agents that work in the same folder share one row, also a Claude Code and a Codex agent. Only the icon of the agent type that works pulses. An agent in a git worktree gets the row of that worktree.
- The newest activity is on top. Rows appear, change and go away as agents start, work and stop.
- When kijk cannot read the agents of an agent type, for example after an update of that tool, the status bar says so. The agents of the other types still show.
- kijk looks for agents and connects to your remote machines while the kijk window is open, and for one minute after you close it.
Folders
You can also use kijk as a light viewer for folders you pick, with or without agents.
kijk ~/code/api ~/notes
- The rail has two lists: Agents and Folders. To switch, click their icons on the left edge of the window, or press Ctrl+Alt+0 (⌃⌥0 on macOS).
kijk <folder> adds the folder to the Folders list and opens it in the kijk window. kijk folders shows the Folders list.- The open folder stays open when you switch lists.
- A repository can be in both lists. It is one row: open it from either list and it is the same folder.
- In the Folders list, a folder where an agent works shows the agent's icon. While the Folders list shows, a dot on the Agents icon tells you that an agent is busy or finished.
- kijk keeps the list across restarts and updates. To remove a folder, click the ✕ on its row or press Delete. Undo puts it back.
- A folder inside a git repository shows as the whole repository, opened at that folder.
- A folder that is no longer on disk stays in the list, marked missing.
- kijk refuses your home folder,
/, and a folder in a git repository that starts at one of them. Folders are on the local machine only.
Files
- The Files tab shows the whole folder as a tree, not only the changed files.
- Colors show the git status: modified, added, deleted, untracked and conflicted. Ignored files are dimmed.
- The tree opens at the folder where the agent works.
Code
- Files open read-only, with line numbers and syntax colors, also for AsciiDoc, PlantUML and Mermaid.
- Large files scroll smoothly, because kijk draws only the lines on the screen.
- Markdown files show rendered, with a switch to the source. Changed blocks have a bar beside them. Images from the folder show too.
- AsciiDoc files (
.adoc, .asciidoc) show rendered the same way. kijk renders the common parts: sections, lists, tables, code, images, admonitions, cross references and attributes. Other syntax shows as plain text. include:: shows the included file from the same folder in its place, and the view redraws when that file changes.
- Images show as pictures: png, jpg, gif, webp, svg, ico, bmp and avif. A picture fits the pane and is never enlarged. Click it, or use the Fit / 100% switch, to see it at 100%.
- SVG images show rendered, with a switch to the source.
- Mermaid diagrams show as pictures:
mermaid blocks in markdown, [mermaid] blocks in AsciiDoc, and .mmd and .mermaid files, with a switch to the source. They follow the light or dark theme. A diagram with an error shows its text and the error.
- PlantUML diagrams show as pictures:
plantuml and puml blocks in markdown and AsciiDoc, and .puml, .plantuml, .pu and .wsd files, with a switch to the source. They keep their own colors, on a light card. !include reads files from the same folder, and a diagram redraws when an included file changes.
- Excalidraw drawings in
.excalidraw files show as pictures, with a switch to the source. They follow the light or dark theme.
- A single click opens a preview tab. A double click opens a tab that stays.
- The open file reloads when an agent changes it, and keeps your scroll position.
- Find in file, go to line, go to file (fuzzy match) and recent files.
- Back and forward take you to the places you were.
Git
- The Git tab lists the changed files with
+N −N line counts. Click a file to see its diff, or review with the arrow keys and Space to stage.
- A diff shows unified or split. The Unified / Split switch at the right end of the tab strip picks one layout for every diff, also for Branch changes and the Changes of a pull request. kijk remembers it.
- Split puts the old file on the left and the new file on the right. A removed line faces the line that replaced it, and the words that changed are highlighted. Long lines wrap in their half. A view narrower than about 700 pixels shows unified.
- A changed image shows the before and after pictures side by side. An SVG image can switch to its line diff.
- A changed Mermaid, PlantUML or Excalidraw file shows the before and after diagrams side by side, with a switch to its line diff.
- A branch graph shows your branch, the main line and the pull request target, with the commits that are not pushed yet.
- Stage, commit, push and fetch. There is no discard, checkout, pull or stash, so a click cannot destroy an agent's work.
- After a rebase, the branch and its upstream each have commits the other has not, so a plain push is refused. Then Push reads Force push…. It first asks you, and says how many commits on the upstream go away. kijk never offers it on the main line.
- A force push stops in two cases. Git stops when the upstream moved since kijk showed it. kijk stops when the upstream has commits that were never on your branch, as after a fetch brought a teammate's work. Rebase onto them, then push.
- kijk uses your installed
git, so your config, credentials and hooks apply.
Pull requests
If you use the gh (GitHub) or glab (GitLab) command and are logged in, the Git tab shows the pull request or merge request of the branch. It shows the state, the checks or pipeline, and the review.
kijk asks gh and glab. It never stores a token itself. The PRs tab shows more of them, and the reviews you write there go through the same commands: see Review a pull request.
Review a branch
The PRs tab shows your own branch the way a reviewer will see it, before you push. It shows when
the branch has changes against its pull request target or the main line, and in every repo on
GitHub or GitLab. Its tooltip says PRs on GitHub, MRs on GitLab, and Branch with no forge.
- This branch, the first row of the PRs tab, shows the branch, the branch it is compared with,
and its pull request when there is one. Without
gh or glab, the tab opens on it at once.
- A bar says what reviewers cannot see yet, such as "2 commits and 1 file not pushed", with Push or
Publish.
- Branch changes shows every changed file in one scroll: the commits since the branch split,
work not committed, and new files. Each file is a box. Its header stays at the top while you
scroll through it, and a click on the chevron folds it. Lock files, minified files and diffs over
2,000 lines start folded. The list in the tab follows the scroll; click a file to go to it.
- Lines, hunks and files that are only on your machine have dashed marks.
- Agent notes are notes for the agent on a line. Hover a line and click +, or press the
key. A note stays in kijk, per folder and branch, and never goes to GitHub or GitLab. When the
line moves, the note moves with it. When the line changes, the note says Outdated and shows the
line as it was.
- Copy for agent shows the notes with a box each and the prompt they make. Copy puts the prompt
on the clipboard, to paste into the agent, and marks the notes Copied. Clear copied deletes
them. The open threads of the branch's pull request are in the list too, under "Threads on
GitHub".
- When the branch has a pull request, a switch under its title picks Local, everything on
your machine, or As on GitHub (As on GitLab), only what reviewers see. In Local mode the
reviewers' threads show next to the agent's newer work, on the line with the same text. What you
type in a thread's box there is an agent note.
Review a pull request
The PRs tab lists the open pull requests of the repo: This branch, Review requested,
Yours, and All open, with a search box for a number, title, author or branch. The tab's
icon counts the pull requests that wait for your review.
- Click a pull request to open it. The sidebar shows its title, author, branches, checks and
approvals, and its files. Changes shows all of them in one scroll, as the forge shows the
diff. A button on each file opens the whole file as it is in the pull request.
- Threads show under their lines. A resolved thread folds to one line; click it to read it. A
thread whose lines changed after it was written is in a bar at the top of its file.
- Check Viewed on a file, or press V, when you have read it. A viewed file folds, and V goes on
to the next file not viewed. The sidebar counts them ("4 of 9 viewed"), and the list of pull
requests too ("4/9 viewed"). When a push changes a file you viewed, the mark clears, the file
opens and says "changed since you viewed it". kijk keeps the marks in the browser on this
machine, for all clones of the repo. They do not go to GitHub or GitLab.
- After you post a review in kijk, or view every file, a push that changes a file of the pull
request adds a switch under its title: All changes | Since your review. Since your
review shows only the files and lines that changed since then. After a rebase or force push
kijk cannot tell, so it shows all changes and says so. It does the same when this clone does
not have the commit you reviewed, as when you reviewed it in another clone.
- Overview shows the description, the reviewers and what they said, the conversation, and
the checks. The checks of each GitHub workflow or GitLab pipeline are a graph: each job a pill,
with lines to the jobs it needs. The first three failed jobs show the last lines of their logs.
On your own branch, Copy for agent hands a failure to the agent.
- Clicking the pull request's title in the Git tab opens it in the PRs tab.
kijk https://github.com/acme/shop/pull/477 opens that pull request in a clone of the repo.
kijk looks for the clone in the folder you run the command in and the folders above it, your
saved folders, its own clones, the folders next to your saved folders, and common places such
as ~/code/shop and ~/go/src/github.com/acme/shop. Then it looks in the folders of your
agents and the folders next to them.- When kijk finds no clone, it clones the repo with
gh or glab, with your own login. The clone
is a normal, full clone in kijk's cache folder: ~/Library/Caches/kijk/clones on macOS,
~/.cache/kijk/clones on Linux, %LocalAppData%\kijk\clones on Windows. The terminal shows
the progress. kijk adds the clone to the Folders list and opens the pull request. The next link
to the same repo uses this clone. Ctrl+C stops the clone and leaves nothing behind.
- kijk clones only from github.com, gitlab.com, or a host that or is logged in to. A
link can name any host, and the tool sends your login to the host it clones from. For another
host, log in first, for example with , or clone the
repo yourself.
Write a review. Your comments, replies and verdict go into your review on GitHub or GitLab.
Nothing with text goes out before you press Post review in the check that Submit review…
opens.
- In Changes, hover a line and press +, or press the note key, to write a comment. Add to
review saves it as a draft: in your pending review on GitHub, as a draft note on GitLab. Only
you see a draft. It stays after a restart, and you can finish the review on the website.
- An open thread ends in a Reply… box. Enter adds the reply to your review.
- Your drafts show in dashed boxes, also the ones you wrote on the website, which say "written on
GitHub". You can edit and delete them.
- Resolve and Unresolve in a thread's header happen at once.
- The box at the bottom of the sidebar counts your drafts, and has the verdict (Comment, Approve or
Request changes) and a summary. "Comment on the pull request…" at the end of the Overview adds
its text to the summary. The summary is a draft too: Ctrl+Enter in the box, or Add to review,
saves it as the body of your pending review on GitHub, or as a draft note on GitLab. A summary
you wrote on the website shows there.
- Submit review… first shows what goes out: the verdict, the comments, the replies and the
summary. Enter posts them; everyone on the pull request sees them at once. Escape goes back, and
nothing is lost.
- On your own branch, the same works in As on GitHub. In Local mode a comment is an agent
note and never reaches the forge.
- GitHub does not let you approve your own pull request. GitLab needs version 16.3 for reviews from
kijk, and 18.9 for Request changes; on an older server kijk says so.
Squash and merge. The Overview has a box under the checks. Squash and merge… in it puts
all the commits of the pull request onto the target branch as one commit.
- It first asks you. The check says how many commits become one, and how the checks stand. Enter
merges; Escape goes back. kijk cannot undo a merge.
- kijk merges only the head it shows. When someone pushed since, kijk refuses and shows the new
commits first.
- GitHub or GitLab writes the commit message.
- The check has a box to delete the branch on the forge after the merge. On GitLab it is ticked
when the merge request or the project says so. There is no box for a branch on a fork, or one
you may not delete. When the repo deletes branches itself, the check says so instead. kijk never
deletes your local branch. When the delete fails, the merge stands and kijk says why.
- The button is off, and the box says why, when the pull request is a draft, when you may not
merge, when the repo does not allow squash merges, when it has conflicts, or when the forge holds
the merge, as for a required review or check. When the forge has not worked out yet if it can
merge, the button is on, and the forge says why when it refuses.
- kijk does not merge with a merge commit or a rebase, and does not set auto-merge.
To diff a pull request, kijk fetches its head commit into your repo as refs/kijk/pr/<number>,
with no checkout. When the target branch on GitHub has commits you have not fetched, kijk puts
them in refs/kijk/base/<number>, so your origin/main stays as it was. These refs do not show in
git branch. kijk fetches again only when the pull request moved, and deletes the refs when it
closes.
Live updates
kijk watches the open folder. The tree, the Git tab and the open file update within a second after a change.
The window
kijk opens in an app window, without an address bar or browser tabs. This works with Chrome, Edge, Brave, Chromium and Vivaldi. With other browsers, kijk opens a normal tab.- kijk has one window for your agents and your folders. The title of the window names the open folder.
- kijk follows the light or dark mode of your system.
- kijk remembers, per folder, the open tabs, the expanded folders and the sidebar tab. This lasts across reloads and restarts.
- The status bar shows the version, and offers an update when a new version is out.
Keys
kijk uses the IntelliJ default keys.
| Action | macOS | Windows and Linux |
|---|
| Switch between the Agents and Folders lists | ⌃⌥0 | Ctrl+Alt+0 |
| Open row 1 to 9 of the list that shows | ⌃⌥1 … ⌃⌥9 | Ctrl+Alt+1 … Ctrl+Alt+9 |
| Go to file | ⇧⌘O | Ctrl+Shift+N |
| Recent files | ⌘E | Ctrl+E |
| Find in file | ⌘F | Ctrl+F |
| Next and previous match | ⌘G, ⇧⌘G | F3, Shift+F3 |
| Go to line | ⌘L | Ctrl+G |
| Next and previous change | F7, ⇧F7 | F7, Shift+F7 |
| Back and forward | ⌘[, ⌘] | Ctrl+Alt+←, Ctrl+Alt+→ |
| Files tab | ⌘1 | Alt+1 |
| Git tab | ⌘0 | Alt+0 |
| PRs tab | ⌘2 | Alt+2 |
| Note for the agent, or a comment in a pull request, on the current line | ⌘⌥N | Ctrl+Alt+N |
| Add the note or the comment | ⌘Enter | Ctrl+Enter |
| Next and previous thread or note | ⌥↓, ⌥↑ | Alt+↓, Alt+↑ |
| Ask GitHub or GitLab again (PRs tab) | ⌘⌥Y | Ctrl+Alt+Y |
| Back to the list of pull requests | ⌥← | Alt+← |
| Mark the file viewed, or clear the mark (pull request) | V | V |
| Commit | ⌘K | Ctrl+K |
| Push, or Force push after a rebase (asks first) | ⇧⌘K | Ctrl+Shift+K |
| Close tab | ⌘W | Ctrl+F4 |
| Remove the focused folder (Folders list) | Delete or Backspace | Delete or Backspace |
| Undo the removal | ⌘Z | Ctrl+Z |
A normal browser tab keeps some of these keys for itself. For those actions, kijk also has a second key. The tooltip of the action shows the key that works in your window.
The Ctrl+Alt keys of the lists do nothing while you type in a text field. On some keyboards, AltGr sends Ctrl+Alt, so AltGr and a digit still type there.
Requirements
- A supported agent. kijk finds Claude Code agents through the files in
~/.claude, or in CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR when you set it. It finds Codex agents through the app server socket in ~/.codex, or in CODEX_HOME when you set it.
git. Without it, kijk shows the files but no Git tab.- Optional: a Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Chromium or Vivaldi), for the app window.
- Optional:
gh or glab, for the pull request line and the PRs tab, and for kijk <PR link>
to clone a repo.
kijk runs on macOS, Linux and Windows.
Remote machines
kijk can also show the agents that run on another machine, such as a VM without a screen. They
appear in the same Agents list, under a header per machine. You can read their files and diffs,
and stage, commit, push and fetch there.
Save a machine with an alias from ~/.ssh/config or user@host:
kijk machine add azvm
kijk tests the SSH login first. When the login needs a passphrase or a password, kijk offers to
log in in the terminal, and ssh asks for it. kijk never sees it.
| Command | What it does |
|---|
kijk machine add <ssh-target> | Save a machine |
kijk machine login <machine> | Log in again, for example when a key with a passphrase is not in ssh-agent |
kijk machine list | Show the saved machines and their states |
kijk machine disable <machine> | Stop connecting, for example while the VM is shut down |
kijk machine enable <machine> | Connect again |
kijk machine remove <machine> | Forget a machine |
How it works:
- kijk uses your own
ssh, with your SSH config, keys, ssh-agent and known hosts. It opens no
port on either machine.
- kijk runs itself on the remote machine, in a mode without a window (
kijk serve). When the
remote machine has no kijk of the same version, kijk copies its own release there, into
~/.local/share/kijk/remote/. Adding the machine allows this. kijk does not change a kijk that
you installed there yourself.
- The remote kijk stops by itself 10 minutes after the last local kijk disconnects.
- When the machine is unreachable, its open folder stays on screen and Git actions are off until
it is back.
Requirements:
- The local machine runs macOS or Linux. The remote machine runs Linux or macOS, on x86_64 or
arm64. Remote machines are not supported on Windows yet.
- OpenSSH on both machines, and
AllowTcpForwarding on in the remote SSH server. It is on by
default.
- On the remote machine:
git, and optionally gh or glab for the pull request line and the
PRs tab. kijk asks them, and fetches pull requests, on the remote machine.
- kijk looks for Codex agents in
~/.codex on the remote machine. When Codex uses another folder
there, set CODEX_HOME where a non-interactive SSH login reads it: ~/.zshenv for zsh,
~/.bashrc for bash.
Limits
- You cannot edit files in kijk.
- A comment is on one line. Comments on a range of lines, on a whole file, and suggested changes
are not in kijk.
- kijk does not download Git LFS files. An image stored in Git LFS shows its size in place of the picture.
Install
macOS and Linux
curl -fsSL https://github.com/kijk-dev/kijk/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh
The script downloads the newest release for your system and makes sure that it matches checksums.txt.
It puts kijk in the first of ~/.local/bin, ~/bin and /usr/local/bin that is on your PATH and that you can write to.
If none of these folders is on your PATH, the script uses ~/.local/bin and shows the command that adds it.
The script does not use sudo and does not change your shell files.
To use a different folder, set KIJK_INSTALL_DIR:
curl -fsSL https://github.com/kijk-dev/kijk/releases/latest/download/install.sh | KIJK_INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/tools" sh
Windows
Run this command in PowerShell:
irm https://github.com/kijk-dev/kijk/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex
The script puts kijk.exe in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\kijk and adds that folder to your user PATH.
It does not need administrator rights.
Open a new terminal after the install, so that the terminal finds kijk.
With Go
go install github.com/kijk-dev/kijk@latest
This needs Go 1.27 or later.
On macOS, install the Xcode command line tools first (xcode-select --install).
Without a C compiler, kijk watches files with a slower method that opens one file handle per file.
Files from the Releases page
You can also download a binary from the Releases page.
The binaries are not signed, so macOS and Windows show a warning for a file that comes from a browser.
The install scripts and kijk update do not get this warning.
- On macOS, run
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine kijk once, in the folder of the file.
- On Windows, click More info, then Run anyway.
Run
kijk
kijk starts a server on 127.0.0.1:7717 and opens its window.
If kijk already runs, the command opens the window. When the window is open already, the command says so and opens no second one.
| Command or option | What it does |
|---|
-port 7800 | Uses another port. |
-no-open | Does not open a window. |
-no-update-check | Does not look for a new version. |
kijk <folder>… | Adds the folders to the Folders list and opens the last one in the kijk window. |
kijk <PR link> | Opens the pull request in the kijk window, in a clone of its repo. With no clone on this machine, clones the repo with gh or glab first, from github.com, gitlab.com or a host the tool is logged in to. |
kijk folders | Shows the Folders list in the kijk window. |
kijk version | Shows the version. |
kijk update | Installs the newest version. |
folders, update, version, machine and serve are commands. To add a folder with one of
these names, give it as a path, such as kijk ./update.
Update
When a new version is out, the status bar at the bottom of the window shows Update.
Click Update to install the new version.
Then click Restart. kijk restarts in the same terminal, and the window reloads.
On Windows, there is no Restart button. Stop kijk with Ctrl+C and start it again.
You can also update from a terminal:
kijk update
To install the newest release again, run the install script again.
The update check
kijk never installs anything by itself.
A few seconds after it starts, and then once a day, it asks GitHub for the number of the newest release.
This request sends no data about you or your folders. GitHub sees your IP address, as it does for every download.
If the request fails, kijk shows nothing and tries again later.
To turn off the check, set this environment variable:
export KIJK_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1
You can also start kijk with -no-update-check. kijk update and the Update button still work.
Telemetry
kijk sends anonymous usage data, so we know how many people use it and on which systems.
It never sends your code, your folder or file names, or anything about you.
It sends the number of folders in the Folders list. On a day when kijk looked for agents, it
also sends the number of agents on your machine, in total and per agent type, and how many remote
machines you saved and how many agents run on them. The count per agent type is
<type>_agents for each type kijk shows, such as claude_agents for Claude Code and
codex_agents for Codex. It never sends their names or addresses. It sends how many times you
used Copy for agent and how many reviews you submitted since its last report, never the notes
or the reviews. kijk on a remote machine sends nothing.
To turn it off, set KIJK_NO_TELEMETRY=1 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1, or start kijk with -no-telemetry.
Uninstall
- Stop kijk.
- Delete the
kijk binary. Run command -v kijk (macOS, Linux) or where.exe kijk (Windows) to find it.
- Delete kijk's folders:
| System | Folders |
|---|
| macOS | ~/.config/kijk (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kijk) and ~/Library/Application Support/kijk |
| Linux | ~/.config/kijk (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kijk) |
| Windows | %AppData%\kijk |
On Windows, also delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\kijk from your user PATH.
Build from source
You need Go 1.27 or later. On macOS, you also need the Xcode command line tools.
git clone https://github.com/kijk-dev/kijk.git
cd kijk
go build .
./kijk
A build from source shows its version as dev, followed by the commit. It does not look for updates, and kijk update does not replace it.
To run the tests:
go test -short ./... # fast
go test ./... # also builds kijk, runs the install scripts and the browser tests
go test -run TestBrowser . # only the browser tests
The browser tests start kijk with fake agents and use it in a headless Chrome, Edge, Brave,
Chromium or Vivaldi, the first one installed. Set KIJK_E2E_BROWSER to the path of another
browser. They run on macOS and Linux. A failed test saves a screenshot, the page, the console and
kijk's log, and says where. With KIJK_E2E_SHOTS=1 they also save the main views in light,
dark and a narrow window.
License
kijk is released under the MIT License.
