Editor & files

Work locally with the kodeo CLI

Clone a KODEO project into a folder on your computer, edit it in any editor, and pull and push — or keep it in sync with kodeo watch.

2 min readUpdated 26 Oct 2026

The kodeo command-line tool puts a KODEO project in a real folder on your computer. Every change still goes through the same rules as the editor — roles, plan limits, version checks and the trash.

npm i -g @kodeohq/cli
kodeo login

kodeo login opens KODEO in your browser; you choose what the CLI may do and approve. On a machine without a browser (SSH, a container), use kodeo login --device and enter the code it shows at kodeo.website/device. Needs Node 20 or newer.

Clone, pull, push

kodeo clone acme/storefront
cd storefront
kodeo status
kodeo pull
kodeo push

pull downloads only what changed. A file changed both here and on KODEO is merged; if the same lines changed, conflict markers are written.
push sends your changes as one all-or-nothing transaction. If a file you're pushing changed on KODEO since your last pull, nothing lands and you're told who changed it — run kodeo pull, then push again.
Deleted files go to KODEO's trash for 7 days (kodeo trash).
Every write command takes --dry-run.

Keep it in sync

kodeo watch pushes each save and pulls teammates' changes within a second. In the editor you appear as syncing from a local folder. If a file conflicts, watch writes markers and pauses just that file until you resolve it.

Since the CLI 2.0 it keeps a live status line at the bottom — ✓ synced, ↻ sending, ↓ receiving or ☁ offline — with who's here and which file each has open. Teammates' changes, chat and summons appear above it, and notifications pop up (kodeo config popups chooses how many; kodeo config desktop on shows them on your desktop too). When a file conflicts, press c to compare, keep yours or use KODEO's — or start with kodeo watch --keep-mine or --use-kodeo. Offline, your saves simply wait in the folder and go out, version-checked, when you're back.

Only one sync engine runs per folder: if KODEO for VS Code is syncing it, watch stands by and takes over when VS Code stops (see Using the CLI and VS Code together).

Beyond syncing

The CLI 2.0 does much more than sync — a dashboard (kodeo ui), chat, comments, notifications, KODEO Assist, the project's Git and pull requests. Start with The kodeo CLI 2.0 — what's new, or type kodeo on its own.

Running code locally

It's a normal folder, so npm run dev, tests and builds work in any terminal. That run stays on your machine: teammates see your code (every push), not its output, and it uses no runtime hours.

What never syncs

node_modules, .git, .kodeo/local (the CLI's own state) and OS files. kodeo clone writes a starter .kodeoignore for your framework; it uses the same syntax as .gitignore.

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