Kimchi Coding

  • ID: kimchi
  • Store: ${KIMCHI_CODING_AGENT_DIR:-${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/kimchi/harness}/sessions/--<encoded-cwd>--/<session>.jsonl
  • Read override: DEJA_KIMCHI_ROOT replaces the session root
  • Format: pi's session JSONL
  • Needs: nothing

Kimchi Coding is another pi descendant and writes the same envelope, so the

parsing is pi's — including the directory per project. Its own binary builds

that path in getDefaultSessionDirPath: <agent>/sessions/--<encoded cwd>--,

where the encoding is the working directory with the separators replaced by

dashes and a -- on each end. A session file directly under the root is read

too, and then the header's cwd is what names the project.

Last verified: 2026-09-17

Known quirks and drift

  • Resume: kimchi --session <id>. Its own argument parser rewrites

--resume <selector> to --session <id> (src/cli-args.ts), so the id

deja indexes is the selector Kimchi takes — deja resume prints that

command rather than handing over a paste.

  • The root is flat — one directory, every session in it — so there is no encoded

project directory to read a name from. The header line's cwd is what names

the project, the same choice omp and prime-agent make for the same reason;

drop it and every Kimchi session lands under no project at all.

  • The default root sits under the config home rather than a dot directory of its

own, so XDG_CONFIG_HOME moves it. KIMCHI_CODING_AGENT_DIR moves it

outright.

  • Wiring: deja install kimchi writes the server into <agent dir>/mcp.json

— join(getAgentDir(), "mcp.json") in Kimchi's own

src/extensions/mcp-adapter/config.ts, so KIMCHI_CODING_AGENT_DIR moves

it for the installer the same way it moves it for the reader.

  • Everything past the tool is behind one of Kimchi's own switches, and both

ship disabled: kimchi resources enable extensions.claude-code-hook-adapter

runs the hooks deja install claude already wrote, and

extensions.claude-code-skills loads the skill from ~/.claude/skills.

deja records those as blocked rather than claiming auto-recall it does not

control.

Measured on a live install

@getkimchi/kimchi 0.1.99, in a hermetic HOME:

  • deja install kimchi writes <config>/kimchi/harness/mcp.json and kimchi's

own first-run panel lists it: MCP servers: deja.

  • That panel also reports what it found from deja's Claude Code install —

Claude Code skills: 1, Claude Code commands: 1, Agents skills: 2 — and

offers Migrate MCP servers to Kimchi? with migrate / skip / never.

  • Skill directories are chosen in the wizard ("Select skill paths to enable",

default none), which is a second switch beside the compatibility extension.

  • kimchi resources enable extensions.claude-code-hook-adapter adopts **all

five** of deja's Claude hooks, and kimchi resources status then names each

one: hooks.claude-code.user.session-start.0,

…user-prompt-submit.0, …pre-tool-use.0, …post-tool-use.0,

…pre-compact.0.

  • What is still unverified here: whether those hooks fire in a turn. Kimchi

requires a browser login to its own service before the first prompt, and that

is not an account to create on somebody's behalf.

deja reads this format and thirty-three others, and turns what it finds into memory your agents can search. See the harness matrix for what is wired where, or install it and search your own history.

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