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Moonshot AI Adds Shell Mode and Web Mode to Kimi Code CLI

June 26, 2026 at 08:42 EDT

Software Dev & Coding
AI Agents
Open Source

In June 2026, Moonshot AI rolled out a series of new features for its terminal-based AI coding agent Kimi Code CLI, including a Shell Mode for running shell commands directly, Background tasks for asynchronous long-running jobs, Extra workspace directories for cross-directory work, and a Web Mode that continues sessions in a browser UI.

Late June 2026 · Moonshot AI · v0.20.0

Kimi Code gains Shell Mode and Background Tasks

The AI coding agent now runs terminal commands inline with a single "!", and moves long-running jobs to the background — pushing the CLI and Web UI closer to a native development experience.

256K

context window in Kimi K2.7 Code, with tool calling

Ctrl+B

sends a running task to the background, tracked via /tasks

"!"

one keystroke to enter Shell Mode from an empty input

What's new in this update

Shell Mode

Type "!" to run terminal commands inline; Esc or Backspace to exit.

Background tasks

Move long jobs or sub-agents to the background, monitor via /tasks.

Extra workspace dirs

Add folders with /add-dir; stored per project and reused automatically.

Kimi Web upgrades

Line-level diffs, copy button, session pagination, persistent reordering, --host exposure.

Inline workflow: chat ⇄ shell, without leaving the agent

Chat with agent

→

"!" → Shell Mode

→

Ctrl+B → Background

→

/tasks → Monitor

Welcomed by developers

Background tasks via Ctrl+B and /tasks monitoring
Practical Web diffs and message copy button
Extra workspace dirs fit real-world projects
Reliable long context, cheap for daily use

Known limitation

Each Shell Mode command runs in its own subprocess
State changes like cd or export are not persisted
Workarounds: chain with && or set --work-dir

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