BYOAIK (Bring Your Own AI Key) is a directory of AI tools that run on your own API key.

Kilo Code

Open-source AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, and CLI with zero-markup BYOK

Website Source code

Category:
Coding Assistants
Maintenance:
Actively developed (last commit today)
Pricing:
Open Source
Open source:
Yes (MIT)
Self-hostable:
No
Local-first:
No
Platforms:
VS Code Extension, JetBrains Plugin, CLI
AI providers (bring your own key):
OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Azure OpenAI, Groq, Mistral, DeepSeek, Ollama, Custom / OpenAI-compatible
API key storage:
Configured by environment variable
Key risk level:
LOW
Trust score:
77/100

Kilo Code is an open-source agentic coding assistant that runs as a VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin, and CLI (with cloud and code-review offerings). Users can bring their own API keys for any provider at zero markup, configured in the extension's Settings under a Providers tab, or run models locally via Ollama / LM Studio. It also offers an optional hosted credits marketplace (Kilo Pass / pay-as-you-go) routing to 500+ models, but markets that BYOK lets you pay providers their exact list price with no commission or hidden fees.

Why this trust score (77/100)

Trust measures how the tool treats your API key and how much of that has been verified. It contains no popularity signal.

  • Key Safety 22/25: The key is supplied by an environment variable or local config file you control.
  • Request Routing 17/20: Requests go straight from you to the AI provider.
  • Transparency 20/20: Source is public under MIT, so anyone can check how the key is handled.
  • Privacy 7/15: Nothing specific is known about its data handling beyond the key itself.
  • Maintenance 10/10: Actively developed: commits within the last three months.
  • Verification Confidence 1/10: Compiled from public documentation by an AI-assisted pass, not independently confirmed.

What was checked

Verification tier RESEARCH_ASSISTED, derived from the evidence below and not set by hand.

  • [REPORTED · RESEARCH] This listing was compiled by an AI-assisted research pass over the tool's public website, README and documentation. No person independently confirmed it.
  • [CONFIRMED · SOURCE_SCAN] Most recent commit 2026-08-14, about 0 month(s) ago. source

How your API key is handled

Your API key is supplied via an environment variable or local config file. Requests are sent directly to the AI provider.

Setup

Install the tool, set your provider API key as an environment variable (or in its config file), and pick a model.