Kilo adds Sign in with ChatGPT and lets plans power every coding surface
Kilo, the open-source coding agent, now lets users create an account and sign in with their ChatGPT subscription. Users can also connect their ChatGPT plan as a BYOK provider and use it for inference across VS Code, JetBrains, the CLI, Cloud Agents, Code Reviews and the mobile app, according to Kilo.
- Kilo users can now create an account and sign in with a ChatGPT subscription.
- A ChatGPT plan can be added as a BYOK provider and used in VS Code, JetBrains, the CLI, Cloud Agents, Code Reviews and the mobile app.
- Users can use up to 100% of the ChatGPT Work and Codex usage in their plan, or set a lower app-specific limit in ChatGPT settings.
- Requests draw on the subscription instead of per-token API billing, according to Kilo.
- The model dropdown lists the plan's GPT models alongside 500+ models in the Kilo Gateway.
One login for Kilo's cloud services
Kilo says the new sign-in works like the Google or GitHub buttons found on many other sites. A user authenticates with OpenAI, and Kilo uses that identity to create an account or sign the user in. From then on, the ChatGPT account acts as the login source for Kilo's cloud services. In Kilo's words, that means "one less password to remember and one less account to set up" before writing any code.
The company notes that OpenAI models have been at the top of the Kilo Leaderboard since Kilo launched.
A ChatGPT plan as a BYOK provider
Beyond logging in, users can connect their ChatGPT plan to Kilo and use up to 100% of the ChatGPT Work and Codex usage included with it. They can also set a lower app-specific limit in their ChatGPT settings.
Until now, connecting ChatGPT to Kilo went through the local harness, which sent requests from the user's machine straight to OpenAI. According to Kilo, that worked inside VS Code or the terminal, but anything running on Kilo's infrastructure could not reach the subscription. Cloud Agents and the mobile app therefore needed a different model provider.
The update changes that by treating the plan as a BYOK (bring your own key) provider. BYOK usually means pasting in an API key. Here, Kilo explains, the "key" is the ChatGPT subscription the user already pays for, and requests draw on that plan instead of per-token API billing.
What it looks like in practice
Kilo lists three key benefits:
- Use the same ChatGPT login across Kilo surfaces.
- Use the ChatGPT Work and Codex usage included in the plan in features such as Cloud Agents and the Kilo CLI.
- Switch between the OpenAI models included in the ChatGPT plan and the 500+ models in the Kilo Gateway.
Kilo gives an example: a developer who thinks of a bug fix away from the desk could start a Cloud Agent session from a phone. That agent would run on the same ChatGPT plan used in the editor, with no OpenAI API key and no second provider account. Back at the laptop, local agent modes such as Plan mode or Debug mode can draw from the same plan.
Once connected, the GPT models included in the plan are available in every Kilo mode on every surface, from a quick question in Ask mode to running 10 agents at the same time in Agent Manager. The model dropdown also lists the Kilo Gateway models, so the plan and the Gateway can be used side by side.
What it means for users
For developers who already pay for ChatGPT, the change removes the need for a separate OpenAI API key or extra provider account to use GPT models in Kilo's cloud-based features. Usage is tied to the existing subscription rather than per-token API billing, according to Kilo. Getting started requires signing in to Kilo with ChatGPT.
Kilo Code: Introducing Sign in with ChatGPT in Kilo
