kagi

Kagi CLI

kagi is a JSON-first command surface for Kagi. It covers search, Quick Answer, Assistant, ask-page, translation, summarization, readable page extraction, Kagi News, Small Web, paid API commands, and account settings such as lenses, custom bangs, custom assistants, and redirects.

Core Workflow

Load this skill: kagi skills get kagi
Check credentials: kagi auth status
Choose the narrowest command for the task
Use structured output: --format json for scripts, --format toon for LLM context
Verify failures with auth check: kagi auth check

kagi skills get kagi
kagi auth status
kagi search "rust async cancellation" --format toon --limit 5

Credential Discovery

Use auth commands before choosing a Kagi-backed endpoint.

kagi auth status
kagi auth check
kagi auth set --session-token "https://kagi.com/search?token=..."

Credential	Unlocks
`KAGI_SESSION_TOKEN`	subscriber search path, session-only search filters, `quick`, `assistant`, `ask-page`, `translate`, and `summarize --subscriber`
`KAGI_API_KEY`	current `/api/v1` Search API and Extract API
`KAGI_API_TOKEN`	legacy `/api/v0` `summarize`, `fastgpt`, `enrich web`, and `enrich news`
none	`news`, `smallweb`, `auth status`, `skills`, and help

Environment variables override .kagi.toml. --profile NAME selects [profiles.NAME.auth] from config. Base kagi search prefers the session-token path when both session and API credentials are present unless config sets preferred_auth = "api".

Output Modes

Format	Use for
`json`	default structured output for scripts and parsers
`toon`	compact structured data for LLM context
`markdown`	prompt material, notes, and documentation
`compact`	minified JSON for pipelines
`csv`	spreadsheets or tabular export
`pretty`	human terminal display only

Prefer --format toon when returning search or news results to an LLM. Prefer --format json when another program will parse stdout.

Search

kagi search "query" --format toon --limit 5
kagi search "query" --format markdown --limit 10
kagi search "query" --snap reddit --format toon
kagi search "query" --region us --from-date 2026-01-01 --format json

Useful search flags:

Flag	Purpose
`--limit N`	cap returned results
`--snap NAME`	prefix query with a Kagi Snap shortcut
`--lens INDEX`	scope to a Kagi lens by index; requires session auth
`--region CODE`	region-bias search
`--time day	week
`--order default	recency
`--verbatim`	request verbatim search mode; session path
`--personalized` / `--no-personalized`	force personalization mode; session path
`--local-cache`	cache repeatable calls locally

Search And Summarize Results

Use --follow N when the user wants synthesized coverage of top result pages. It searches first, then summarizes the top N URLs through the subscriber summarizer.

kagi search "what changed in rust 2024 edition" --follow 3 --format markdown

Readable Page Extraction

Use extract when the user needs full readable page content as markdown. It requires KAGI_API_KEY.

kagi extract "https://example.com/article"

Use extraction instead of scraping rendered browser text when exact readable article content is the goal.

Summarization

Subscriber summarizer, usually best for users with a Kagi account:

kagi summarize --subscriber --url "https://example.com/article"
kagi summarize --subscriber --text "long text"
kagi summarize --subscriber --url "https://example.com/article" --summary-type keypoints

Paid public API summarizer through the legacy API token:

kagi summarize --url "https://example.com/article"
kagi summarize --text "long text" --engine cecil

Quick Answer

Use quick when the user asks a direct question and wants a concise answer with references from live Kagi results.

kagi quick "who maintains the rust compiler release train?" --format markdown
kagi quick "current kagi api search endpoint" --format toon

Assistant

Use assistant for conversational tasks, thread continuity, attachments, custom assistants, model selection, or account-backed Assistant behavior.

kagi assistant "explain this release note" --format markdown
kagi assistant --stream --stream-output json "draft a migration checklist"
kagi assistant --thread-id THREAD_ID "continue from the previous answer"
kagi assistant --attach ./notes.md "summarize the attached notes" --format markdown

Thread management:

kagi assistant thread list
kagi assistant thread get THREAD_ID
kagi assistant thread export THREAD_ID --format markdown
kagi assistant thread delete THREAD_ID

Custom assistants:

kagi assistant custom list
kagi assistant custom get "Researcher"
kagi assistant custom create "CLI Researcher" --web-access --model gpt-5-mini

Ask A Page

Use ask-page when the user has one URL and a question about that page.

kagi ask-page "https://example.com/article" "what are the main claims?" --format markdown

Translation

kagi translate --text "Bonjour tout le monde" --target-language EN

Translation uses session-token auth.

News And Public Feeds

news and smallweb do not require credentials.

kagi news --category tech --limit 10
kagi news --list-categories
kagi news --chaos
kagi smallweb

Search the Kagi News vertical with session auth:

kagi search "open source ai" --news --format toon

Batch And Watch

Use batch for parallel search. Use stdin for generated query lists.

kagi batch "rust" "zig" "go" --format toon --limit 3
printf 'rust\nzig\ngo\n' | kagi batch --format compact

Use watch when the user wants result changes over time.

kagi watch "site:example.com release notes" --interval 300

Account Settings

Use these commands when the user asks to inspect or manage Kagi account features. They require the relevant account credential.

kagi lens list
kagi lens get "Default"
kagi bang custom list
kagi bang custom create "Docs" --trigger docs --template "https://docs.rs/releases/search?query=%s"
kagi redirect list
kagi assistant custom list

MCP Server

Use kagi mcp when another agent or tool needs a stdio MCP server exposing Kagi tools.

kagi mcp

Agent-Safe Patterns

Start with kagi skills get kagi for current, version-matched guidance.
Run kagi auth status before declaring credentials unavailable.
Do not print credential values. Auth commands intentionally summarize presence and source without exposing secrets.
Prefer the narrowest command: extract for readable pages, quick for direct answers, assistant for conversational or threaded work, news for public news feeds.
Prefer --format toon for LLM context and --format json for programmatic parsing.
Use --local-cache only when stale data is acceptable.
Treat --format pretty as human-facing only.
Avoid browser automation for Kagi content retrieval unless the workflow specifically requires rendered interaction.

Important Notes

search --lens, --time, --order, --verbatim, and personalization flags require session-token auth.
API-first search can fall back to the session path when configured credentials permit fallback.
extract requires the current KAGI_API_KEY, not the legacy API token.
summarize --subscriber, quick, assistant, ask-page, and translate require KAGI_SESSION_TOKEN.
news, smallweb, skills, and help are auth-free.