---
title: Global Flags
description: Complete reference for all Kit CLI flags.
---

# Global Flags

All flags can be passed to the root `kit` command.

## Model and provider

| Flag | Short | Default | Description |
|------|-------|---------|-------------|
| `--model` | `-m` | `anthropic/claude-sonnet-latest` | Model to use (provider/model format) |
| `--provider-api-key` | — | — | API key for the provider |
| `--provider-url` | — | — | Base URL for provider API |
| `--tls-skip-verify` | — | `false` | Skip TLS certificate verification |

## Session management

| Flag | Short | Default | Description |
|------|-------|---------|-------------|
| `--session` | `-s` | — | Open specific JSONL session file |
| `--continue` | `-c` | `false` | Resume most recent session for current directory |
| `--resume` | `-r` | `false` | Interactive session picker |
| `--no-session` | — | `false` | Ephemeral mode, no persistence |

## Behavior

These flags control Kit's behavior. When a prompt is passed as a positional argument, Kit runs in non-interactive mode.

| Flag | Short | Default | Description |
|------|-------|---------|-------------|
| `--quiet` | — | `false` | Suppress all output (non-interactive only) |
| `--json` | — | `false` | Output response as JSON (non-interactive only) |
| `--no-exit` | — | `false` | Enter interactive mode after prompt completes |
| `--max-steps` | — | `0` | Maximum agent steps (0 for unlimited) |
| `--stream` | — | `true` | Enable streaming output |
| `--compact` | — | `false` | Enable compact output mode |
| `--auto-compact` | — | `false` | Auto-compact conversation near context limit |

## Extensions

| Flag | Short | Default | Description |
|------|-------|---------|-------------|
| `--extension` | `-e` | — | Load additional extension file(s) (repeatable) |
| `--no-extensions` | — | `false` | Disable all extensions |
| `--prompt-template` | — | — | Load a specific prompt template by name |
| `--no-prompt-templates` | — | `false` | Disable prompt template loading |

## Generation parameters

| Flag | Short | Default | Description |
|------|-------|---------|-------------|
| `--max-tokens` | — | `4096` | Maximum tokens in response |
| `--temperature` | — | `0.7` | Randomness 0.0–1.0 |
| `--top-p` | — | `0.95` | Nucleus sampling 0.0–1.0 |
| `--top-k` | — | `40` | Limit top K tokens |
| `--stop-sequences` | — | — | Custom stop sequences (comma-separated) |
| `--thinking-level` | — | `off` | Extended thinking level: off, minimal, low, medium, high |

## System

| Flag | Short | Default | Description |
|------|-------|---------|-------------|
| `--config` | — | `~/.kit.yml` | Config file path |
| `--system-prompt` | — | — | System prompt text or file path |
| `--debug` | — | `false` | Enable debug logging |
