Give Kimi persistent memory, your voice, and custom workflows — in one afternoon. KimiOS turns Kimi Work from a blank slate into a system that knows who you are.
A quick reference for beginners getting started with Kimi
Every session begins from zero. Kimi doesn't know your name, your role, your preferences, or what you were working on yesterday. You spend the first few minutes re-explaining context before any real work happens.
Generic tone. No memory. No shortcuts. Repeat yourself constantly.
Kimi reads your constitution and memory files at the start of every session. It knows your role, your active projects, your preferences, and how you like to write. You jump straight into the work.
Your voice. Your context. Routes the right tasks to the right workstation automatically.
KimiOS is just a folder on your computer. No external services, no lock-in.
Think of each workstation as a sub-agent dedicated to a specific task. It has its own folder with a local KIMIOS.md, MEMORY.md, and Resources subfolder. The global files apply everywhere; the workstation files layer on top.
The agent's personality and values. Who Kimi is, how it behaves, its boundaries, and enduring identity notes. Every session starts by reading this.
The global constitution. Tells Kimi your preferences, rules, folder structure, and routing map. Governs tone, behaviour, and which workstation to use.
Your writing voice. Tone, sentence style, words to avoid, signature phrases. Kimi reads this before writing any content on your behalf.
00_Resources/ folder. That's the whole system.
You're one afternoon away from a Kimi that knows who you are, how you work, and what you're trying to get done.
Open Kimi Work with your KimiOS folder selected, paste this prompt, and let it run. Kimi will create all four core files, the folder structure, and then ask you a few questions to personalise everything.
I'm setting up KimiOS for the first time. Please
create the following in my KimiOS root folder:
1. IDENTITY.md — with these sections:
Name, Personality, Values, Boundaries, Notes
2. KIMIOS.md — with these sections:
Memory System, Preferences, Rules,
Folder Structure, Routing Map, Plugin Registry
3. 00_Resources/voice-principles.md — with these
sections: Tone, Sentence Style, Words to Avoid,
Words I Use, Formatting
4. PROJECT_MEMORY.md — with these sections:
About Me, Active Projects, Key Contacts,
Key Decisions, Useful Context
5. 00_Skills/ (skills & plugins inventory)
6. 00_Scheduled/ (scheduled task outputs)
7. 00_Outputs/ (global outputs — use when
explicitly requested)
Use starter templates with [bracketed placeholders]
where I need to customise. After creating the files,
ask me 3 questions to personalise my KIMIOS.md for
my role and working style.
That one prompt created your entire KimiOS skeleton — four files, three folders, and a structure Kimi will use on every future session.
The next three slides walk through each file with a copy-ready template. Customise the bits in [brackets] and you're good to go.
This file defines the agent's enduring identity. It loads automatically and governs personality, boundaries, and how Kimi should behave when interacting with you.
# Agent Identity ## Name [Your agent's name — e.g., "Kimi", "Ava"] ## Personality - [Describe how the agent should come across] - [e.g., "Direct and sharp — get to the point"] - [e.g., "Warm like a smart friend, not a support bot"] - [e.g., "Critical thinking partner — pushes back with evidence"] ## Values - [e.g., "Honesty over sycophancy — push back when something looks off"] - [e.g., "Safety over speed — ask who does this fail on before shipping"] - [e.g., "Agency over automation — never act without permission on destructive operations"] ## Boundaries - Never invent facts, file paths, or data I haven't verified - Never guess stock prices, dates, or current events - Never write or modify files outside the workspace - Always ask before merging PRs or sending messages - Don't over-explain — get to the point ## Notes - [Enduring identity notes — e.g., "Owner is based in Sydney"] - [Timezone or scheduling preferences] - [How you like to receive corrections]
This file is Kimi's operating instructions. It loads automatically and governs tone, behaviour, folder structure, and which workstation to use for which task.
# KIMIOS.md — Global Constitution ## Memory System - Read vault memory (about_user.md) at start - Read PROJECT_MEMORY.md at start - Read workstation MEMORY.md when working in that workstation - Write to PROJECT_MEMORY.md for global/personal context - Write to workstation MEMORY.md for domain-specific context - Read voice-principles.md before writing content ## Preferences - Tone: [conversational / professional / casual] - Language: [Australian / British / American English] - Length: concise by default; expand only when asked - Format: prose first, bullets only when genuinely list-like - Timezone: [Your timezone] ## Rules - Ask clarifying questions before complex tasks - Never guess — if unsure, say so - Read voice-principles.md before writing content - Prefer parallel tool calls when independent - Keep root KIMIOS.md under 300 lines ## Folder Structure | Folder | What lives here | | 00_Resources/ | Reference files (voice, templates, shared assets) | | 00_Skills/ | Skills & plugins inventory — canonical registry | | 00_Scheduled/ | Scheduled task outputs and cron logs | | 00_Outputs/ | Global outputs — only when explicitly requested | | [Workstation]/ | Workstation + Resources/ + Outputs/ | ## Routing Map | Workstation | Route here when I... | | [Name] | [Brief trigger description] |
Paste 5–8 of your own emails or messages and ask Kimi to extract patterns from them. It'll fill in the signature phrases and tone sections automatically.
# Voice Principles
## Tone
- Sound like: [smart peer / trusted advisor / warm colleague]
- More formal with: [senior leaders / new contacts]
- Avoid sounding: [corporate / over-hedged / AI-flavoured]
## Sentence Style
- Vary length — mix short punchy beats with longer ones
- Use contractions: [yes / no]
- Front-load context, then the ask
## Words to Avoid
- Never: "leverage," "synergise," "deep dive"
- No em dashes (use commas or parentheses instead)
- No "I hope this email finds you well" openers
- No stacked adjectives ("incredibly valuable")
## Words I Use
- [Your signature phrases — add them here]
- e.g. "heaps", "nerd out", "level up", "if helpful"
## Formatting
- Short paragraphs (1–2 sentences max)
- Bold sparingly — key terms and names only
- [Other formatting preferences]
A workstation is Kimi with a specific job — its own rules, its own memory, its own lane. Pick the one recurring task that eats most of your week. That's where you start.
A workstation is just a folder with three files. The four sections inside its KIMIOS.md define how Kimi behaves when it's routing work there.
One paragraph. Who Kimi is in this workstation, what kinds of tasks route here, and — just as importantly — what doesn't belong here and should go elsewhere.
A table mapping reference files to "read when" conditions. Kimi only loads these files when the trigger is met, keeping context efficient.
Numbered steps for the primary task in this workstation. Keep it simple — 5–7 steps. You'll refine it over time as you see what Kimi gets right and wrong.
Always opens with "Follow voice-principles.md in 00_Resources." Then adds domain-specific rules on top — tone calibration, vocabulary, output formats for this specific domain.
Pick one recurring task type — reports, data analysis, trading memos, whatever takes up your time. Fill in the two brackets, paste, and Kimi scaffolds the whole workstation.
Create a new workstation called "[Workstation Name]".
Route here when I: [describe the task type — e.g.
"draft, edit, or review any data analysis report"]
Create these items inside the workstation folder:
1. [Name]/KIMIOS.md with sections:
- Identity (one paragraph: what routes here,
what doesn't)
- Resources (empty table: Resource | Read when...)
- Workflow (numbered steps for the main task)
- Editorial Rules (start with voice-principles.md
reference, then add domain-specific rules)
2. [Name]/MEMORY.md with:
- Contacts section
- Key Decisions section
3. [Name]/[Name] Resources/ (empty folder)
4. [Name]/Outputs/ (workstation-specific outputs)
After creating the files, add a new row to the
Routing Map in root KIMIOS.md.
Think of each workstation as a sub-agent dedicated to a specific task. It has its own folder with a local KIMIOS.md, MEMORY.md, and Resources subfolder. The global files apply everywhere; the workstation files layer on top.
The system only gets smarter if you save what you learn. One 30-second prompt at the end of each session — that's all it takes to turn KimiOS from a config file into something that actually grows with you.
Preferences you mentioned, decisions you made, context Kimi picked up on — none of it survives unless it's written to the right memory file. Kimi resets completely when the session ends.
Workstation-specific context goes to the workstation's MEMORY.md. Global or personal context goes to root PROJECT_MEMORY.md. One prompt at the end of every task fixes this permanently.
Scan this conversation for any unsaved preferences, decisions, or useful context. Route each finding to the right memory file: - Workstation-specific context (design choices, stack preferences, domain contacts, build patterns) → write to this workstation's MEMORY.md - Global/personal context (cross-workstation preferences, active projects, key contacts, global rule changes) → write to root PROJECT_MEMORY.md When in doubt, write to both with a short cross-reference. Don't duplicate what's already in either file. Focus only on what's genuinely new from this session.
Keep your master KIMIOS.md under 300 lines. Point to external resource files rather than stuffing everything in one place — this keeps baseline token costs low every single session.
Never repeat global rules inside local workstations. If the root already says "no corporate jargon," your Report Writer workstation shouldn't waste tokens restating it. Inheritance is free.
Kimi Work has a Subagent tool for non-trivial tasks. Delegate to coder, explore, or plan subagents instead of doing everything inline. They're faster and keep your context window clean.
Use PythonRun for immediate charts and analysis. Use Cron for recurring tasks, not one-offs.
Pick one task you repeat every week. That's your first workstation.
KimiOS compounds. The more you use it, the more Kimi knows you. Start small — one folder, three files — and add workstations as you go.
These are pre-installed reusable workflows. You don't need to build them — just invoke them by name or let KimiOS route tasks to them automatically.
00_Skills/ — one canonical registry for auditing everything KimiOS has access to.