Know the tools.
Understand the limits.

Build from source

Use a Mac with Xcode 27 or newer and the matching command-line tools. Apple silicon is recommended for MLX. Provider keys are optional; configure only the services you use.

git clone https://github.com/noktirnal42/Kiln.git
cd Kiln
# Install XcodeGen if needed: brew install xcodegen
xcodegen generate
open Kiln.xcodeproj

Select the Kiln scheme and your own signing team for local development. Do not copy another developer’s signing identity. Build and run with Xcode, or use:

./script/build_and_run.sh
# Unit and integration tests (live providers disabled by default)
xcodebuild test -project Kiln.xcodeproj -scheme Kiln \
  -destination 'platform=macOS,arch=arm64'

First builds compile substantial Swift and Metal dependencies. Local inference may require model downloads. Keep adequate free disk space and run one build at a time.

What works today

Kiln is early-stage software. Native chat, tools, binary inspection, experiment storage, evaluation, and training engines exist. It is not a replacement for Xcode or Ghidra today.

• Plain chat was verified across five configured providers.
• Hosted agent tools and a real swarm artifact workflow passed live scenarios.
• A small local 3B model failed tool-use scenarios; model reliability varies.
• From-scratch training and LoRA smoke runs completed. Full GUI training and export coverage remain open.
• The full suite (463 tests) passes on the development machine. An earlier run found a path-indexing bug, since fixed.

Detailed QA record ↗ · Known issues ↗

Architecture & specifications

The specifications describe both implemented foundations and future ambitions. A specification is not evidence that a feature is complete.