Getting started with Kiln
Four steps take you from the download to the first answer, about ten minutes in all. The rest of this page covers the things you can set up later.
1. Install
You need a Windows 10 or 11 PC (64-bit) and an account with at least one AI service: Claude, ChatGPT (for Codex) or Google (for Antigravity). Kiln uses your own sign-ins and does not sell AI access.
- Download the installer from playgrn.com/kiln/download.
- Run it. If Windows shows Windows protected your PC, click More info, then Run anyway. Windows shows that for programs it has not seen often yet.
- Click through the installer. It installs for your Windows account only and needs no administrator rights. Two boxes are off by default: a desktop shortcut, and starting Kiln when you sign in to Windows.
- Leave Open Kiln now ticked and click Finish.
Kiln opens in your web browser at http://127.0.0.1:8770. That address is this PC only. Later you can open it from the Kiln shortcut in the Start menu. Quit Kiln beside it stops it.
2. Your account and key
- The first screen makes the owner account. Pick a sign-in name and a password. This account runs the program and can add other people later.
- Next Kiln asks for the license key. It is on the page you saw after paying and in the email that came with it. Paste it and click Activate.
A key runs Kiln on one PC at a time. Kiln checks it with the license server twice a day and keeps working for two weeks without the internet. You can see the key, the plan and its end date in Settings > License.
3. Add an agent
Kiln does its work through AI coding agents that run on your PC. The Get started card in the middle of the window lists them with a state for each: ready, installed but not signed in, or not installed.
Install
- Claude Code and Codex: click Install beside the name. Kiln runs the maker's own installer and takes a minute or two. Nothing else is needed, not even Node.js.
- Antigravity is a desktop app from Google. Click Download, install it and sign in to it.
Sign in
Click Sign in beside an installed agent. It opens Settings > Agents and sign-ins, where each agent has its own sign-in.
- Claude Code shows a link. Open it, sign in with your Claude account, and paste the code it gives you back into Kiln.
- Codex uses device sign-in: it shows a short code and a link where you sign in with your ChatGPT account and enter the code. You can store an OpenAI API key instead.
Once an agent shows ready, it can answer. You need one; two or three let Kiln spread the work between your plans.
4. Your first chat
Type what you need in the box at the bottom and press Enter. The agent picker under the box starts on Auto: Kiln reads your request, picks the agent and model that fit it, and moves work to whichever plan has room left this week. To choose yourself, click the picker and pick an agent and model.
The agent works on your PC, in the folder you give it. Write the folder in the message, or set it under More options in Send's ▾ menu. Your chats are listed on the left, and you can group them into projects.
An agent can read and change files on your PC. Settings > Permissions sets what jobs may do when you are not watching.
People
Five accounts can sign in to one copy of Kiln, yours included. Add people in Settings > Users: type a name and a password of at least 8 characters, pick a role, and click Add user. They sign in from another device through your home network or a tunnel.
| Role | What they can do |
|---|---|
| owner | Everything, including the license, sign-ins, keys and the network. Only an owner can make another owner or admin. |
| admin | Sees everyone's work and runs the Users page. Cannot change owner-only settings, and other people's private chats are read-only to them. |
| user | A private account: their chats, keys and agent sign-ins are their own and nobody below admin sees them. |
| editor | Works in the shared chats: reads them and sends messages. |
| viewer | Reads the shared chats but cannot send. |
To make room for someone new, disable or delete an account on the same page.
Your phone and other devices
Until you change something here, only this PC can reach Kiln. Both options are in Settings > Network.
On your home network
- Turn on Reach Kiln from other devices on your home network. The page lists this PC's addresses.
- Click Allow through Windows Firewall and say yes when Windows asks. It adds one rule for private networks.
- Open one of the listed addresses on your phone while it is on the same Wi-Fi, and sign in.
Public Wi-Fi is not a home network. Windows asks which kind a network is when you first join it.
From anywhere
A Cloudflare tunnel lets your phone reach Kiln from anywhere over https. Nothing changes on your router, and Kiln stays closed to the rest of the internet.
- Quick link needs no account. You get a random trycloudflare.com address, a new one each time Kiln starts. It is good for trying the tunnel out.
- Your own Cloudflare tunnel gives a fixed address from a free Cloudflare account. In Cloudflare go to Zero Trust > Networks > Tunnels > Create a tunnel (Cloudflared). Copy the token from the install command it shows, and give the tunnel a public hostname that points at
http://localhost:8770. Paste the token and the hostname into Kiln and click Save.
The address works in any browser. On a phone, use your browser's Add to Home Screen to put Kiln beside your apps.
Updates
Kiln looks for a new version twice a day. When one is out, a bar at the top offers Update now. The update installs over your copy and Kiln is back in a few seconds, with your chats, settings and license kept. Settings > Version shows your version and checks on demand.
The agents are separate programs. The tool updater in Settings > Updates keeps the installed ones current.
Moving to a new PC
Install Kiln on the new PC and enter your key there; the license moves to it. You can also click Free this PC in Settings > License on the old one first. A key can move three times in 30 days.
Chats do not move with the license. To take them along, export them in Settings > General on the old PC and import the file on the new one.
When something is wrong
Auto cannot pick: no agent is installed yet
No agent is ready. Install one and sign it in, as in step 3.
An agent says installed, not signed in
Sign it in from Settings > Agents and sign-ins.
An install failed
The message under the button says why. The usual cause is no internet or a security program blocking the installer. Click Try again, or install the agent the way its maker describes and Kiln finds it.
The page does not open
Start Kiln from the Start menu; that opens the page again if it is already running. If the browser shows nothing, wait ten seconds and refresh.
The license will not activate
Check that the PC is online and that the key is pasted whole. If it says the key is in use on another PC, enter it again on this PC to move it, or free it on the other one.
For anything else, open a support ticket in #kiln-support on the GRN Discord; a person answers.